People in Jails with Mental Illness - Research Paper Example

Mental Illness and the Justice System: Jailing Those who Suffer Instead of Providing Treatment Introduction Mental illness within the United States is a complicated problem that involves families, the medical profession, the legal system, and the individuals who suffer from serious mental afflictions. Taking medication is not a legal requirement of those who suffer, but without medication they can become a problem for law enforcement. Medical assistance is not a ‘right’ within the United States, so even those who desire to have help with their problems may not have access to the appropriate medications to help keep them under control. Therefore, many times jail and prison end up being the housing for those who suffer from mental illness. The following research paper will discuss the nature of mental illness and the consequence of the justice system providing punishment where illness has impaired the perceptions of an individual to the point that they have become a problem for law enforcement. Criminal behavior is a social problem, but in some instances it is considered a medical problem. When an individual is behaving in such a way that reflects a medical problem rather than a social problem, the justice system must make decisions based upon intent, behavior, and recidivism. This position is difficult and places a system not medically oriented into making decisions about medical issues. The research will focus on the Miami-Dade County Jail. Methodology The methodology for this paper will be dependent upon a processed based approach. According to Lechner, “Process research deals primarily with the actions that lead to and support strategy” (8). Through examining how actions lead to strategy, the nature of the research is concerned with the micro level, “the behavior of individuals, groups, or other actors within the organization” (8). Process based research is founded on six guiding principles: embeddedness (studying processes across a number levels of analysis) temporal interconnectedness (studying processes in the past present and future) explaining context and action searching for holistic rather than linear explanations linking analysis to the location balancing scientific distance and empirical closeness (Lechner 8-9) While not all research will embody all of these aspects, in searching for the truths about the proposed topic, the information will be discussed using these concepts. Research Questions The following questions will be used to frame the topic of research: 1. How many people in the Miami-Dade County Jail are mentally ill? 2. What services are provided in the Miami-Dade County Jail program? 3. What is the police procedure concerning citizens who have broken the law but appear to be suffering from a mental illness? 4. What is the legal criteria to determine if someone is afforded mental illness care within the Miami-Dade County Jail system? Through secondary research, the Miami-Dade County Jail system will be assessed and reviewed in relationship to the research questions. Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation Department The most recent statistics, from June 11, 2011, show that there are 6,218 inmates in the Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation Department. Of those inmates, 5,743 are male and 475 are female. The largest percentage of the population are between the age of 18 and 34, representing 3,603 of the inmates. Of the inmates, 4,226 are there for felony charges with 4,455 of those inmates are at the partial sentence portion of their process. Miami-Dade County, at least by present statistics, seems to be primarily defined by male inmates who are still waiting for the full measure of their punishment to be sentenced. Mentally Ill Citizens in Prison In 2004, an undertaking was given to the grand jury to determine the state of the jail system in regard to mental illness. The task was taken up by the district attorney’s office to investigate the state of mental illness as it has been experienced within the legal system by those who suffer. There were two focused ideas that were investigated, the first being the number of adults “recycled through our criminal justice system” and “police encounters with persons suffering from mental illness” (Rundle and Horn 4). The result was a report titles Mental Illness and the Criminal Justice System: A Recipe for Disaster / A Prescription for Improvement which inspired Mayor Carlos Alvarez to create a task force to answer the assessments and proposals in the original report. According to the original report, in 1955 there were 560,000 mentally ill patients in mental asylums. With the discovery of anti-psychotic medications and the assessment of barbaric medical treatments within these asylums, the following forty years saw a decrease in population by 90% and the closing of mental institutions across the nation. However, the prison populations grew by 400% (Rundle and Horn 5). This suggests that a lack of formal structure for mental illness has displaced the mentally ill and left them to the untrained and ill-prepared structures of the justice system. Rundle and Horn also report that there are over 500,000 people on probation who have been diagnosed with mental illness. There are three times as many men and women with mental illnesses in prison than there are in state mental institutions. They report that “nearly half the inmates with a mental illness in state or federal custody in the United States are incarcerated for committing a nonviolent crime” (5). It might also be noted that across the United States in supermax prisons where inmates are on 24 hour lockdown, seeing few if any other people except for a one hour per week time period outside. According to Sarat, “it is often the most vulnerable - especially the mentally ill - not the most violent, who end up in isolation” (48). The unfortunate truth about solitary confinement prisons is that they are used to house prisoners who cause problems in the general population, are used without the need of sentencing from a court by the administration of prisons, and have no defined length of time in which a prisoner would max out his time in such a place. Therefore, prisoners without normal mental filters and are afflicted with mental illnesses that cause them to act out in the social setting of the prison find themselves in a situation