Mentally Ill in Prison

SUFFERING 2

ABSTRACT

The mentally ill unfortunately commit crimes that they may or may not be aware of. The problem is that there needs to be a system put in place that will work for the criminal justice system the potential criminal. We need to be able to identify what type of person we are dealing with and do what is best per that situation, not just assume everybody is guilty and possibly ruin their life.

SUFFERING 3

The mentally ill often times make mistakes or are accused of crimes that usually send them to jail. The problem (for me) is knowing when it is okay to justify these criminal like acts or decided whether the person should be put into a situation where they can get help or go to jail. Is it really safe, necessary, or proper precaution to incarcerate a mentally ill person?

Safety should be the main concern for a mentally ill person that is institutionalized. Putting them in big populations of people could be dangerous. Their reactions to situations are usually different than most normal thinking people. With that being said, they could actually end up spending way more time incarcerated than they intended to due to penalties from getting into trouble. Most mentally ill people have special needs that I am not sure prison systems can handle. I think it would be more valuable to them to be placed somewhere with professionals that have the knowledge to treat them. One article stated, "More than half of the HCC prisoners reported having needs with respect to food, daytime activities, psychological distress, physical health, and information about their condition and treatment." (Thomas, McCone, & Fay, 2009) If you put anyone in a situation where they are lacking the necessary things that they need on a daily basis this could very well be a set up for failure. I should refer to it as something like a walking time bomb, which is not in the best interest of the inmate and especially a mentally ill one. The criminal justice system claims that incarceration is suppose to help rehabilitate, but ignoring the safety and well being of a person does not mount up to that and shows that apparently necessary in a situation where the mentally ill is in the process of going to court or hearings, I wonder who is representing them. Do they have enough money to pay for a attorney or do they get a court appointed attorney? I would hope not. From my understanding someone would need to be fully aware of the person's issues, situation, and history in order to represent them. Arthur Stephen Morse said "Mental disorders can cause irrationality and incapacity, hindering criminal justice administration in the U.S legal system". (Morse, 2011) If a mentally ill person lacks the right representation their changes of not being incarcerated are very slim.

Most prisons are usually steps away from not being up to par. The conditions in a North Carolina Department of Corrections