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Inmates

Altfish

Veteran Member
ok, but the only difference between them and those behind bars is either they have not committed an offense egregious enough to be prosecuted, or else they just haven't been caught yet.
Or else the anti-social behaviour is low level, e.g. congregating to smoke and drink in a residential area; intimidating residents but not actually harming anyone, etc.
 

Fool

ALL in all
Premium Member
Or else the anti-social behaviour is low level, e.g. congregating to smoke and drink in a residential area; intimidating residents but not actually harming anyone, etc.

this is a good example. thanks.

it shows the behavior is only mildly negative and it's basically self harming
 

Cooky

Veteran Member
Are most inmates who have committed some sort of anti-social behavior, mentally ill?

It's a combination of or either drug use and / or mental illness.

...Since the closure of mental hospitals (asylums), the mentally ill are now housed within the prison systems.
 
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Cooky

Veteran Member
This sounds like a question that requires some sort of data collection and analysis.

The following must play a role.

Deinstitutionalisation - Wikipedia

"The modern deinstitutionalisation movement was made possible by the discovery of psychiatric drugsin the mid-20th century, which could manage psychotic episodes and reduced the need for patients to be confined and restrained. Another major impetus was a series of socio-political movements that campaigned for patient freedom. Lastly, there were financial imperatives, with many governments also viewing it as a way to save costs."

Abandoned Talgarth insane asylum, Wales:
c1e8dd29e06437f3aef0f063727d5fdb.jpg
 
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pearl

Well-Known Member
"The modern deinstitutionalisation movement was made possible by the discovery of psychiatric drugsin the mid-20th century, which could manage psychotic episodes and reduced the need for patients to be confined and restrained. Another major impetus was a series of socio-political movements that campaigned for patient freedom. Lastly, there were financial imperatives, with many governments also viewing it as a way to save costs."

But at what price to society? They closed the institutions and sent many off on their own and other to group homes, some were successful others not. Sure it was cheaper, just give them the pills and hopefully they will follow through and take them. Unfortunately, some would up homeless and taken advantage of. Now they have rebuilt institutions for those who are a threat to themselves and others.
 

QuestioningMind

Well-Known Member
Are most inmates who have committed some sort of anti-social behavior, mentally ill?

I'd say that a significant portion of people in prison for anti-social behavior suffer from some form of mental illness, though I'm not sure that it's most. A large portion of them are people who simply were never taught the tools needed for dealing with anger and disappointment or interacting with others in social situations.
 

QuestioningMind

Well-Known Member
But at what price to society? They closed the institutions and sent many off on their own and other to group homes, some were successful others not. Sure it was cheaper, just give them the pills and hopefully they will follow through and take them. Unfortunately, some would up homeless and taken advantage of. Now they have rebuilt institutions for those who are a threat to themselves and others.

Sadly the only price to society that anyone cared about was the financial savings in closing down the institutions. The funds previously spent on those institutions should have been funneled to programs designed to help these people integrate into society. Instead we just let them out onto the streets to fend for themselves and to keep our prisons full.
 

Cooky

Veteran Member
But at what price to society? They closed the institutions and sent many off on their own and other to group homes, some were successful others not. Sure it was cheaper, just give them the pills and hopefully they will follow through and take them. Unfortunately, some would up homeless and taken advantage of. Now they have rebuilt institutions for those who are a threat to themselves and others.

"The suspect who pushed a man in front of a box truck pleaded not guilty to one count of attempted murder and three felony counts of assault in unrelated cases."

...clearly a mentally disturbed person, now in jail awaiting trial.
 

Howard Is

Lucky Mud
If the number of jail and state prison inmates with a serious mental illness were added together, they total approximately 356,000 inmates. Since there are only approximately 35,000 individuals with serious mental illness remaining in state mental hospitals, there are now 10 times more individuals with serious mental illness in jails and state prisons than there are in state mental hospitals.

Torrey, EF, Zdanowicz, MT, Kennard, AD et al. The treatment of persons with mental illness in prisons and jails: a state survey. Treatment Advocacy Center and National Sheriff’s Association, April 8, 2014.

 The nation’s jails and prisons have replaced hospitals as the primary facility for mentally ill individuals.
There are more seriously mentally ill individuals in the Los Angeles County Jail, Chicago’s Cook County Jail, or New York’s Riker’s Island Jail than in any psychiatric hospital in the United States. In fact, in every county in the US that has both a county jail and a county psychiatric facility, the jail has more seriously mentally ill individuals. A 2004–2005 survey reported that there were “more than three times more seriously mentally ill persons in jails and prisons than in hospitals.”

Torrey EF, Kennard AD, Eslinger D et al. More Mentally Ill Persons Are in Jails and Prisons than Hospitals: A Survey of the States (Arlington, Va.: Treatment Advocacy Center, 2010).

