...system of inmate discipline is very important when running a prison or jail. Usually, mentally ill inmates have had few or no protections against discipline routinely applied to their non-mentally ill peers. Arising from recent class action lawsuits challenging the quality of mental health care delivery in the nation’s prisons, prison mental health professionals have been called on to play an increasing role in the inmate disciplinary process. Referral questions include whether an inmate is competent to proceed with disciplinary proceedings and whether mental illness may have contributed to the rule violation. Prison mental health professionals participating in inmate disciplinary proceedings must therefore be familiar with relevant clinical, legal, and ethics issues. Little has been written in the psychiatric literature, however, examining this important role for prison mental health professionals. After first reviewing core legal and constitutional concepts, the author presents the results of a nationwide survey examining the role for mental health professionals in the inmate disciplinary process. To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to provide a comprehensive review of this subject. Most prison systems have procedures for punishing prisoners who violate prison rules and for removing inmates from the general population for disciplinary or safety reasons. (For the purpose of this article, the terms “prisoner” and “inmate” will be used interchangeably. “Mental health”...
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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 requirements...
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...Mental health is an important issue within the criminal justice and prison systems as it disproportionately affects those who are imprisoned. Stohr and Walsh (2012) suggest one factor that has contributed to the growing number of mental health issues within the prison population in America where government attempted to move towards half way houses and outpatient facilities instead of mental health hospitals. Yet failures to this deinstitutionalisation movement led to jails and prisons becoming the go to places for mental health patients. The situation in UK prisons is similar as mental disorder was found in 37% of sentenced male prisoners, 63% of men on remand, 57% of sentenced women prisoners and 76% of women remand prisoners (Birmingham,...
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...Psychological disorders, also referred to as mental disorders, are abnormalities of the mind that result in persistent behavior patterns that can seriously affect your day-to-day function and life. Many different psychological disorders have been identified and classified, including eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa; mood disorders, such as depression; personality disorders, such as antisocial personality disorder; psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia; sexual disorders, such as sexual dysfunction; and others. Multiple psychological disorders may exist in one person ( Health Grade, 2013). The causes of these disorders are unknown; however major factors that contribute to these disorders are a person’s descent, chemical imbalances in the brain, childhood experiences, illnesses, stress, and prenatal exposures while one is still in their mother’s womb. Psychological disorders are serious and can be very detrimental to that person that has it as well as society. One psychological disorder that will be discussed in this paper is anxiety disorder, more specifically obsessive-compulsive disorder. This paper will discuss the relationship between human development and socialization, along with how this relationship affects obsessive-compulsive disorder. Throughout history Elderly Offenders Behind Bars While Reducing the Cost Over time offenders that have been sent to correctional institutions in the United States are sometimes forced to live out the rest of their lives...
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...takes a turn for the worst.When an inmate is put into solitary confinement, a simple punishment can go bad really fast.Yet most prisons in the US use it often when an inmate acts up. Solitary Confinement is ubiquitous in America. The debate on whether or not prisons should be using solitary confinement recently.Although it can be helpful for responding to aggression, solitary confinement should not be used because it drives people crazy, makes people socially awkward, and develops depression When inmates leave solitary confinement/prison,they won't have the social skills to get a job or even have a conversation with friends and family. They would essentially be socially awkward. The article “Hellhole” says,“Human beings are social creatures. We are social not just in the trivial sense that we like...
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...Running head: CALIFORNIA PRISON COSTS 1 California Prison Health Care Costs CALIFORNIA PRISON COSTS Health care is defined as (CDC, 2013) the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention 2 of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Everyone has to deal with it in one way or another. Once a person becomes an adult they are responsible for their own health. Within the state of California, in looking at the stats from the Center for Disease and Control (CDC, 2013) adults from the ages of 18-64, 21.3%, do not have any type of health insurance. 64.2% have private insurance and 15.9% have public insurance. Specifically looking at the California Department of Corrections 100% of all inmates are 100% covered with health care requirements. Currently there are approximately (Onishi, 2013) 120,000 inmates in the 33 California Prisons and the average cost is $16,000 a year per inmate with a state budget of $2 billion dollars. It is absolutely unbelievable to comprehend the situation. In a recent article by KPBS (Faryon, 2010) they identified that Richard Lauranzano an inmate at California Medical Facility, Vacaville, one of 35,000 inmates serving a life sentence learned he had stage 4 non-hodgkins lymphoma. Richard Lauranzano now states "The prison system saved my life. They sent me to outside hospitals, they never hesitated. I went through extreme chemo. And I beat it," said Lauranzano. (Faryon, 2010) stated last year, the state spent $500 million...
