Kyla
04-08-2004, 01:48 AM
Mental Health in Prisons
An introduction to the TIDI affirmative case
Questions
Who is going to prisons?
How many people with mental illness are in prison?
What is the current system doing to provide mental health care to prisoners?
What about mental hospitals?
Why do they end up in prison?
Are people with mental illnesses violent?
What can we do about it?
Who is going to prison?
If recent incarceration rates continue, 1 of every 20 persons (5.1%) will serve time in a prison during their lifetime.
Lifetime chances of a person going to prison are higher for
-- men (9%) than for women (1.1%)
-- blacks (16.2%) and Hispanics (9.4%) than for whites (2.5%)
Based on current rates of first incarceration, an estimated 28% of black males will enter State or Federal prison during their lifetime, compared to 16% of Hispanic males and 4.4% of white males.
How many people with mental illness are in prison?
2 million people are in prisons or jails; 10 million are booked into jails during a year.
About 5% of the US population has a serious mental illness. However, 16% of those in prison or jail has a mental illness.
In NY, men involved in the public mental health system over a five-year period were four times as likely to be incarcerated as other men; for women the ratio was six to one.
The LA, Chicago and NYC jails each hold more people with mental illness on any given day than any hospital in the US.
What is the current system doing to provide mental health care to prisoners?
Types of services include medication, therapy and counseling.
Services vary from state to state
Federal prisons often provide the most comprehensive services
But all prisons are becoming more and more overcrowded.
The quality of care in prisons is much worse than on the outside
Why do people with mental illness end up in prison?
Nearly three-quarters of inmates with mental illness have a co-occurring substance abuse problem.
Inmates with mental illness in state prison were 2.5 times as likely to have been homeless in the year preceding their arrest than inmates without a mental illness.
Nearly half the inmates in prison with a mental illness were incarcerated for committing a nonviolent crime.
Are people with mental illnesses violent?
Nearly three-quarters of inmates with mental illness have a co-occurring substance abuse problem.
Inmates with mental illness in state prison were 2.5 times as likely to have been homeless in the year preceding their arrest than inmates without a mental illness.
Nearly half the inmates in prison with a mental illness were incarcerated for committing a nonviolent crime.
One study found that people with mental illness are almost three times as likely to be victims of violent crime than people without mental illness.
What can we do about it?
The Affirmative Plan: The Department of Health and Human Services in coordination with the Department of Justice will require that comprehensive mental health care, including screening, treatment, counseling and therapy, medication, housing and transition planning for release, be available to all persons under the jurisdiction of the federal Bureau of Prisons. Federal prisons will be required to meet accreditation standards set out by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care and will also be subject to the same peer review and quality assurance standards as non-correctional mental health care providers.
How will the affirmative plan solve the problems?
Screening
Treatment
Counseling and therapy
Medication
Housing
Transition planning for release
An introduction to the TIDI affirmative case
Questions
Who is going to prisons?
How many people with mental illness are in prison?
What is the current system doing to provide mental health care to prisoners?
What about mental hospitals?
Why do they end up in prison?
Are people with mental illnesses violent?
What can we do about it?
Who is going to prison?
If recent incarceration rates continue, 1 of every 20 persons (5.1%) will serve time in a prison during their lifetime.
Lifetime chances of a person going to prison are higher for
-- men (9%) than for women (1.1%)
-- blacks (16.2%) and Hispanics (9.4%) than for whites (2.5%)
Based on current rates of first incarceration, an estimated 28% of black males will enter State or Federal prison during their lifetime, compared to 16% of Hispanic males and 4.4% of white males.
How many people with mental illness are in prison?
2 million people are in prisons or jails; 10 million are booked into jails during a year.
About 5% of the US population has a serious mental illness. However, 16% of those in prison or jail has a mental illness.
In NY, men involved in the public mental health system over a five-year period were four times as likely to be incarcerated as other men; for women the ratio was six to one.
The LA, Chicago and NYC jails each hold more people with mental illness on any given day than any hospital in the US.
What is the current system doing to provide mental health care to prisoners?
Types of services include medication, therapy and counseling.
Services vary from state to state
Federal prisons often provide the most comprehensive services
But all prisons are becoming more and more overcrowded.
The quality of care in prisons is much worse than on the outside
Why do people with mental illness end up in prison?
Nearly three-quarters of inmates with mental illness have a co-occurring substance abuse problem.
Inmates with mental illness in state prison were 2.5 times as likely to have been homeless in the year preceding their arrest than inmates without a mental illness.
Nearly half the inmates in prison with a mental illness were incarcerated for committing a nonviolent crime.
Are people with mental illnesses violent?
Nearly three-quarters of inmates with mental illness have a co-occurring substance abuse problem.
Inmates with mental illness in state prison were 2.5 times as likely to have been homeless in the year preceding their arrest than inmates without a mental illness.
Nearly half the inmates in prison with a mental illness were incarcerated for committing a nonviolent crime.
One study found that people with mental illness are almost three times as likely to be victims of violent crime than people without mental illness.
What can we do about it?
The Affirmative Plan: The Department of Health and Human Services in coordination with the Department of Justice will require that comprehensive mental health care, including screening, treatment, counseling and therapy, medication, housing and transition planning for release, be available to all persons under the jurisdiction of the federal Bureau of Prisons. Federal prisons will be required to meet accreditation standards set out by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care and will also be subject to the same peer review and quality assurance standards as non-correctional mental health care providers.
How will the affirmative plan solve the problems?
Screening
Treatment
Counseling and therapy
Medication
Housing
Transition planning for release