Our Shameful Treatment of the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
I was compelled to write about our shameful treatment of the incarcerated mentally ill after listening to KQED’s The California Report program, titled: “Lawmakers Push for More Mental Health Spending,” by April Dembosky. In her story, Ms. Dembosky reported Darrell Steinberg, California’s Senate president pro Tem and his allies “…want to spend $132 million on efforts aimed at reducing the number of people with mental illness who are incarcerated, and lowering recidivism rates of people who are released from prison, then re-offend because they could not get proper mental health treatment.”
“In this photo taken as part of federal litigation over California prison conditions, prisoners await a group therapy session at Mule Creek State Prison. – Photo filed in U.S. District Court briefings.” Caption and photo are both copied from San Francisco Bay View’s article, “Motion Denied, Governor: Medical neglect is still killing prisoners,” http://sfbayview.com/2013/motion-denied-governor-medical-neglect-is-still-killing-prisoners/
Ms. Dembosky then stated their suggestions were drawn from Stanford Law School Three Strikes Project’s report, “When did prisons become acceptable mental healthcare facilities?,” which brings me to the focus of this post — our shameful treatment of the incarcerated mentally ill. This picture “tells” part of the story and is found on the opening page of this report.
According to the report, co-published by California State Senate pro Tem, Darrell Steinberg, Stanford Law School Professor, David Mills and Stanford Law School Three Strikes Project Direction, Michael Romano, “In 1971 there were 20,000 people in California prisons; by 2010 the population had increased to 162,000 people, of which 45 percent are estimated to be mentally ill [emphasis added].”
Continuing on page three of this Stanford Law School report, “The mentally ill who fill our prisons range from the violent to the nonviolent, and from those who were born with disabilities to those who have been damaged by circumstances and environment. According to a recent report from the National Sheriff’s Association and Treatment Advocacy Center, ten times as many mentally ill people are in prison and jail in America today than are in mental health treatment facilities.3” [Report’s FN source: National Sheriffs’ Association and Treatment Advocacy Center, “The Treatment of Persons with Mental Illness in Prisons and Jails.” (2014).]
Stanford Law School Three Strikes Project Recommendations to Halt our Shameful Treatment of the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
There is so much important information in this report, which builds to its concluding three recommendations for change listed and quoted here:
- Reform the Way We Sentence the Mentally Ill: “We propose that all new sentences take into account the mental health of each defendant and, where appropriate, provide a non-prison sentence for any defendant charged with a nonviolent crime/non-serious offense.”
- Provide Meaningful Treatment in Prison: “We propose that when a sentencing judge finds (a) that a defendant’s serious offense was caused in large part by his mental illness, or (b) that a defendant who committed a nonserious offense needs to be incarcerated due to the danger to himself or others, the judge will order the provision of meaningful mental health services as part of the terms and conditions of incarceration.”
- Continue Meaningful Treatment After Prison: “[W]e propose that all prisoners, prior to release, be evaluated for post-release mental health needs and, where appropriate, be referred to mental health centers for the ongoing provision of mental health care.”
Source: Stanford Law School Three Strike’s Project Report, “When did prisons become acceptable mental health care facilities?”
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The report’s title says it all.
Lisa Frederiksen
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