 The average stay for mentally ill inmates in jail is longer than for non–mentally ill inmates. In Florida’s Orange County Jail, the average stay for all inmates is 26 days; for mentally ill inmates, it is 51 days. In New York’s Riker’s Island Jail, the average stay for all inmates is 42 days; for mentally ill inmates, it is 215 days. The main reason mentally ill inmates stay longer is that many find it difficult to understand and follow jail and prison rules. In one study, jail inmates were twice as likely (19 percent versus 9 percent) to be charged with facility rule violations. In another study in the Washington State prisons, mentally ill inmates accounted for 41 percent of infractions even though they constituted only 19 percent of the prison population. Another reason mentally ill inmates stay longer is that they are often held for months awaiting the availability of a bed in a psychiatric hospital.

Jails and mental illness, Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project, http://consensusproject.org/infocenter/factsheets/fafct_jails, last accessed April 3, 2006.
Turner C, Ethical issues in criminal justice administration, American Jails, January/February 2007.
Butterfield F. Study finds hundreds of thousands of inmates mentally ill, New York Times, October 22, 2003.“

https://www.treatmentadvocacycenter...al illness are in jails and prisons final.pdf
 

Howard Is

Lucky Mud
Australia’s prisons are increasingly filled by people with mental illnesses. The last national survey of prisoner health found that nearly half of all prison entrants report being diagnosed with a mental-health disorder. To quantify this, there are 41,000 people in prison in Australia, but the “flow” population – the numbers who spend time in prison or remand over the course of a year – is double that. This means around 40,000 people with mental illness go through Australia’s prison systems annually.

The rates of inmates with more severe and difficult-to-treat conditions – psychotic disorders like schizophrenia – are widely estimated to be 10 to 15 times greater than those found in the general population. However, a recent survey of inmates from four prisons in Western Australia found an even higher incidence: 20 per cent of female inmates had schizophrenia or a related disorder, compared to just 0.35 per cent of women on the outside. The same survey found nearly half of all female prisoners and a quarter of male ones had attempted suicide at some point in their lives.

While mental illness doesn’t discriminate – it can affect anyone, regardless of income or background – incarceration does. The mentally ill who get locked up are usually poor, have insecure housing, struggle with addiction or a cognitive disability, and lack strong family networks to keep them safe. As a group, they face higher rates of convictions for lower-level offences.

I’m no longer surprised by the number of people with mental illness I see who are in on very petty offences,” says Dr Andrew Ellis, a forensic psychiatrist and fellow at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, who also works in the NSW prison system. “If I had done [what they had], there is no way I would be in jail, because I know a lot of lawyers, and I could post bail, and I’ve got a house I could go to. These people don’t have those kinds of resources.”

Australia’s prisons have become de facto mental-health institutions for our society’s sickest and most vulnerable, and right across the country those who examine and report on the quality of this care are telling a similar, alarming story. “The system is struggling to keep pace with the mental health requirements of the inmates,” says a report from the NSW Inspector of Custodial Services. “With overcrowding and the shortage of psychiatric beds, prisoners with mental health issues are at increased risk of self-harm and even death,” states the Victorian Ombudsman. And, according to the Western Australia Inspector of Custodial Services, there are “inadequate specialist facilities for prisoners with mental impairment and mental health issues”.

Ellis’s task of trying to provide psychiatric care inside a regional NSW prison is an invidious one: he has a waitlist he can never get to the end of, and he’s forced to offer an inferior level of care. “I could not physically see the number of people that would benefit from seeing a psychiatrist,” he says. “And the type of care that I would be able to give would be less than I am able to give in a hospital setting. And many of the people, owing to the severity of their disorder at the time, if they were in the community you would have them admitted into a hospital.”

So do people fall through the cracks? I ask. “It is not really a crack they have to fall through,” he says. “It’s a gaping chasm.””

Sick on the inside | Bronwyn Adcock
 

Electra

Active Member
are the people ill because they can't function in a normal word? or.. are people ill because the world is ill?
 

Howard Is

Lucky Mud
Psychiatric hospitals in Australia were shut down in the early 90s.
The reason was economic.
It cost about three times as much to keep psyche patients in a mental hospital compared to prison.

Those patients who could not cope with ‘community care’ were incarcerated.

There were a few deaths from police shootings when this change was made. The police said they had no choice and would continue to shoot dangerous offenders regardless of their mental health status.

Australian prisons are defacto mental hospitals - minus the required treatment.
 

Fool

ALL in all
Premium Member
Psychology isn't a hard science, so such a thing would be a matter of opinion and could vary from DSM edition to edition.
i can agree with this. i can understand a level of not understanding at play due to lack of experience and wonder at what point a major intervention is necessary.
 

Howard Is

Lucky Mud
are the people ill because they can't function in a normal word? or.. are people ill because the world is ill?

Not mutually exclusive.

Your suggestion is correct I think.
We have a world run by psychopaths ( for a long time ). There is a lot of collateral damage.
 
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