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  • Essay / Mentally Ill Prisoners - 1660

    Wouldn't it be completely irrational to sentence every mentally ill person to prison simply because they suffer from a mental illness? Often, mentally ill people behave eccentrically and attract the attention of police officers who do not differentiate between mentally ill and mentally stable people and immediately charge them with crimes. There are approximately 300,000 inmates, and the number increases every year, who suffer from mental illness and do not receive appropriate care. Prisons are not adequately equipped to care for inmates with mental illnesses, which can lead to an inmate's illness worsening. Society has failed to provide sufficient social resources to citizens suffering from psychiatric illnesses in its community, transferring mentally unstable individuals between psychiatric facilities and prisons when in fact adequate assistance, such as the provision of medication appropriate, rehabilitation opportunities and more psychiatric hospitals in communities, is a necessity. It is necessary to replenish these individuals. Often, people with untreated mental illness behave in abnormal ways that disturb the public, causing them to be perceived as scary and dangerous, which attracts the attention of police officers. Harrington agrees that "without the medications they need to control their illness, they sometimes lapse into psychophysics and behave in bizarre ways." » (Harrington) A mentally unstable individual's view on what is acceptable and what is not acceptable varies from that of a healthy person. Therefore, they are unable to understand appropriate public behavior. From public urination to public nescience, they are accused of crimes and sentenced to prison. Shannon Fiack points out that “there is a background... middle of paper... the mentally ill. Shannon Fiack. “The Mentally Ill Are Mishandled by the Justice System” by the American CivilLiberties Union. Mental illness and criminal behavior. Shannon Fiack, ed. At IssueSeries. Greenhaven Press, 2009. American Civil Liberties Union, “Mental Illness and the Death Penalty in the United States,” ACLU, January 31, 2005. Reprinted with permission. In the article “The Mentally Ill Are Mishandled by the Justice System,” Shannon explains how There are approximately 3,000 mentally ill inmates in one prison who are unfairly sent there. Many mental illnesses are caused by post-traumatic experiences such as childhood abuse or childhood sexual abuse. She also explains how often judges and officers don't fully understand why mentally ill people do what they do, so they misunderstand the person's actions and send them.