Mental Health Abuse in the Criminal Justice System - Term Paper Example

? Mental Health Abuse in the Criminal Justice System INTRODUCTION Mental sickness is a one of the major issues of the society and nation. It is amongst the never ending problem for those who suffer from it and it may lead to disturbed family relationships, criminal activities, unemployment etc. Mental problems are not pertained to particular race, nationality or gender. It silently carries a disgrace causing troubles to the individuals and society. It has been expected that almost half of the criminal arrests can be avoided by considering these mentally ill persons in a proper way rather than putting them into jails. Mentally ill persons in criminal justice system: Most of the mentally ill people are held in jail because they pose a good amount of threat to the people and to themselves. Previously the treatment incorporated insulin induced comas, freezing baths and shock treatment but in the late 1950’s the entire psychological fitness scene changed with the innovation and expansion of anti-psychotic treatment options. Mostly the offenders with the psychological illness do not get any sort of medications or special treatment during imprisonment. As a result of this lack of treatment facilities the conditions can get worse. The offenders may become a serious threat to the society or to themselves when they leave the jail. Therefore within the legal justice structure, the psychological health cases continue to be a serious challenge (Tracy, 2009) Treatment with mentally ill people: Sometimes the law enforcing people are not aware of the problem so the mentally ill people are kept with the normal prisoners but if diagnosed the mentally ill people in jails are not treated very well, as there is restriction with their movement in the jails, not allowed to meet people, less or almost no recreational activities etc. For apparent reasons, they are not provided with the televisions in their cells. The security concerns make it near to impossible for the correctional care takes and officials to take them to the fitness and exercise patio. These people are only allowed for 15 to 20 minutes to go out of their cells and provided them with the opportunity to have shower. Even this activity is also monitored. Usually the officers who are responsible for the security of these mentally ill people are not trained very properly so sometimes in odd situations they are not able to understand about how to deal with the particular situation and the consequences could be severe (James & Glaze, 2006). Aims: Our main aim is to propose and apply collaborative efforts among unlawful justice and psychological fitness systems. The program’s objective is to make improvement in the access system and to provide efficient handling for people with psychological problems concerned with the justice structure. The aim can be achieved through proper arrest, society based management, court appearances etc. It has been expected that almost one third or up to half of the imprisonments can be avoided if the mentally sick people are sent to proper places rather than taking them into the jails. A huge amount of money can be saved by simple changes in the system. It is proposed that if specialized training is provided to the officers most volatile situations can be avoided. Based on the guidance the officer will be able to distinguish between the normal and mentally ill people. He will use the techniques and methods which have been developed during the training period and as a result there will be a non violent ending of the faced encounter. Timeline: The timeline for the given project is three years. Each year the program will be thoroughly evaluated for excellence. Policy Elements: 1. The police stations of few specific areas will be taken as subjects and special Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training will be provided to all the correctional officers who deal with such mentally ill people in jails. The training will be provided only to the officers who come in direct contact with the patients and not the other staff. 2. There are some police departments which already have the Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT), special pay incentive rewards will be given to officers who opt for to provide their shifts operational hours on the areas where the mentally ill people are kept. 3. The number of doctors and social workers will be increased in the local pre-trial custody amenities 4. Some recommendations would be put forward to the state for paying huge amounts of money in terms of crisis concern and stabilization of the people who are mentally ill following their release. We strongly recommend that the state legislature provide sufficient financial support for the long term care plans as a result of which there will be formation of case management facility who will be responsible for maintaining a secure standard of living to the mentally ill people. 5. Non-traditional case administration tactics will be used like staff hiring will be based on experience and not on academic qualification. 6. The defining criteria will be set for dangerous or non-dangerous patients by mutual consensus of the mental care and legal systems and applied fairly. 7. The mentally ill people with less severity of the disease or are not dangerous will be immediately considered for treatment options so that before the conditions get worse they could have some positive outcomes. 8. The patients who are at critical stages and are dangerous they would be provided humane care and handling for the period of imprisonment and will be provided unambiguous connection to community-based conduct on discharge. PLAN OF WORK: Selection of specific police stations Writing to Government for funding Special CIT training of officers and providing special incentives to the ones who have already done the training Setting up t he criteria for dangerous and non dangerous mental patients by mutual consent Hiring of some more specialized staff who has experience of dealing with such mentally ill people GRANTS: In order to carry out the above mentioned aims and objectives the grant writing procedure is initiated. Different Government departments will be asked to provide money in order to carry our mission. Historically it has been seen that huge grants have been given to various institutes and societies for mental illness programs in context to criminal justice system. For example