Introduction
Cases of mental illnesses have been recorded to be on the increase. Issues like budget cuts have had a great impact on the mental health of many individuals. Due to the rise in mental cases, some prison facilities have been used as substitutes for certified mental facilities where those with mental conditions get medical attention. However, this has brought a great controversy in some sections of the stakeholders.
Even though, the use of prison facilities for to handle mentally sick patients, it has been argued that this should not be the case as the prison facilities and mental facilities should be used to handle two sets of completely different types of issues. The fact is that prison facilities are designed to handle those who require undergoing behavioral rehabilitation while mental facilities should be used to handle those who suffer from mental conditions. This is one of the main issues the research will attempt to resolve.
The Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this research is to find out the extent to which the prison facilities are not relevant and or appropriate in the handling of mentally ill individuals. Unfortunately, due to multiple budget cuts, some of the prison facilities have been converted into primary facilities to be used in handling cases of individuals with mental conditions. Interruptions of treatment and adjournment of medication can result in the renaissance of illness which can lead to inappropriate behavioral issues and increase their chances of being arrested or rearrested. Most prison employees are not trained to appropriately deal with mentally ill individuals.
This may potentially result in mistreatment or even death because of staff not knowing how to cautiously handle different issues that involve direct interaction with the mentally ill inmates. Furthermore, due to a lack of proper attention and clinical treatment or psychological counseling, mentally ill inmates tend to serve longer prison terms than non-mentally ill inmates (Randall, 1999).
Problem Statement
Due to the closure of a significant number of institutions meant to handle mental cases some of the nation’s prison facilities have been utilized as substitutes in handling and confining individuals with mental conditions. In the last few decades, the prison facilities in the United States have been used as part of the normal mental healthcare system handling approximately two to four hundred thousand individuals with mental conditions (Abramsky, 2003).
Unfortunately, the prison guards and some other prison staff members are not trained to handle cases of mentally ill individuals; this sometimes consequently results in the abuse and ill-treatment of the mentally ill people.
One fact is that the prison guards are trained to act like soldiers and not on how to deal with those with mentally sick personalities. Although prisons do have appropriately trained staff members, they do not deal or interact with the inmates on a 24hr bases. According to Randall reports (1999), once an individual is incarcerated due to mental illness, such an individual is most likely to remain in prison facilities relatively longer than other inmates who have no mental conditions; this is facilitated by issues of discipline that are commonly observed in mentally ill individuals due to lack of clinical attention as compared to other inmates.
H: Prisons are not suitably outfitted to successfully deal with mentally ill inmates and due to the lack of treatment they are more likely to receive more prison time than other inmates. IV: The numbers of mentally ill inmates in prison whom do not receive proper treatment DV: are at higher risk for returning to prison for repetitive crime acts, due to lack of treatment.
Problem Questions
- Q1: Why should the mentally ill suffer due to budget cuts?
- Q2: Why have prisons become the main facility for housing the mentally ill?
Hypothesis
- H1: rehabilitation of severely mentally ill individuals in prison facilities is not appropriate.
- H2: After an individual has been incarcerated the chances of the mentally ill individual returning to prisons are significantly high due to the lack of treatment and medical care.
Research Design
The research study will utilize the Quasi-Experiment; the choice of this research design is informed by the fact that randomization is not possible given the main subject of this research study. This research design is also relatively easier to set up than the reseal experimental research design. Moreover, due to its simplicity, the Quasi-Experiment is cheap in terms of financial implication and time cost. Again, using utilizing this type of research design significantly reduces the dangers of external validity since natural environment in which the study is done do not face the same challenges of artificiality in comparison to a well-controlled real experiment in a laboratory situation.
Literature Review
According to available literature, the use of the American prison facilities to handle mentally ill individual can be traced to the past two hundred years; instead of serving the intended purposes, the prison facilities ended up causing more harm that benefit the mentally ill individuals. This consequently resulted into clamor for certain necessary reforms in 1800s. This led to the establishment of mental hospitals ran by the government during the middle of the 20th century.
Professional medical treatment and rehabilitation were set up within the mental hospital to handle such cases of mental (Prison Policy Initiative, 2010). Unfortunately, the scenario was reversed and the prison facilities have, once again, been introduced in handling cases of mental sicknesses. It is important to note that prison facilities are designed for the security and rehabilitation of criminals, and not for the treatment service for mental ill individuals.
Available literature indicates that the prison staff members are not trained to deal with cases disciplinary actions for mentally ill inmates. This has, in most cases, led to a lack of treatment and therapy for mentally ill inmates and hence resulting into aggravated deviant and disciplinary misconducts amongst the individuals with mental conditions. Mentally ill individuals who do not receive any form of clinical intervention may potentially become worse and not only cause damage to themselves but others too (Levenson, 2005). According to recent research, it has been found out that mentally ill inmates who are released back into society without receiving any clinical attention are most likely to return to prison due to behavioral misconduct inconsistent with the national statutes.
