Mentally ill individuals are disproportionately represented at virtually all stages of the criminal justice system, from apprehension to conviction to incarceration. It is reported that about 20% of prisoners in state penitentiaries and 21 percent of all jail inmates have a history of mental illness. Within the juvenile system, a staggering 70 percent of young people are said to have exhibited at least one mental condition and about 20% suffer from serious mental illnesses. More disturbingly, the numbers show that the proportion of mentally disturbed persons has since the 1980s increased steadily. So pervasive has the trend become that it is now estimated there are more mentally ill persons in detention facilities than there are in mental hospitals or care centers.
It is not hard to see why the number of mentally ill persons has increased over time. The police remain the first stage of the criminal justice system where they interact with mentally ill persons. When confronting them, they determine whether such persons ought to be taken to a treatment facility or arrested and processed. Since most police officers may not be trained in mental health and, therefore, unaware of the symptoms exhibited by mentally ill persons, the propensity is to arrest and process them rather than refer them community services even for minor offenses. This is especially the case when there are limited referral facilities within a community. If other levels of the criminal justice system are not keen to remedy this mistake such as through the employ of expert opinion in court, a mentally ill person is likely to end up in prison.
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Outcome
The consequences of mentally ill persons being detained and incarcerated are often far-reaching. The criminal justice system was not meant to handle such persons and, therefore, lacks the capacity to offer proper mental health treatment. The result is that most inmates with mental health problems end up without treatment leading to the worsening of the conditions. It is important to note that only one in six jail inmates, one in four federal prisoners and one in three state prisoners with mental health problems receive some form of treatment. Still, the majority who receive treatment mostly get pharmaceutical regimens that are hardly adequate to address their conditions. This is at odds with their constitutional and legal right to proper health care.
Besides the absence of treatment for their conditions, mentally ill inmates face additional threats. They are much less likely to be granted parole and therefore are likely to serve full sentences. Primarily, this is because mentally ill inmates are likely to have greater behavioral infractions related to their conditions which impact negatively on parole decisions. Separation from the community also makes their reunification after release extremely difficult since pre-existing social support systems are likely to have disappeared, significantly increasing relapse likelihood and consequently the probability of ending up behind bars. It is, in fact, a well-established fact that inmates with mental health problems are much more likely to serve multiple terms compared to those with no such problems. It is also worthwhile to underscore that other than exacerbating the already existing mental health problems for inmates, correctional facilities are likely to introduce others. They are at a great risk of sexual and physical assault and exposed to crowding and infectious diseases since most correctional facilities operate beyond capacity. The result is the likelihood of infection by other diseases like HIV, tuberculosis, and hepatitis.
Solutions
Police officers ought to be trained to recognize cases of mental illness and refer them to mental health facilities, especially for minor offences. States ought to provide full insanity defense to ensure acquittal of defendants suffering from mental illness that prevents them from controlling their behavior or seeing the wrongfulness of their actions. From this point, mental health services ought to be offered. In cases where incarceration is approved, there is a need for facilities to be compelled to offer adequate mental health services to ensure the inmate’s condition does not worsen. Through proper data management, the mental health of persons can be made available to the law enforcement database to allow such information to play a role in case management.