in the year 2009   Office of Justice Programs (OJP) awarded about 40 plus grants to Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP). The total amount of those grants was more than $7.5 million. Furthermore grants were also awarded for the purpose of technical training and assistance. Many other organizations are there which can provide funding and we will be continuously searching for such opportunities (Nami, Virginia. Fact sheet) Budget: The total approximate budget for this program will be around $0.5 million. The complete budget will be utilized for the above mentioned objectives. Briefly around $0.1 million will be allocated for salaries and bounces, $0.1 million for travelling and training purposes, $0.1 to $0.2 million for some construction and maintenance facilities in the jails and approx $0.05 million for the supply of medical facilities and specialized care for the patients. Staffing: The police stations of few specific areas will be taken as subjects and special Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training will be provided to all the correctional officers who deal with such mentally ill people in jails. The training will be provided only to the officers who come in direct contact with the patients and not the other staff. Some additional doctors and nurses will also be engaged. EVALUATION: The program and work will be thoroughly investigated. The utilization of funds will be monitored by a specialized team. Each and every single penny will be spent with care and the evaluation team will be keeping an eye on the budget spending. Some specialized statistical analysis will be done on the number of patients taken to jails and the change in their behaviors after release on implementation of the above mentioned program. The questionnaires will also be circulated amongst the local residents and the people who got relieved from jails in order to get feedback for the program. Based on that feedback we will be able to judge the outcomes whether positive or negative of the plan. The treated patients and those who will be released will also be monitored to see any behavioral changes in them. The evaluation policy will include: Focusing assessment on value-for-currency and providing unambiguous principles to reinforce excellence The expenditure evaluation will be performed in detail every six months Strict regulations will be applied to evaluate quality and neutrality IMPACTS OF THE PROGRAM: Financial impact: The saved expensed as a result of the above mentioned plans will include the following details: The everyday prison expenses for the feeding, housing and treating the prisoners in the lockup The expenditures of the judge, correctional officer, prosecutor and the court expenses The expenditure of moving the police staff and officers in order to appear off the street to appear in front of the court for trials. This sometimes occurs in the overtime charges as the schedule of the court proceedings in different from the office work timings. The major reason of the high recidivism rate is that a huge amount of currency is spent on the maintenance of the mentally ill people after arresting them , very less is spent for keeping them stable after they have been released from the. This strategy is stressed upon by the Mental Health Project also. Social impacts: As a result of this plan the mental health and law enforcing people will come close together and work in collaboration rather than in opponent way to have the best result for the psychologically ill persons. Socially the mentally ill people are always rejected but by this program they will be helped a lot. As their mental health will improve, their physical, legal, social and economic status will also be enhanced and they will be able to live like a normal respectable citizen of the society. The long term effect of this will be that decision-makers in the legal system will become aware of this important relationship and will help in improving the conditions for the patients and also the normal people. CONCLUSION There is a huge common problem between the mental health system and the law systems that the mentally ill people are highly responsible and involved in the criminal as a result of which the complete burden shifts towards the law enforcing people and very less burden is on mental health practitioners. It is to be emphasized that this situation is created by the society; the mentally ill prisoners are not treated very nicely in the jails. Usually the officers are also unaware of their conditions as they are not very well trained for dealing with the disturbed people. The result is that when these mentally ill people come out of the jails they become more violent and pose greater threats to the society and to themselves also. . We strongly recommend that the state legislature provide sufficient financial support for the long term care plans as a result of which there will be formation of case management facility who will be responsible for maintaining a secure standard of living to the mentally ill people. A huge amount of money can be saved by simple changes in the system. So in order to deal with situation we have proposed the following program in which the police officers and the law enforcing people have to be trained for this special purpose. Bibliography Arons, S. (2000). Mental Health and Criminal Justice, SAMHSA Center for Mental Health Services. Retrieved at: http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/t000921a.html (accessed 21st January 2011) Final report of the miami-dade county grand jury spring term (2004). In the circuit court of the eleventh judicial circuit of Florida in and for the county of miami-dade Retrieved at: http://www.miamisao.com/publications/grand_jury/2000s/gj2003s.pdf (accessed 21st January 2011) James, D. & Glaze. L. (2006). Mental Health Problems of Prison and Jail Inmates. US Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report. Retrieved at: http://bjsdata.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/mhppji.pdf (accessed 21st January 2011) NAMI, Virginia Fact Sheet: Mental Illness and the Criminal Justice System. Retrieved at: http://www.nami.org/Content/Microsites184/NAMI_Virginia/Home172/Advocac-Main_Page/Fact_Sheets3/MIandCriminalJusticeSystem.pdf (accessed 21st January 2011) Russohttp, T. (2009). Addressing Mental Illness in the Criminal Justice System Retrieved from: http://blogs.usdoj.gov/blog/archives/431 (accessed 21st January 2011) Read More