I believe that officers on patrol have run ins or see a person who is mentally ill in their patrol area and probably had to tell that person to move or not sleep here or received a call about a trespasser, etc. After a couple of run ins, calls or stops the officer decides that he is spending to much time with this person and arrest that person for a minor offense to either get him/her help or to remove him/her from the area. No, it is not fair but the officer is responsible to protect a vast area and… Read more »

Yes Bradley,this is the irony of fate that the only super power in the world with all its civilized modern knowledge has utterly failed to understand the difference between a jail and an hospital,between a a patient and a criminal,between thieves robbers murderers and the metal patients heart patients .The mental patients the non criminal lunatics are being kept in prisons in thousands instead of mental hospitals and mental asylums,They are being treated by ex servicemen prison guards instead psychologists and psychiatrists. All this is helping “more the inmates in prisons,More the profits for private prison corporations” The government in… Read more »

America running out of tears,Time to demand a cure!
By Judge G.

Carolyn Gallichio
Executive and Clinical Director at ADVOCATE COUNSELING SERVICES

For sure! I have witnessed some sad stories this past week that’s for sure!

I’m not trying to be the odd one here, however; let’s call a spade a spade. They are not in jail because they are mentally ill. They are in jail because they are criminals. They are criminals because they have worthless public defenders. They have public defenders because they can’t afford real attorneys. If they can’t afford attorneys, they certainly cannot afford medical coverage. If they can’t afford medical coverage, they can’t afford their medicine. If they can’t afford their medicine, it really doesn’t matter what mental illness they have. In the state of Florida, you can’t make more that… Read more »

They get medicine when they are in prison. Then what? They come home and can’t afford their meds. Don’t you think many of these “model” prisoners continue to go back because it’s the only place they feel comfortable. Studies show that it is because of the institutionalization, and that might be partially true in some cases, however; show me a man or women that was found innocent after serving years in jail. They don’t go back. Why? Because they probably weren’t on meds that made them “normal”. People continue to go back because they can get medicine that makes them… Read more »

Shaukat Mahmood
Inspector General Prisons (Retired)

Do the different dimensions of this inhumanity deter us to find solution?

I like the comment on medication leading to the return to prison,but it is unprovable and counterintuitive.Most innocent people do not return to prison,because they innocent.However, when you have a mentally ill person who is innocent,then you have a legal and moral calamity.The truth is,at least in the federal prison system,there is no mental health treatment. As a lawyer,this is appalling.This affects the innocent and guilty and those in the middle . I saw many cases in prison with privately retained counsel where the lawyers were totally asleep at the switch and didn’t even bring mental health concerns to the… Read more »

In my opinion, the ONLY real solution is to offer free medicine to everyone Obviously the government will never do that, because they don’t really care about criminals or the mentally ill. It is a sad reality that people are looking to fix the wrong problem.
By Laura

Walter..I know we are talking about criminal court here, however; I can tell you that the silence of mental illness in family court is ignored everyday, Mother, father and sometimes child I am not an attorney, however; I did play one for 4 years, successfully, (my own custody nightmare) and from what I learned is that judges do not want to hear about mental illnesses. I kind of understand it though because it is not an excuse. There are many people with severe mental illnesses that do not commit crimes. The irony is that most of the people that have… Read more »

I did a great deal of family law and I agree that the term mentally ill causes custody to change immediately.The mother is usually blamed for the unknown abuse by a male friend or husband. The system is slanted,but usually in the direction of bias against the mentally ill in criminal and civil cases.Meds are only part of the equation-it lack of overall treatment. You are always going to have your sociopathic people using mental illness as an excuse,but that’s not a major problem. The problem is “if you ignore a problem,it will go away.I base what i say on… Read more »

