Prisons Lacking Mental Health Treatment

[Judi Lynn]

Prisons Lacking Mental Health Treatment
By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN , 09.06.2006, 06:57 PM

More than half of America's prison and jail inmates have symptoms of a mental health problem, the Justice Department estimated Wednesday. But fewer than one-third of those with problems are getting treatment behind bars.

The study by the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics also found the incidence of symptoms much higher among women than men. Compared to inmates without symptoms, these mentally troubled prisoners were more likely to have been jailed before, to get into a fight behind bars, to have been physically or sexually abused in the past and to have drug problems, the bureau said.

But troubled inmates were no more likely to have used a weapon during their offense (37 percent for troubled and nontroubled state prisoners) and only slightly more likely to have committed a violent offense (49 percent of state prisoners with symptoms but 46 percent among inmates without problems).

The results are "both a scandal and national tragedy," said Michael J. Fitzpatrick, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, a national grass-roots organization dedicated to improving the lives of the mentally ill. "The study reveals that the problem is two to three times greater than anyone imagined."
(snip/...)

http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/entrefinance/feeds/ap/2006/09/06/ap2998272.html

[BeyondThePale]

1. Ironically, for many patients it is the only place they will receive care!

What is equally horrifying is that mental health resources for the poor, the chronically ill, and the uninsured are rapidly disappearing in many, if not most, communities. While mental health resources for the incarcerated are pathetic, many people struggle to get services in the community. As a result, they are often unable to function successfully in many domains (e.g., work, school, socially, daily living skills) and often slip through the cracks until they run afoul of the law. Naturally, they lack access to quality legal representation and wind up in prison.

Our country's priorities are fucked. Three billion per week in Iraq while schools, health care, science, and our infrastructure fail again and again. I always thought that a country was best judged by how it served its most needy: children, elderly, the infirmed, as well as how it promoted science and the arts. I will say it again, we are seriously fucked!

[KT2000]

3. How true

I spent a scary evening last night while my neighbor, who is known to have mental health problems, went beserk in his backyard. The yelling finally stopped as I think his closest neighbor must have called the police.
What a horrible thing - I just locked my doors because calling for help means going to jail. There are no other alternatives here.

He is sick - not a criminal.

You are so right - our priorities are seriously fucked up!

[aquaman]

2. As a clinical social worker I can tell you.....

Mental Health services are generally horrid for those that cannot afford it and have to depend on "the government" for these services. I have worked in correctional settings and other mental health settings as well. The clients that I worked with in prison often got better services as a whole than in other "mental health" settings. Services have been cut more and more in the time that GWB has been in office.

[Monkeyman]

4. Yep just look a the mental health cinincs for veterans closed