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...Comparison of Jails and Prisons Jail is usually the first place a criminals go once arrested by law enforcement. “Jails hold only about one-tenth of all offenders under correctional supervision, yet admit approximately four times as many offenders each year as all other correctional components combined” (, ). Jails intentions are to protect the public and citizens of each county by housing criminals and keep them off the streets. Majority of people cannot tell the difference when people say a criminal goes to jail when in reality he should be going to prison. There is confusion with serving time in jails and prisons. Jails are local operational correctional facilities that detain accused criminals before or after a judgment or verdict (Seiter, R., 2011). Jails usually house these criminals for no more than a year. The difference between jails and prisons is that jails are for short sentences oppose to prisons were criminals usually are incarcerated for longer periods. “The average length of stay for a jail is fifteen to twenty days, much less than the average thirty-six month length of stay within a prison”( Seiter, R., 2011p.78 p.2). Sheriffs usually operate the county jails in the different counties of each state and serve as holding of inmates before sentenced. When criminals arrested, get to the jail they will get booked, wait until they receive their sentence or bail out of jail, and await trial. Those criminals that cannot afford to post bail usually stay in...
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...and it’s role throughout history. It will be discussed from the time of King Henry in 1166 to 1995 speaking of the Just Dessert. It will also be discussed the comparison and similarities of the security levels in jails, state prisons and federal prisons, what makes them different or alike. Lastly, it will be discussed about the political policies in place to why there is growth in our criminal justice system. The first jail was created by King Henry the II in 1166 that was created by King Henry specifically for holding offenders for trial, however it became where it was being used hold individuals that were either poor or mentally Ill. John Howard found the jails to be a disgrace and found that the living conditions were inhumane to the criminals because of its filth. This is when John Howard and the English House of Commons created the Act of 1779 which was four requirements needed to be met and they are, (1) secure and sanitary structures, (2) systematic inspections, (3) abolition of fees charged to inmates, and (4) a reformatory regime in which inmates were confined in solitary cells but worked in common rooms during the day.” (Corrections an introduction) The U.S. soon began to follow the Act of 1779 known as the English model. In 1790 the first prison was established and it was called the Walnut Street Jail located in Philadelphia. This is where the concept of confinement and rehabilitation was created (Corrections an introduction) The Quakers who were the ones that changed...
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...MALE AND FEMALE PRISON DIFFERENCES 1 MALE AND FEMALE PRISON DIFFERENCES Carlette Hawthorne New England College Professor Kathy McDonnell-Corrections MALE AND FEMALE PRISON DIFFERENCES 2 Abstract This paper will point out some of the differences between the men and women prisons. This paper will also give examples of how gender plays a huge role in the prison systems, regarding programs that are offered to both women and men in the prison system. MALE AND FEMALE PRISON DIFFERENCES 3 A prison is a supervised facility for adults that have committed a crime. These facilities house both women and men. The housing structure for men and women are different. The women prisons do not have the heavy armed guards, watch towers or the high barbed wire fence (Schmalleger & Smylka, 2013,p 351), that we all are so use to seeing, when we ride past the men prisons. With the rise in women being jailed, for the crimes that they commit, it is only a matter of time, before the structure will change. “Between” 1980-1999 the incarceration rate for women out -weighed the men. During that time the incarceration rate for men was 303 percent, and for the women it was 576 percent (Austin, Bruce, et al. 2001). Although the incarceration rate has increased for women, the men still out-weigh the women, when it comes to men and women being in prison (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2013). The prisons, like other correctional facilities are designed to reform and rehabilitate their...
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... Prisons: Bust or Boom or Barbaric Treatment A prison is multifaceted organization to assist in the inmates in a rehabilitative process to where the prisoners can be released back into society. We know this does not work because there are no programs to assist the prisoner in changing their way of life if and when they are released. Secondly to hold dangerous people away from society, and it does this very well, but there are not that many people we need to isolate from society. The truly evil such as Charles Manson, Richard Speck, Jeffery Dahmer, and John Wayne Gacy are the epitome of the word evil. To allow society to express disapproval and society has spoken to these individuals and stated in no uncertain terms what their punishment was. Most prisoners worldwide have come from disadvantaged backgrounds which include; poverty, unemployment, lack of housing, broken families, mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse and domestic violence (Judges Prefer Public Shaming to Prison, 2013). These facts are not meant to be mitigating circumstances for the crime the inmate committed. Each of these facets of life can be overcome when a person asks for help or assistance. Prisons are full of people who have lived under the same conditions. Prison overcrowding has become a serious condition in prisons. There are not enough cells in prisons for all of the convicted criminals. This has led to early releases for...
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...-Corrections is a booming business prisons + crime = profitable industry we have an Increasing number of people under correctional supervision 6 million people under the correctional system by the end of the century - Tough on Crime Political Stance popular public policy 20 million victimizations in 2009 repeat violent felons off of the streets treat minors as adults create mandatory sentencing laws reduce time-off-for-good-behavior - Shift in Public Opinion 4.3 million violent crimes 33 million personal theft crimes - 7.2 million 3% (1 in 33) of adults in the U.S. are under some sort of correctional supervision -Probation (community sentence) and parole are NOT the same thing -1.3% average annual increase from 2000 to 2009 But declined 1.3% in 2010 to 2009 “has the correctional population supervision increased or decreased from 2000 to 2009?” Answer: INCREASED - the majority of people in the corrections system are on PROBATION - Percentage breakdowns for types of offences: 9% Public Disorder (35% federal) DUI, indecent exposure, drunken disorderly, prostitution, etc. 18% Drug Offence (51% federal) 19% Property Offense (less than 10% federal) 53% Violent Offenses (less than 10% federal) - Regions highest to lowest South West Midwest Fed? North East - Top 5 States Federal Texas California Florida New York Notes From Ch. 1 in Textbook- - Penology the study of the use of punishment for criminal acts - Penitentiary typically used...
