NCJ Number
209167
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 67 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2005 Pages: 30-33
Date Published
February 2005
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article briefly discusses the growing incarceration rate for mentally ill offenders in the United States and the challenge facing the United States correctional system in understanding, managing, and treating the mentally ill.
Abstract
As States adopt truth-in-sentencing laws which require inmates to serve the majority of their sentence behind bars, inmates are spending more time in prison. In addition, the rate of inmates with a diagnosed mental disorder has been increasing steadily. Reported research estimates that maybe as many as one in five inmates within the United States correctional population are seriously mentally ill, with up to 5 percent actively psychotic at any given time. The demanding characteristics associated with this unique population and environment of the correctional setting dictate a distinctive approach to managing the mentally ill inmate. In addition, it is essential to understand the population characteristics of the mentally ill and essential to appreciate the external pressures in managing mental illness in the prison setting. To meet these challenges, corrections officials must be attentive to four fundamental beliefs for effective management of the mentally ill inmates: (1) it must be understood that the correctional mental health professionals work in a rapidly evolving industry; (2) mental health clinicians must avoid what some correctional mental health experts have identified as a tendency to classify disturbed behavior as “mad or bad;” (3) in developing management strategies, there should be an educational initiative to conceptualize mental illness in corrections as a public safety/public health issue; and (4) mental health staff should establish credibility with other corrections professionals. 8 Endnotes