Keith Substance abuse counselor CASA Columbia University reports that 85% of people incarcerated in the US meet substance abuse dependence criteria; this coupled with mental illness is the problem. Major changes in drug laws and how we divert folks to treatment need to take place. However there is another issue of better joining mental health providers with substance abuse providers. There has been much better developments in bringing these two fields together however there is still a ways to go. Many providers have limited training on both subjects. All three systems coming together is the ultimate solution. Judicial, substance abuse… Read more »

Ed Barajas –Freelance writer Prisons are the new mental health hospitals? Of course they are. That’s what happens when the knee jerk response is to deinstitutionalize. Now the same like-minded people who deinstitutionalized mental health care want to do the same for prisons. They use guilt as their weapon of choice to suggest that incarceration is terrible. They use meaningless incarceration rates to show that we’re more oppressive than countries like N Korea and Iran. They describe the plight of poor souls in “solitary confinement.” There’s even a movement to do away with life without parole sentences because it takes… Read more »

I definitely think we need to work on building new mental illness hospitals because placing someone who is not mentally stable into the prison system is not safe for other prisoners, employees, and the mentally ill themselves.
By Brianna

Toto. What most people in our country, and probably the world, don’t seem to know (they’re never told) is that incarceration in the US is not the sanction of choice. More than two thirds of our corrections population is under community supervision rather than locked up. In some states the community supervision segment of corrections is more than 80% of the total. So in our country when we talk about alternatives to incarceration we should understand that incarceration IS an alternative sentence. We also have a lot of “country club” prisons that are every bit as cushy, comfy, (if those… Read more »

The end result of sending the mentally ill to prison rather than a more appropriate facility is a result of funding, or a lack thereof, as Ed and others eloquently stated. Think about the Law Officer on the street and the very few options that they have in dealing with the mentally ill on the street. In California, unless the individual fits 5150 W&I criteria: 1. Danger to Self; 2. Danger to others, or 3. Is Gravely Disabled, the criminal path is the only other option. If someone commits a crime and is detained at a psychiatric facility, they may… Read more »

Ed Barajas
–Freelance writer

We seem to believe that if you build them (mental health and drug treatment facilities) they will come. As Jim stated, the severely mentally ill as well as those with severe drug addictions don’t tend to voluntarily seek treatment. They need “encouragement”, and prodding from an authority. This is where the justice system can do the greatest good by collaborating with treatment providers.

Good strides are being made in the court system through community courts and mental health courts.

As long as mental illness is seen differently than any other physical illness, as a “lesser malady”, and the norm is to push the problem towards corrections to handle it, it is easy to criminalize mental illness.
By Stephen

I would like to clarify one thing. Mental illness does not absolve offenders from responsibility for a criminal act. I am sorry if I am preaching here to the converted, but we should also discuss severity. Minor offenses are easy, but when a mentally ill subject commits an act that is serious and illegal, he doesn’t get a pass. Next argument then starts, “yeah but he should get treatment and not warehousing.” I get it, but if you visit prisons you will see the mental illness very plainly. Then when you examine what they did, the answer is not so… Read more »

Ed Barajas –Freelance writer Great point Mike. “Reformers” often use certain words or phrases for effect. “The mentally ill” is one of these. “Children” is another one that’s used to describe the appalling state of juvenile justice. No clarification if these “children” are locked up for truancy or for mass murder and everything in between. My favorite is “non-violent offender.” Al Capone was locked up for tax evasion. He would have qualified as a “non-violent offender.” I put the word reformer in parenthesis because these people sometimes (more often than not) do more harm than good with their reforms. It… Read more »

Corrections has been forced to make changes as the political sector makes sweeping changes relative to providing facilities for inpatient services for the mentally ill. The most challenging change was the rampant closing of inpatient facilities for the mentally ill leaving the problem in the local community. These closings created struggles for corrections as they have been with either no change or even reduced staffing and budgets to handle the new demands. The added training for correctional staff as well as the need for mental health staff along with the costs of psychotropic medication is overwhelming local, state and federal… Read more »