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...One of the first prison systems was called the Pennsylvania System. The ideology of this system was used in the Eastern State Penitentiary in the early 1800s. This system had very definite ideas on how a prison should be organized and managed. The operation of this prison was based on the following 5 general principles (Clear, Cole, & Reisig, 2006): 1. Do not treat prisoners harshly, but instruct them that hard and selective forms of suffering could change their lives. 2. Solitary confinement will prevent further corruption. 3. Offenders should reflect on their transgressions and repent. 4. Solitary confinement is considered punishment. 5. Solitary confinement is economical. The Quakers are the ones that actually formed these ideas, due to the fact they wanted more human treatment for criminals. I believe that the five principles were implemented due to the kind of treatment that the criminals were getting at that time period. “Until the late 1700's, criminals were put to death, shipped to other countries to become slaves, and were thrown to wild animals just so society could literally get rid of them.” (http://voices.yahoo.com/the-early-american-correction-system-326781.html?cat=17) Then when the Pennsylvania system took hold the prisoners were able to carry out a certain amount of time in jail instead of getting hung/ killed. At the time this system took hold it was believed that the prisoners needed a strict punishment that way they could repent and become closer...
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...of four female violent offenders commit simple assaults, and three out of four female violent offenders attack other women. The incarceration rate for women is increasing at nearly twice the rate of men (Gater, 2005). Some risk factors contributing to the increase in criminal behavior among women include spousal abuse, substance abuse, and mental illness. The treatment of female offenders is becoming an increasingly important issue. Female offenders are often incarcerated in facilities designed for male treatment and rehabilitation needs. In the past, it was considered that male and female inmates had similar treatment needs, but as correctional administrators become aware of the increasing numbers and the differing needs of female offenders, they must re-evaluate the available treatment programs and begin to implement revisions to the management of program plans. It is now clear that differences in treatment between women and men within the judicial and correctional systems often have harmed rather than helped women (Harris 1998). In addition, Harris (1998) adds that evidence continues to grow of ways in which women’s experiences have been tied to their race and class, as well as the part of the country in which they lived and other personal characteristics. Research suggests that female offenders differ from male offenders on many factors relevant to rehabilitation and treatment planning. The focus of current research is why the population of female offenders is increasing...
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...Sidney Hammond History of Penitentiaries The prison system is a very important component of our society. The prisons house and rehabilitate offenders to ensure that once they do get released they will no longer be a danger to the community they live in. In the early 16th century the very first prison opened and through out the centuries the prison system evolved to what we have now. This paper will cover the history of punishment, prison development, a comparison of the Pennsylvania system and the Auburn system, and the impact and involvement of prison labor over time. (Seiter, 2011) In the early 16th and 17th century prisons were used only to hold people meanwhile they are awaiting punishment. Very rarely was prison used as punishment. In these prisons men, women, girls, boys, were all held together no matter what the crime was that they committed. The guards of these prisons were negligent, therefor, people died of diseases like goal fever. In the18th century hard labor and imprisonment was beginning to be seen as the right punishment for petty offenders. Those who were convicted were shipped out to British colonies like America, Australia, and Van Diemen’s Land. Another type of punishment used was a prison hulk, which, were located inside these ships. The ships were anchored in the land and the prisoners were sent out in the early morning to work hard labor, and at night they would be loaded and chained. This type of prison hulk did encourage public opinion that hard labor...
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...A Correctional Point of View As a corrections officer in a California state prison, I won’t boast that I am the most experienced at my job. I’ve only been posted at this prison for 3 years, but being here this long has helped me to discern the kind of relationships that inmates and corrections personnel begin to elope into. I won’t deny seeing my co-workers become friendlier with certain inmates than others. I won’t even deny that my co-workers snuck stuff like porno magazines and cigarettes in here beneath their jacket to give to certain inmates either. Respect however, goes a long way here in California State Penitentiary, regardless whether it’s right or corrupt. I think that this is the biggest issue in this prison, the abuse of our legitimate power. Most of us are able to come into work and do our jobs respectively; we get a new inmate, we process him or her, get him or her clothed and secure their belongings, and then it’s off to whatever assigned cell he or she has. If the inmate has questions or requires assistance, that’s what we’re here for; given the inmate hasn’t had a track record of misconducts. Most of us, including myself, enjoy our jobs here; those that see it my way, feel that we’re doing a service to our community, straightening out the lives of the people here behind bars. Diaz, a fellow officer of mine whom I’ve known for at least 3 months is an experienced vet at this detainment facility. Last week, a prisoner was sent to the Special...
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