...Assignment 2: Treatment of Mentally Ill Prisoners 1.0 The Treatment of Mentally Ill Prisoners The treatment of mentally ill inmates has been not only a public concern, but has also been identified by Canada’s Correctional Investigator, Howard Sapers as an issue of concern in his 2014 report to parliament. Between 1997 and 2007, offenders entering the prison system with a mental disorder grew 71% in men and 61% in women (Canadian Mental Health Association, 2012). The problem at hand is that correctional institutes and their staff are not widely trained to deal with inmates who suffer from mental disorders. The result then, is that use-of-force interventions, and placement in solitary confinement, often for extended periods of time, are used as methods of dealing with unruly behaviours exhibited by these mentally ill offenders. While there are various issues surrounding mental health in the Canadian judicial system, for the purpose of this report, the discussion will be focused around inadequate methods for dealing with behaviours presented by these inmates, namely by use-of-force and solitary confinement 1.1 Use-Of-Force Techniques In Sapers 2014 report, it is reported that “28% of all use of force interventions involved an offender with a mental health concern as identified by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC)” (Ministry of Public Safety, 2014). This is likely due to the fact that mentally ill inmates are more likely to self-harm, have unpredictable behaviour...
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...Dorothea Dix, an advocator for the mentally ill, changed the lives of such people directly. She spent countless years working towards her cause, and regardless of the multitude of setbacks she encountered, was able to thrive and reign with her visions. Dorothea Dix advocated for the humane treatment of the mentally insane to be changed, however, in order to achieve her vision of benevolent management of the mentally ill, she overcame many setbacks, including personal struggles, gender inequality, and difficulty with legislation. Before laws were created to mandate civil treatment of the mentally ill within prisons, hospitals, or other institutions, those people were treated very poorly. The mentally ill were confined to cages and other small areas, in a way not suitable for a human being to live. The states did not provide heating for the patients. The way that the people were maintained led Dorothea Dix to begin a career centered on advocating their rights. “The popular belief was that the insane would never be cured and living within their dreadful conditions was enough for them” (Bumb). The social...
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...prisons have become warehouses for the severely mentally ill”- Dahlia Lithwick The institutionalization of mental health care programs has resulted in a high number of mentally ill people ending up incarcerated without receiving the treatment they require due to the fewer funds provided by the government for the proper facilities needed. Dorathea Dix fought for the establishment of psychiatric hospitals. Due to budget cuts and changes in administration, the funds for psychiatric hospitals have decrease, limiting the amount of people that receive treatment and increasing the amount of people in prisons. Some critics claim that its the miscommunication between the public health departments and the criminal...
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...Dorothea Lynde Dix was instrumental in improving the treatment of the mentally ill. Her determination to improve the conditions for the “blind, deaf, and the dumb” was sparked when she traveled to England with some of her friends. While in England, she took a job teaching inmates at East Cambridge Jail, a women's prison. While employed at the prison, she witnessed the cruel treatment of the mentally ill, which included being flagged, chained, starved, left naked with neither heat nor sanitation, and being sexually and physically abused. (Biography.com) She believed...
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...that the diseased were possessed by evil spirits and would be exorcised, or they used other dangerous methods to try and release the demons. Slowly the care for the insane started to develop. At first treatments and studies weren’t the most humane but as scientists started to understand mental illness it...
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... Tara Ventres Axia Collage of University of Phoenix COM 150 Effective Essay Writing Jolyn Rex February 16, 2009 In today’s world there are places that still uses force as a means of treatment or punishment for the mentally ill. The patients are chained down, sexually assaulted and beaten. Whatever society thinks of mental illness this type of treatment has to stop. Once we have educated ourselves on mental illness, we can begin to have a better understanding of those people who suffer from these types of diseases. If we look to the past we can see where we went wrong and correct those mistakes. Mental illness is something that can be traced throughout history. By looking back over the past of mental illness we see that there were infinite numbers of mistakes made a long way. We cannot allow those same mistakes to take place again. By breaking the cycle and avoid those same mistakes we can build a better future for the mentally ill. This is why I believe it is important to study the past of mental illness. Evidence indicates that Mental illness can be traced as far back as the early Egyptians. What we know today about mental illness is far different then what early Egyptians believed. The early Egyptians believed that all diseases had some type of physical affect on the body as well as the...
