Summary
The speaker, Lefford Fate, observes there is a large number of mentally ill people in prison. Additionally, he states that three things could be done to help the mentally ill. One of the changes is to adopt Crisis Intervention Team by training law enforcement individuals on how to handle the mentally ill. Crisis intervention trains police to recognize signs and symptoms of mental illness and deescalate the situation to prevent harm. While crisis intervention training reduces harm by 80%, only a small number of people are trained in this (Fate, 2016). The second option to deal with mental illness is to encourage and fund mental health courts, which can ensure the mentally ill persons are transferred to prisons that offer treatment programs in place of incarceration. This will ensure that those who are brought to prison with mental illness move out as useful and productive members of society. The last option is to expand community re-entry programs to treat those who are released from prison with mental illness to help reduce their chances of ending up in prison again.
Reaction
The video has enlightened my understanding of the prevalence of mental illness in the prison population. I feel that the prisons have become a failure in handling the mentally ill in society because of failing to understand how to help and deal with mental illness to reduce the likelihood of returning to prison for those released. The fact that there are more mentally ill persons in prison than those in society indicates that mental illness is a critical contributor to arrests and criminal acts. After incarceration, the prisons do not offer good conditions to ensure individuals are treated or prepared to get back to society. This explains the poor conditions and death of mental illness patients in prisons. Lack of investment in treating mentally ill prisoners brings more harm than good to society because such individuals have a higher chance of committing a crime again. I believe prisons should be treated as a priority in addressing the needs of mentally ill persons.
Reference
Fate, L (2016). TEDx Talks. ” Correcting corrections: Why I am in prison”.[Video]. Youtube.