A person with a mental disability can act uncontrollably at times, causing them to commit a crime. In the United States, people with 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 …show more content…
The majority of inmates with mental disorders are isolated in prison, and “The effect of solitary confinement on mentally ill prisoners is almost always adverse. The lack of stimulation and human contact tends to make psychotic symptoms worse. . . many of the incidents of self-mutilation and suicide by mentally ill prisoners take place when they are in solitary confinement”(Torrey). The inmates with mental disabilities who are in solitary confinement have no interaction with the outside world, so the isolation makes their symptoms worse. Most isolated mentally disordered inmates commit suicide since they are being separated from the world. The lack of human interaction with the confined people with mental disorders is a serious issue and should be dealt with. Instead of incarcerating and isolating such people, they should be placed in a mental institute where they will be given proper mental health