Recently a study was published by Kaiser Permanente. This study echoed the findings published 10 years ago concerning the same topic. Our jails and prisons are filled with sick people. In state prisons, 73% of women and 55% of men have at least one mental health problem; In federal prisons, 61% of women and 44% of men have mental health issues; and in local jails, 75% of women and 63% of men are mentally ill. This places the concept of the criminally insane under the microscope. Even the term criminally insane, seems as oxymoron? Would any sane person habitually commit crimes that would keep them confined to a prison for years and years? Would sane people commit crimes against the society in which they live? In 2013, 28% of Connecticut residents being treated for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder had been arrested or detained. In 2006, the Department of Justice reported that one in six inmates in state prisons and one in four in local jails were psychotic. It is also true that our prisons are full of small time narcotic offenders, or violent crimes committed under the influence of alcohol. Our studies are demonstrating that these mentally ill individuals are self medicating through street drugs or alcohol. They lack the control to maintain their habit and when it get out of hand it leads to crimes against property or violence. These individuals once incarcerated are placed in a system where violence, bullying, and mistreatment rules. Inmates with mental illness are much more likely to be injured in prison fights. The Department of Justice reported that 20% of inmates with mental illness were injured in jailhouse fights compared with 10% of inmates without mental illness. In local jails, inmates with mental illness are three times as likely to be injured.
What i do believe that as long as prison is a private lucrative business the system will need prisoners. Prison in the U.S. is a multi-BILLION dollar industry. The question arises concerning the monies necessary to hospitalize the patient. The cost of maintaining a prisoner in jail for 1 year is $44,000. That amount of money can be used in a constructive way for therapy and medication.
Let us see if the new health care initiative will open the door for mental health, or will it be continued to kept in the dark ages both socially and medically.