The Principles and Practice of Custodial Care - Essay Example

Name: University: Course: Tutor: Date: Custodial care and practice Custodial care is non professional care given to in-mates in correctional centers all over the world, mostly to those that have terminal diseases that need attention and cannot be implicated by the own self (Gannon, 2004). In most cases the is also psychological determinant that also mentally sick in-mates be provided with custodial care but in this case not all cases are applicable, because most need trained and experienced experts or hands to attend to the aggrieved. In most cases the care have to be long term care (LTC) as most are, because of the set up in the prison and those who are applicable to this kind of services most of the are elderly who have been sentenced to life imprisonment, although some like the mentally ill are not subject to life imprisonment many of them are cases of recidivism, this means that they recommit the same offense once and again they are out of the prison walls, and are apprehended and reprimanded, getting the back behind bars. In the United Kingdom the correctional centers in the year 2008 reported that they have successfully reduced the rate of recidivism to 50% compared to their counterpart in the US who has combated the rate but only 60% effectiveness in recidivism was recorded. The United Kingdom prison management which main objective is to correct the in-mate unlike the US whose key role is to punish the principals found on the wrong side of the law. Has succeeded in reducing cases of habitual offenders, serial killers, incarceration, and penology by the rate of 12%, the least effective has been psychopathy because the offenders are usually and easily let depending on the condition of their mental health and are in most case taken to mental hospitals and let out on slightest intervening that they are well off and they are prone to recidivism and the rate the scale at 2.5% in change of they offending trends (Forrester and Wilson 2002). This kind of care is provided on a long term basis, and only applies to convalescent, disability and chronically ill individuals. The most common custodial care includes; Board custodial care Personal assistance custodial care Room custodial care The parties that offer this services in jail are not qualified personnel in any medical institute by most are just trustee in the prison systems, although they under go some formal training of how to meet the needs of this in-mates. Some of the chores that are associated with custodial care include; Activity of daily living (ADL) Medication issuance Dietary practices. Another type of care that is usually associated with custodial care in prison set up in the united kingdom is Palliative care, this a kind of treatment similar to custodial care only that this kind mostly reflects to reduction of severity and prevent of suffering in in-mates and improve quality of life in the prison. This life limiting diseases like cancer and AIDS that require regular medical attention, although there are hospices that provide for expert medical attention in severe cases and most aggrieved, but the common attendances to the invalid is left to the custodial care giver on the parameters of the prison and the ones that the prison management has chosen. The most crucial factors that is widely affecting the custodial cares in the United Kingdom, is the recidivism factors in most mental cases, because the penitentiaries have not succeeded in bring the factor of criminals getting straightened by the prison system. Most emphasizes goes in this section and the in-mates that should be getting the services in the process are somehow limited due to the nature and care that these mentally handicapped criminals get. Penal policy remedy for recidivism United Kingdom prison management is facing a health crisis on the psychological department or psychopathy among the mentally handicapped hard core criminals, in this faculties the rates of relentless mental illness among them schizophrenia is 10 times higher in this faculties than in the general public population, this is in male faculties only, this report was complied by the mental health charity mind and prison reform trust early this year. The two organizations are advocating that the government call on reform in the criminal justice law system, claiming that the numbers of male inmates with mental disorders is very high as recorded. Two third of male inmates are diagnosed with personality disorder, and symptoms of at least one neurotic disorder such as phobias, anxiety and depression was rated two fifth according to statistics. Although some of these neurotic disorders occur when one is confined in a penitentiary because of stress some worsen and become worse and the victim becomes remorse and drawn even more to criminal activities than before. If the government although that it has put in place measures to capacitate the recidivism remedy that help minimize crime rate and congestion of prison faculties. They should add more resources and channel more funds and advocates for donors to fund this drive to help criminals change the life stance that they take by implementing programs that will help the prisoners minds not to be idle but be busy with activities worthwhile. The affected prisoners that are mentally handicapped are more likely to refuse medication when they are in the faculties than when they are outside, 41% is the number of prisoners that are mentally disturbed that need the services of a secured NHS accommodation but are in the prison health care centers, this is a big blow to recidivism in the system of