The Mentally I'll in Prison (Research Paper Sample)

The Mentally Ill in Prison
Student’s name
Institution
A prison refers to a confinement in which law breakers forcibly stay in denial of certain rights. Inmates in prison face many challenges both from fellow inmates and also from prison guards. Such stressful issues lead to the development of physical and mental trauma. The discussion below provides an insight into the mentally ill population found in correctional facilities and how the society views them. Additionally, the essay covers some of the special services provided to these people with the aid of a case study, which provides empirical evidence on the services offered.
The mentally ill inmates
Mental health stands as a huge problem, which faces many inmates found in correctional facilities around the globe. According to statistical data from online databanks and information gathered from interviews and surveys, America possesses the largest population of mentally ill inmates (Manderschied, 1984). The Mentally ill population fond in correction facilities, refers to people who suffer from cases such schizophrenia, major depression and bipolar disorder (Manderschied, 1984). The mentally ill constitute the largest population of ill patients found in correction facilities. In the United States, 300000 men and women, confined in correction facilities, suffer from mental illness. Statistics show that 15 per cent of the total number of inmates found in state, local jails, and federal prisons suffer from mental illness. According to a survey carried out in women’s prison called Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, 63 percent of the women served time for violent crimes and 21% due to drug and substance abuse. As of 2007, 50 per cent of the women suffered from mental illness. 30 percent suffered from major depression disorders, depression, psychotic depression and bipolar disorder (Segal, 1982). Conclusively, mentally ill inmates suffer from diverse conditions brought about by drug and substance abuse, and also cases of violence, which cause mental trauma.
How does the society treat the mentally ill in prison?
Both the immediate and external society impacts the lives of the mentally ill people in jail either negatively or positively. The immediate society includes fellow inmates and guards. While, the external society includes medical hospitals, nurses, psychiatrists and the immediate community. Generally, the society views criminals in a negative way. Concurrently, most people mistreat every inmate regardless of his physical or mental condition.
Studies show that mentally ill people are more likely to commit crimes, in and out of prison than normal people. Consequentially, they end up arrested and taken to prison. Most prisons disregard the mental state of offenders; therefore, they end up in jail instead of psychiatric facilities. While in prison fellow inmates often tend to intimidate mentally ill prisoners by mistreating them and treating them as lunatics. The prison society regards the subject population as violent and unstable. In jail, they also get into trouble a lot due to cases of depression and lack of emotional control. Guards usually put them in solitary confinement in order to reduce cases of violence in the facilities. On the other hand, certain critics believe that mentally ill inmates need special care and not punishment. A section of the society believes that the mentally ill need psychological care and also requires psychiatric care in the respective facilities. Convincingly,the majority of the society ignores the mental condition of inmates with disorders, which leads to negative thoughts and treatment towards the mentally ill. A minority of the population, however, believes that mental disorder cases in prison require special care not punishment in prison.
Do facilities provide services to the mentally ill? What kind of services?
Prisoners are prevalent to psychiatric morbidity. Prison environments do not provide a suitable environment for mental health care; mentally ill prisoners stand vulnerable to deterioration in a positive mental state. Most correction facilities lack the proper equipment to provide the necessary palliative care required in treating mental health issues. Moreover, jails lack enough number of specialized personnel required in treating and caring for the mentally ill. Sick patients require constant monitoring and treatment from psychiatrist, psychologists, nurses and mental therapists. However, prisons find it expensive to consider such expenses in their budget.
On the other hand, several facilities find it appropriate to provide care towards the ill prisoners. They believe that every human being has a right to health care regardless of being a criminal or not. In the world of technology today, several correction facilities provide Tele-psychiatric care to its inmates. Tele- psychiatry is an easy and cheap way of providing mental health care services to mentally ill inmates. Through the services provided, inmates get the opportunity to have easy and regular access to psychiatric treatment and frequent monitoring of patients by doctors. Besides cutting costs, Tele-psychiatry resolves the distance and travelling problems faced by facilities. Additionally, it reduces overhead costs on transport. A number of guidelines make this form of mental health care among the best so far, which include:
Correctional facilities should provide mentally ill prisoners with mental health services non-discriminatively.
Facilities should provide comprehensive, holistic, and gender appropriate mental health services.
Mechanisms are implemented to monitor the consistency of evaluation and delivery of services to mentally ill prisoners.
Appropriate use of time by inmates, including recreational programs for the mentally ill, which will assist in building a healthy stress free life (Perm, 2013).
How does Tele-psychiatry work? It works similarly to teleconferencing. The health service team communicates with the patient through the television or computer via the internet. The psychological nature of mental health care services supports Tele-psychiatry since the patient and the doctor only need to verbally communicate.
Other forms of services provided include overall care and special concern for prisoners with mental disorders. As mentioned earlier, human being needs medical attention. Access to proper and quality medical health care forms part of the constitutional human right law (Philips, 2007). As a service, the human rights system ensures that patients with psychological disorders seek and gain access to quality psychiatric care. Furthermore, instead of imprisoning them, the system aims at placing such law breakers in full mental facilities with the correct equipment and personnel required in providing the necessary treatment.
Prison facilities also initiate set programs such as handcraft making, agriculture and other extracurricular activities that aim at reduction of depression among ill inmates. The facility management sets competition programs that also include psychologically ill inmates in order to reduce isolation and the feeling of segregation from the rest of the population. Although most people think it is inappropriate to put mentally unstable people together with normal people, psychological science states that integration with the rest of the community improves social skills. The ability to socialize makes ill patients feel as part of the community and also enables them to partially fit in.
Case study on mental illness
The American Psychiatric Association has conducted several researches based on mental illness cases found in the United States. There is a high rise in the number of mentally ill patients found within Canadian and American correction facilities. In British Columbia, 31.7% of inmates in federal penitentiaries suffer from psychological disorders with 12 per cent diagnosed with psychotic disorder (Metzner, 2010). One major reason that has led to the increase in mental illness among inmates is the treatment and isolation of already mentally ill patients, while in prison. Several questions emerge in a bid to understand why mentally ill people should be placed in prison instead of a mental health facility.
Medical practitioners found in American federal prisons face a dual loyalty dilemma both to their superiors and their personal oath. Rules and regulations set by prison administration makes it difficult for physicians to work in U.S prisons. The laws prevent regular palliative care to inmates and also constant monitoring.
Solitary confinement is another common administrative feature found in American prisons. Prison guards usually confine violent and disruptive inmates in isolated rooms away from the rest. Most mentally ill people end up in solitary...