Watch Video http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/asylums/view/ - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... Several issues are presented in the film starting with the closures of psychiatric hospitals and consequent conversion of prisons into alternative mental facilities. Evidently, prisons do not exist to provide psychiatric medical health care, but instead they exist to provide inmate security. Unfortunately, prison staffs have been forced to contend with the need of taking care of prisoners who require mental treatment. In the bit of the video entitled inmates crisis, the narrator bemoans acute cases where prisoners are taken to prison infirmary to receive specialize care. Acute mental cases present an uphill task to the staff as such prisoners have a trend of rejecting medication or violate further prison laws. As noted, while a good number of these prisoners were meant to serve a minimal term in the facility, they end up receiving maximum imprisonment for non-compliance to these prison laws. Also, the narrator bemoans the fact that a significant proportion of these prisoners subject themselves to self-mutilation such as banging ones head against the wall. Instead of their condition improving, they become further delusional, hallucinate, and decompensate.
The idea of psychiatric cases has not only impacted prisons staff but also the entire judicial system. For instance, one judge says that they are forced to send some psychotic cases to prison instead of referring them to state hospitals as they are sure they will receive treatment while there. The problem is further compounded by the fact that those who are supposed to be treating psychiatric cases in hospitals have found themselves serving in prison facilities. The video however fails to explicitly detail policy changes or suggestions that could otherwise improve the condition of psychotic cases in prisons. One thing that is evident is that policy makers are in favour of ...Download file to see next pagesRead More