correction because the staffs in the prison parameters are not very qualified to capacitate the mental health and the services and don’t have enough experience in dealing with the remedial change that would affect the life of this mentally disturbed prisoner. Eve though that this research are done by government social exclusion unit there is not much that the government is doing to help the captives in the change of behavioral stance in many of them. According to the statistics compiled by PRT and Mind, it shows that the prison staff is struggling very hard to cope with the high numbers of male inmates with mental health problems (Wilson, 2004). Their proposal to the government is they allow and encourage the court, when sentencing male offenders with mental health problems they use non-custodial sentences. So that recidivism may be enacted in the offenders and help reduce crime rates and the security of the public. Increased numbers of court diversion schemes are advocated for so as acutely ill or suicidal offenders are hospitalized to receive medical attention and psychological evaluation and correctional programs are adhered to, so that one can change the criminology stances they once possessed and psychiatrist can intervene to give out guidance unto how the process should be taken into account. This would account to reduction of 12% of recidivism in the department of mentally disturbed offenders, as it’s the high ranked department in the United Kingdom. According to the director of PTF proper machinery in the judicial system and investment and funding in court diversion, and helping and advocating for campaigns to combat mental health and reimbursement of drugs treatment in the community and to those who need it by securing health provision, the government would halt the burdening off untrained prison staff and stop cruel and unnecessary jailing and punishing venerable people and reforms would be easier to implement and proper medical attention administered to the aggrieved, with this the recidivism stance will take effect. If the prison system would start hiring qualified personnel to assist in the administration of chore and activities for inmates to be involved in so that the mind of the inmates are not idle and the don’t have time to concur with one another ideas of criminology. I would advocate for all offenders to be involved in community services where they meet people of the outside world so they stop feeling left out and unloved by the community. Field services for the not so hard core criminals would also take effect for this change of environment would help in eradication of negative thoughts among the inmates. And the need for freedom and change would also grow inside them. Because change starts with an individual its also good to advocates for the offenders relatives be coming by to give directional guidance especially in the juvenile sections and offer consonance and love to the offenders for that what makes many offenders that usually get depressed, and this may result to many aftermath like anxiety and mental illness associated diseases. More reading materials should also be introduced in the correctional faculty to reduce idleness and enhance the need of information and in the juvenile section all under aged should be enforce to learning so that the may receive knowledge and education so that when they go out they can have certificates to source for jobs with, under this the bodies that should umbrella this prison education be the same one as the ones used outside the correctional services so when the offenders source for job they wont be condemned as jail birds because of the certificates, this has been a leading factor that diminishes the recidivism factor because the community see one even after been reformed as been the old self and this greatly contribute to the criminology etiquettes that the offender will resume to. The need to educate the community about how to treat offenders with love, respect and correctional etiquettes, should also be handed down to the government campaign to the change in the recidivism trends that will see many leave the life of criminal activities. Another is introducing harsh punishment that would scare any offender from committing the same crime twice or many times, and this will see those who are influenced to committing offences by friends fear because of the sentences. All prison official should also be equipped with educational material of how to handle offenders and stop using foul language when addressing them, how to treat them nicely and how to interact with them in general way not as criminals. The government and prison official should combine in working together to finish gang groups inside the prison faculty, and those that operate inside the wall parameters of the faculty be traced and disciplinary action taken with harsh measures. The combating of criminal acts inside the correctional facilities would enforce and help reduce crime rate and the reform process would take effect for the government has all the resources and machineries to curb recidivism among offenders in the prison system. They should also enact a law that harshly punishes second time offenders so to instill fear for first time offenders too. Work Cited Forrester, A and Wilson, S. 2002, ‘Treatment of Mentally Incapacitated Prisoners’, “Journal of Forensic Psychiatry”, Vol. 13, pp1-8 S. Gannon, 2004, ‘Commissioning Conundrum for Custodial Care’, “The British Journal of Psychiatry Vol. 184 pp454-455 Wilson, S, 2004, ‘Principle of Equivalence & the Future of Mental Health Care in Prisons’, “British Journal of Psychiatry”, Vol. 184, pp5 -7 Read More