that is less conducive to treatment of their mental health issues (Sarat 48). Mental Illness in Florida According to Rundle and Horn, Florida has a higher rate of mental illness than the national average. The national average is 3% of the population with 9% of the population in Florida having mental illness. Rundle and Horn have surmised that one half to two thirds of the homeless population are suffering from different forms of mental illness. In Florida, the incarceration systems are housing five times more mentally ill people than are the state mental institutions In Miami-Dade County Jail in 2004, the year of the report, three floors of three wings are dedicated to housing those with ‘chronic‘ mental illness issues Those patients in those wings are designated as outside of the social ability to be with general population that has hundreds of other mentally ill inmates who can integrate without much of an impact on the population(6). However, this is not servicing their needs and are punishing them for an illness that without medical treatment, or sometimes despite treatment, cannot be under self control. An element of the result of putting prisoners into the Miami-Dade County system is that most prisoners, after having care from the medical system within the jail, regain their mental stability. However, without the resources of the jail, return of their illness is more than likely a result. In 2004, the average inmate cost $78 pre day to house, where a mentally ill inmate cost $125 to house (Rundle and Horn 7). The costs of continued treatment with the low level of public services available almost ensures some sort of recidivism. The shifts in social policy regarding institutionalization has resulted in the problem being transferred to the judicial system, criminalizing mental illness. Police Response The normal police response to any kind of aggression is to meet it with higher levels of aggression. As well, resistance is met with a “show of force” (22). The use of loud voices and aggressions from police officers has the result of three potential and often experienced outcomes. First, officers can be injured and need medical care from an aggressive interaction that could have been contained by soothing the person in the throes of a psychiatrically based event. Second, serious and sometimes fatal injuries of the offender can occur. In Illinois, Shannon Smith was killed by police after driving away from a gas station and failing to pay for $15.05 in gas. He was chased down by several police vehicles who eventually cornered him, and when he failed to follow the directions of the police and tried to ram into their vehicles. He was shot to death by the police, the bullets entering him from behind. The police officers were exonerated for their actions, however Smith was mentally challenged, thus the situation had frightened him, putting him in harm’s way (Reynolds 2000). The third cost is to the taxpayers who end up fronting the bill for the injuries and deaths that are the result. Shannon Smith’s family received $675,000 for their wrongful death suit against the Hudson Police Department in McLean County, Illinois (Reynolds 2002). The incidents of these type can be avoided if the police are taught better ways in dealing with those whose mental health is in question. While Shannon Smith was mentally challenged, the problems he experienced are similar to that which the mentally ill will experience. Solutions to the Problem The primary solution that was implemented as a response to the problem within Miami-Dade County was the development of a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT). A CIT member is called when “immediate assistance (is needed) with a mental health crisis situation” (Liefman 75). The CIT was recommended through the grand jury report from 2004. In addition, the report on the Miami County Office of the Mayor: Mental Health Task Force made a resolution “urging the Florida legislature to acknowledge the crisis that now exists related to Florida jails and mentally ill inmates; and reinstate programs and funding that have been cut in the past; develop and fund new programs to keep mentally ill individuals out of jail and treat mentally ill inmates; and appropriate substantially more funds for the programs for the mentally ill” (Leifman 67). Conclusion The social solution to the mentally ill within the United States shows that a systematic humanization of asylums through the availability of more humane care has eliminated resources for those without financial or familial resources to avail themselves of that care. As a result, the case of mental illness as it manifests in social behavior has to become a matter for the judicial system as acting out from mental illness has become criminalized. Recidivism is high because of a lack of support once a stabilized inmate is released from jail. While Miami-Dade County has addressed the need for help with this matter, progress has yet to be forthcoming for real change. However, the implementation of a Crisis Intervention Team specifically trained to appropriately deal with consequences of mental illness has been put into place. However, this does not address the immediacy of police to public interactions. Works Cited Lechner, Christoph. A Primer to Strategy Process. Gottingen: Cuvillier, 2005. Print. Leifman, Steve. Miami County Office of the Mayor: Mental Health Task Force, Care Comes First: In response to Mental Illness and the Criminal Justice System: A Recipe for Disaster / A Prescription for Improvement. Miami-Dade County Mayor’s Mental Health Task Force. 14 February 2007. Web. 10 June 2011. Reynolds, Dave. Police Officer Charged with Murder in Shooting of Motorist. Inclusion Daily Express. 4 August 2000. Web. 11 June 2011. Reynolds, Dave. Shannon Smith‘s Family Settles Wrongful Death Lawsuits. Inclusion Daily Express. 25 November 2002. Web. 11 June 2011. Rundle, Katherine Fernandez and Don L. Horn. Mental Illness and the Criminal Justice System: A Recipe for Disaster / A Prescription for Improvement. Miami-Dade County Grand Jury. 11 January 2005. Web. 10 June 2011. Ryan, Timothy. Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation Department Daily Jail Population Statistics. 11 June 2011. Web. 12 June 2011. Sarat, Austin, and Jurgen Martschukat. Is the Death Penalty Dying?: European and American Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Print. Read More