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...alcohol addicts or abusers, the emotionally disturbed, mentally retarded, suspected mentally ill, physically handicapped, chronically ill, the disabled or infirm, those with documented custody issues and those with limited academic ability or learning disability “(Prison Glossary)”. With that being said there are many special needs prisoners, one that many people are familiar with are the mentally ill, and substance abusing. There are many other illnesses then obvious ones, some prisoners have physical problems, others have infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, while some have serious substance abuse issues. One special offender no one thinks about is the elderly offenders in 2007 over ten percent of inmates in prisons were 50 years or older and many with serious health problems. Mentally ill and substance abusing prisoners In this paper I will be discussing the two common types of special needs offenders, the mentally ill and the substance abusing offenders. Among the prison population there are mentally ill prisoners, special needs offenders, and substance-abusing offenders. These special offenders affect the jail and prison systems at state and federal levels because they require special attention. If they do not receive special attention like doctor supervision or prescribed medication, they can harm themselves or others, and become sick from substance related illnesses. Mentally ill offenders must have access to mental health therapies...
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...Mentally Ill Offenders Introduction Mental illness in prisons has been sort of a pandemic for correctional systems in the United States for over the last 10 years. The number of men and women who come to prison with some form of mental illness continues to grow by the day. Offenders who do not come to prison mentally ill, will most likely release from prison with some type of mental illness at the end of their prison sentence. This paper will discuss how this population of offenders adapts when they come to prison, and how there viewed by the community. This will be examined here along with some insights on what should be done along with why this topic was chosen. Schizophrenia Many mentally ill offenders come to prison with a variety of disorders schizophrenia, manic depression (bi-polar) or major depression (Schizophrenia.com - Crime, Poverty Violence., n.d.). Schizophrenic inmates probably account for the largest segment of offenders who enter the correctional system every day and have a difficult time adapting to the confines of a correctional environment. By definition schizophrenia is an inability to think, process emotions where people tend to behave in an unacceptable manner because their mind is not able to react to the stimuli from every day life; the name schizophrenia comes from the Greek root "split mind" (Skitzophrenia., n.d.). Hallucinations, hearing voices, paranoia are just some of the...
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...Throughout history, the mentally ill have struggled to find morality within the world of psychiatry. During the 1960’s the increase in inhumane treatment for mentally ill patients and the growing number of patients forced into those treatments had individuals from all over the world making the decision to voice their opinions on this substantially growing issue. While the anti-psychiatry movement of the 60s can be known as a dark time in history, the influencers born from this movement created necessary change for patient care and their basic human rights. Anti-psychiatry first emerged in the 1960s and it is believed that this movement gained exceptional support due to people’s displeasure towards psychiatry, especially involving the unsubstantiated,...
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...Vulnerable Population in the Workplace Theresa Didion University of Phoenix The burden of mental illness in the United States is among the highest of all diseases, and mental disorders are among the most common causes of disability. The first goal of this paper is the examination of the vulnerable population of the mentally ill. Second, this paper will review the goals and agenda of Healthy People 2020 as it applies to mental illness. Third, this paper will review my work place assessment for barriers for the care and treatment of mentally ill patients. Finally, this paper will review a short presentation I gave to co-workers in an effort to aid in better treatment for the mentally ill. Recent figures suggest that in 2004, approximately 1 in 4 adults in the United States had had a mental health disorder in the past year, most commonly anxiety or depression ("Healthy People 2020 ", n.d.).. It is estimated that only about 17% of U.S. adults are considered to be in a state of optimal mental health ("Healthy People 2020 ", n.d.). An estimated 26% of Americans age 18 and older are living with a mental health disorder in any given year, and 46% will have a mental health disorder over the course of their lifetime ("Healthy People 2020 ", n.d.). Mental health disorders often have a serious impact on physical health and are associated with the prevalence, progression, and outcome of some of today’s most pressing chronic diseases including diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Mental...
