United States: Mentally Ill Mistreated in Prison

More Mentally Ill in Prison Than in Hospitals
(New York, October 22, 2003) Mentally ill offenders face mistreatment and neglect in many U.S. prisons, Human Rights Watch charged in a report released today.


One in six U.S. prisoners is mentally ill. Many of them suffer from serious illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression. There are three times as many men and women with mental illness in U.S. prisons as in mental health hospitals.
The rate of mental illness in the prison population is three times higher than in the general population.

According to the 215-page report, Ill-Equipped: U.S. Prisons and Offenders with Mental Illness, prisons are dangerous and damaging places for mentally ill people. Other prisoners victimize and exploit them. Prison staff often punish mentally ill offenders for symptoms of their illness – such as being noisy or refusing orders, or even self-mutilation and attempted suicide. Mentally ill prisoners are more likely than others to end up housed in especially harsh conditions, such as isolation, that can push them over the edge into acute psychosis.

SNIP

According to Human Rights Watch, the high rate of incarceration of the mentally ill is a consequence of underfunded, disorganized, and fragmented community mental health services. State and local governments have shut down mental health hospitals across the United States, but failed to provide adequate alternatives. Many people with mental illness – particularly those who are poor, homeless, or struggling with substance abuse problems – cannot get mental health treatment. If they commit a crime, even low-level nonviolent offenses, punitive sentencing laws mandate imprisonment.

“Unless you are wealthy, it can be next to impossible to receive mental health services in the community,” said Fellner. “Many prisoners might never have ended up behind bars if publicly funded treatment had been available.”


Much more: http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/10/us102203.htm

In Michigan, we're down to a handful of hospitals. Private facilities will only keep a patient for 30 days or so, when the insurance runs out (except the really exclusive places that rich people pay cash to put their crazy family members away in). De-instiutionalization only works on so many patients. If they are paranoid schizophrenics who refuse to take their meds because they think that the medication is poison, they need to be in a hospital to ensure that they take their medication, and to make sure they don't hurt themselves or others. Some of our hospitals that are now closed were well known for their humane treatment of their patients-Northville, the Lafayette Clinic, Lapeer S.H., Traverse City, etc. These weren't like the place in "Francis".

NAMI Calls for Action Following Report on Brutal Mistreatment of U.S. Prisoners With Mental Illnesses

http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=October&Template=/ContentManagement/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=11100

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"The report is more than a wake-up call. It is the equivalent of a five-alarm fire," said NAMI legal director Ron Honberg. "It documents brutal, appalling conditions and the denial of medical treatment of individuals who suffer from severe illnesses—who in spite of their incarceration are sick through no fault of their own."

"The report gives new urgency to passage of the DeWine-Strickland bill now pending in Congress, and other proposals for fundamental change in the nation’s criminal justice and mental health systems."
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The DeWine-Strickland bill is S. 1194, "The Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2003" and there is a link to more info at the bottom of the NAMI press release.