The Effects Of Crime And Mental Illness - 1245 Words

Typically, mental conditions affect the cognitive and emotional aspects of a person. Thus, people with mental illness face a high risk of engaging in criminalized behaviors. Many pieces of research show that the US has the largest number of its citizens in prison with severe mental illness. This essay will analyze how crime and mental illness is a crisis in America that has fundamentally been avoided over the years that have seen the decline in institutions that were previously designed to help this population. According to studies, the United States has more than 2.2 million people in prisons and jails, and many of them have mild to severe mental conditions. According to Nicholas and Bryant, (2010), a survey of inmates in five different†¦show more content†¦Only one in every six inmates in jail and one in every three prisoners with mental illness get access to psychiatric treatment (James Glaze, 2006). There is no debate; the American prison system has become a de facto of mental health system. Notably, mental health care in American prisons started to get out of hand with closing the states sanatorium in the US (Lyons, 1984). There were about 558, 000 mental patients in states’ mental hospitals in 1955 (Nicholas Bryant, 2010). However, by the end of 1994, the states had closed down programs for about 87% of its patients. There were only about 72, 000 mental patients in the states mental hospitals (Nicholas Bryant, 2010). The fate of the discharged psychiatric patients was forgotten and little concern, if at all any, was given on follow-up programs. Consequent, the statistics on mentally ill individuals in jails and prisons have ever since been on the rise since the 1990s. Currently, there are many people with mental conditions in jails in the US than ever before. The impact of government on access to mental health care while in prison is limited (Paulson, 2012). Most states have inadequate systems for handling prisoners with a mental condition. Not to mention in adequate resources to help them once they are released. According to the Bureau of Justice, 2013, four in every ten inmates released from prison are prone to re-arrest within the first three years. The