Ed Barajas –Freelance writer The good news is that the needed transformational changes have been occurring in the justice system for the past 20 + years. Even better news is that these changes have occurred primarily from within the system rather than forced upon it through outside forces such as legislation and court orders. The system is becoming more community focused. The advent of community policing has spawned community prosecution, community courts, and community probation and parole. Even prisons and jails have adopted the Crime Prevention Trough Environmental Design (CPTED) concept to design and manage new jails and prisons. You… Read more »

If you were to take an overview of the litigation brought against corrections along with state mandated “minimum standards” imposed, you might consider this as changes brought about from outside of the system. Corrections normally does not implement change from within but only when compelled to from outside of their area of con troll. Transformational changes occurring in the justice system as a larger entity, including the court system, have been influenced by outside sources but have also been slow because of political agendas. Changes that have occurred have normally been positive but slow to happen. Corrections, like law enforcement,… Read more »

n the 1970’s the Federal Bureau of Prisons pioneered the use of a new type of institutional design called the direct supervision model. This model has now spread throughout the correctional system. Direct supervision borrows heavily from the principles of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. This came about because of forward thinking leadership within the BOP rather than because of legislation or court orders. Experts have long predicted that our overcrowded prisons would soon erupt into violence in a rash of disturbances. In fact, just the opposite has happened. Prisons have become much more peaceful in the past 30 years.… Read more »

The history of direct supervision facility has led to many improvements in corrections and the long-term benefits such as reduced violence and suicides has been a major result. The obvious struggle that is faced in corrections is staffing, training and adjusting to societal changes such as how they deal with mentally ill offenders as well as the practice of dumping mentally ill into local facilities as there are no other options. The increased mentally ill offender population has exponentially added to budget demands as well as providing trained correctional staff and mental health care staff. In a mental health housing… Read more »

Ed Barajas –Freelance writer Stephen. “The most important question to be asked is “are they prepared to handle the demanding needs that come with inpatient mental health?” That’s an excellent question. An even better question in retrospect should have been: In view of efforts to deinstitutionalize mental health treatment, should prisons become the new mental health facilities? We tend to ignore the law of unintended consequences at our peril. That’s why I tend to repeat like a mantra that it’s not about the answers. It’s about the questions–the crucial questions that must be asked but seldom–if ever–are. Back to something… Read more »

I have found that WHO asks the questions as well as WHO provides the answers is most important. Many times those who ask the questions are not in a position to be heard and those that have the answers seem to be involved in a quagmire of bureaucracy and personal agendas. The questions are being asked but “pragmatic” issues come into play. Budget is one but also the practice of “that’s way it’s been done, so why change” continues to get in the way. Also, the number of political players involved can hinder the process. As to deinstitutionalize mental health… Read more »

I agree Stephen. As far as policymaking at the legislative and judicial level the answers tend to be provided by “experts” who have a lot of classroom and research experience but little practical experience. Research is great, even crucial, but most of what passes for research is often biased and slanted toward one ideological view or another rather than favoring the scientific method.
By Ed

Maybe I missed it, but did any of the previous comments mention the numbers of nonviolent female offenders that have mental health issues?
By Denise

Due to the stresses placed on correction facilities and staff, a meaningful evaluation at the beginning of the judicial process for non-violent offenders must be implemented. This could include a diversion program for first time offenders, mentally I’ll offenders and those offenders that are MR-DD. I do not believe we should excuse these offenders from accountability rather move them away from traditional incarceration to more appropriate options beginning with the judicial process.
By Stephen

Denise. I can’t speak for anyone else (although I think all would agree with me) but when I speak of the mentally ill in prisons I mean all races, genders and types of offenders–violent and non-violent. I think we have to learn from our mistakes of how we (mis)handled the mental health problem in our country and not repeat those same mistakes with the CJS by deinstitutionalizing prisons. Again, reformers will say they don’t want to deinstitutionalize prisons for the “most violent offenders” but no one seems to stop to ask what that means exactly. I DO believe that short… Read more »