Other research findings have also indicated that once an individual with a mental condition is imprisoned, it is highly likely that that may be the first but not the last time. The implication of this is that a mentally ill inmate is most likely to be imprisoned again if proper medical attention is not offered to the mental victim. According to Harrison & Nadeau (2007), a significantly large number of individuals are released out of prison and close supervision is done hence leaving mentally ill released inmates in the danger of being rearrested due to repeat offenses. According to a story by Stephey (2007), Mike is aged 31 and suffers three ailments (i.e. bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and depression).
Since teenage Mike has continually faced arrests, charges, and imprisoned. Unfortunately, there are thousands of people like Mike in prisons facilities across America and other parts of the world. Lack of steady treatment and medication can result into a reappearance of disorder and behavior leading to another arrest. The mentally sick individuals who cannot access sufficient support and clinical treatment can perpetually become victims of the justice system win cases where their behavioral traits deteriorates to an extent that they continuously contravene the laws (Alaska Justice Forum, 2004).
Without the proper care mentally ill individuals are put on the street with no direction and many of them have nowhere to go for help or medication causing most of them to return, especially those with severe mental illness. According to Psychiatric Disorders and Repeat Incarceration (2007), Inmates with major mental disorders had substantially increased risks of multiple incarcerations going by the results of study conducted for a period of six years. Bipolar disorders inmates were found to be at a higher risk (3.3 times) compared to those convicts with no main psychiatric ailment (Psychiatric Disorders and Repeat Incarceration, 2007).
Research Method
The research will utilize the method of triangulation in collecting data since information will gathered from a number of primary sources some of which may not be achieved if only one research method is to be used. The methods to be used are open-ended structured questionnaires which will be administered to a sample of prison staff members and those who are involved in the interventions in cases of mental situations. Again, the law enforcement agencies will be interviewed using open-ended questionnaires. Besides, secondary sources will also be utilized in getting the necessarily required data.
Operational Variables
Operational variables in this research will be the number of mentally ill individuals serving jail term, the number of untreated mental cases of inmates released back into the society after completely serving their jail term and the mode in which the prison staff handle the mentally sick inmates. It is important to mention that the variables will be used at conceptual level since the research seeks to confirm what is already perceived known. The variables will be studied in their natural settings.
Measurement
The research will seek to measure the effectiveness or failure of prison facilities in relation to handling cases of mental illnesses. Therefore, it will measure this using vital statistics collected through primary and secondary means. The effectiveness or failure will be measured using the number of times a mentally and untreated individual has been rearrested since his or her first case in relation to justice system. The out from prison facilities will also be compared with a parallel study that has already been done on the effectiveness of mental hospitals in taking care of mentally seek patients.
Validity and Reliability
The reliability of the research will be carried out in such a manner in which a similar research can be done using the same methodology and achieve the same results and outcomes. This will be ensured by having the as a large of respondents as possible. Moreover, the methodology to be used in the research will first be tested before the actual research is carried out. In order to ensure validity in the research, the process will involve ensuring that only the parameters set out for measurements are studied. There will be constant checks and balances to keep the research process within the set out framework.
Ethical Issues
In order to be complaint with research ethics, the research work will first seek the permission of the relevant authorities from prison institutions; the respondents to be interviewed or issued with questionnaires will be allowed to choose whether or not they are willing to participate in the study. Moreover, the respondents will not be forced or in any way induced to give information they are not willing to give or offer to the public members.
Conclusion
The research study will be important in finding out the relevance of prison facilities in handling issues of mental sicknesses amongst the inmates and other mentally ill individuals who may be brought into prison facilities.. The results will also be useful to mental clinicians and prison authority who may want to collaborate in handling cases of mental illnesses amongst prison inmates.
Reference List
Abramsky, S. (2003). Ill-equipped: U.S. prisons and offenders with mental illness. United States: Human Rights Watch.
Harrison, J. & Nadeau, A. (2007). Mental Illness, Recidivism, and Loss of good Time among Inmates in a State Prison. Web.
Levenson, J. (2005). The American Psychiatric Publishing textbook of psychosomatic medicine. New York: American Psychiatric Pub.
Prison Policy Initiative. (2010). Prison Policy Initiative. Web.
Psychiatry Disorders and Repeat Incarceration. (2007): The Revolving Prison Door. Web.
Randall, K. (1999). More Than Quarter Million Mentally Ill in America’s Jails and Prisons. Web.
Stephey, M.J. (2007). De-Criminalizing Mental Illness. Time in partnership with CNN. Web.