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...Treatment of Mental Health: Institutionalism versus Community Care Sandra L Pauwels Saint Leo University Treatment of Mental Health: Institutionalism versus Community Care For many centuries people with mental illness have been shunned and avoided as if they had the plague. Many view the mentally ill as frightening and horrifying individuals. Our treatment of them has often reflected current or prevailing public sentiment of them. In 400 B.C., Hippocrates viewed people with mental illness as having a physiology of “dis-ease”, or, rather, an illness (Randy MacLowry, 1999-2002). Hippocrates’ position was definitely not the popular opinion. The opinion held by the general population was that mental illness was a punishment for displeasing the Gods. From the beginning in the Middle Ages, locking our mentally ill individuals away from society was common. Because we feared the mentally ill, they were considered to be outcasts of society. Some were even executed as witches in the early days of our country. (Micah Steele, 2009). It was believed that the mentally ill were possessed by demons or witches. The mentally ill were shunned, banished, or locked away because they were feared. Because people believed that mental illness could be “caught” from those who were afflicted. In the 1980’s focus shifted from long term facilities that locked up the mentally ill to community mental health centers. It was hoped that treating individuals within the community would help people understand...
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...Mentally Ill in Prison PSCH/610 Mentally Ill in Prison Abstract The increase in incarcerated individuals with mental illness in the preceding decades has made the prison system a prevalent mental health provider even though they are not prepared or equipped for such task. Prison life is tough on an individual’s mental health; overcapacity, lack of privacy, violent behavior, lack of activity, inadequate health services, seclusion from family and friends, and the insecurity of what life holds after prison contribute to the inmate’s mental health. Inmates whose judgment is altered or impaired by depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and other severe mental illnesses are impacted more severely by the tribulations of prison life. Inadequate mental health services is also something mentally ill inmates face, this absconds them undertreated or mistreated. Numerous prisoners do not receive proper psychotropic medication due to the lack of mental health services and care, further impairing their capability to function. The security mission of prisons tends to overlook mental health considerations. Prison rules and codes of demeanor teach staff about security, safety, supremacy, and power. Coordinating the needs of the mentally ill with prison regulations and goals is almost impractical. Factors of the sources and effects of the concern between prison and mental illness will be observed in this research proposal. Reforms will be provided to improve mental health...
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...common treatments such as therapy, family or individual, or it may entail more specific types of treatments for more severe mental illnesses such as Major Depressive disorder(MDD), Bipolar, and Schizophrenia. The way mental health care will be referred to in this paper is the care, treatment, and conditions of any type of mental illness patient. A very small amount of these mental illnesses may include any form of dementia, autism, Major Depressive Disorder(MDD), Schizophrenia, and attention deficit disorders(ADD). This term also refers to the quality of care given to any patient no matter in which situation it is given, inpatient,...
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...Just within the years 2003 and 2015, the incarceration rates for the mentally ill have tremendously increased, that within a survey done on inmates it was found that “more than three times more seriously mentally ill persons in jails and prisons than in hospitals”,(Carroll). The percentage rate has enormously increased, yet the mental health treatments in prison have not changed in the last two decades, (Carroll). There is a need for change in such situations, as a result that out of all the inmates with a mental illnesses, 83% were denied access to proper treatment, (Jailing People With Mental Illnesses). With millions of people being incarcerated each year and as society becomes more exposed to mental illnesses, there should be more programs...
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...mental illnesses have been confined in jails and prisons between 1770 and 1820. Incarcerating such people was considered inhumane, so mentally ill people were placed into hospitals instead of jails up until 1970. Ever since the 1970s, people with mental disorders are being imprisoned for their crimes(Torrey). America once considered incarcerating the mentally ill to be inhumane, but then they suddenly changed their mind and have considered it to be legal. Ever since the 1970s, numbers of imprisoned people with mental illnesses has exponentially increased, “In 2012, there were estimated to be 356,268 inmates with severe mental illness in prisons and jails. There were also approximately 35,000 patients with severe mental illness in state psychiatric hospitals”(Torrey). There is approximately ten...
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