M211 Law and Criminal Justice : Mental Health Courts Participants

Answer:

In the beginning of the last century, the public was shocked to see that many of the mentally ill persons were being sent to local jails and prisons. The conditions were regarded as very inhumane and a reform movement had soon started in the United Kingdom for the same. The movement started with the establishment of formation of state hospitals for mentally disordered people with the belief that mentally disordered people have the right to be treated and not punished . This period was referred to as the “deinstitutionalization.” People, who are not well mentally, are represented at all phases of criminal justice system starting from conviction to arrest to incarceration. It was recently represented that more than 21 percent of the inmates of jail have a history of mental illness. On the other hand, considering the situation of the juvenile justice system, then about 70 percent of youth in the justice system had at least ill mental condition .  Thus, it can be seen that the situation of mentally disordered people is not correct and they are suffering because they often land up in jails instead of being sent to mental hospitals. This essay discusses the reasons as to why mentally disordered offenders end up in prison and whether the prison is the right place for them to be dealt with or not.

The answer to the question as to whether jails are the right place to deal with mentally disordered people is no and there are many associated reasons for the same.  To understand completely the recent trends in mental illness it is first important to understand the historical response that people had towards mental illness in the United Kingdom. Across history, mental disorder was seen as a condition that was brought on by supernatural; it was mainly treated as a kind of demonic possession and was cured with the help of religious interventions. Therefore, the establishment of modern mental hospital can be seen as the efforts of forward thinkers such as Dix and Benjamin. They were advocates of mentally ill inmates being treated properly and they successfully supported a more humane approach in treating mental illness. Ultimately, this led to formation of an asylum in the United Kingdom. Many state hospitals were created for curing people with mental illness. Proper arrangement of facilities was also negotiated for treatment of people with mental problems. However, with the establishment of state hospitals, the number of people who were being admitted to hospitals was also increasing on a regular basis. On the contrary, the crime rate that people were being subjected to was also increasing. People who were suffering from mental disorder were committing crimes more than the normal people and the reason  behind this was that they did not have the ability to think and act like reasonable man. Their normal thinking power is comparatively lesser than a man of ordinary prudence. Thus, they tend to commit more crimes. However, the main question that arises here is what is the correct manner of dealing with people who have committed crimes that are serious in nature such as murder, rape or stealing? It has been noted that many people whose brain is not functioning properly is because they are addicted to a certain type of substance. In fact, based on evidenced reports it has been said that mental illness became increasingly more common with people who were associated with the risk of substance. The process of deinstitutionalization coincided with the era of formation of drug laws that started in the late 1970’s. Resultantly, many citizens of psychiatric problems becomes more vulnerable towards criminal activities. It is observed that the use of substances is a major reason for the involvement of these people in criminal activities. The notable rise in the number of drug addicts in the second half of the twentieth century affected the criminal justice system in all stages.  It is unfortunate that despite being counted among the most developed countries in the world, the UK  is not equipped enough  to solve the mental  health problems of the prisoners. According to the statistics, about one fourth of the federal prisoners and one sixth of the prisoners of jail have mental health issues. The prisons have become like a warehouse of human rights violations. It is a basic right of the prisoner to receive medication and treatment from the government but the prison authority has constantly violated the code of conduct over the years. According to authentic sources, The mentally ill inmates are rarely allowed for paroles. As these paroles are dependent on few behavioral characteristics of a prisoner hence, the patients automatically receive negation.  Therefore, that is why they are forced to serve multiple terms of imprisonment in compared to others.

The environment of the prison in the UK is highly questionable. The illicit drug use, physical and sexual assaults and improper sanitation causes several distresses to the prisoners.  These problems play a catalyst in the growing mental crisis of a prisoner.  The issues like violence, anxiety,  social alienation are the real root to depression, mental trauma  and disorder. Despite such issues are repeatedly highlighted by the Human Rights Organisation in UK, the government is yet to act on this important issue.

Recent reports have suggested that about 4 percent of the inmates are sexually assaulted in one year.  It almost reaches as high as 9 percent when the statistics of the youth prisoners are taken into account. The most alarming fact is when this statistics is compared to the sexual assaults among general public in the UK, which is around 0.007 percent.  The violence among the prisoners are also very high. According to Schnittker et al the pre-dominant disorders among ex-prisoners are from their normal days. The most common mental disorders among the inmates are the reason why the suicides in the prisons of the country have increased alarmingly. According to the survey of Prison Reform Trust about 10 percent men and 30 percent women have a mental medical history before they enter prison. This survey also states that about 26 percent of the women and 16 percent of the male prisoners have some kind of mental illness one year prior to their imprisonment. The rate of of personality disorder among the male and female is also high. About 62% males and 57% females have psychotic issues with their personality. It is possible that if the mental disorders in the society can be confined  by a better health care and government initiative then and only then the crime rates will come down in the UK.  

About 46 percent of the women prisoners have attempted suicide, which is more than the double of the male prisoners (21 percent); whereas, the rate of attempted suicides among the general UK population is about 6 percent.  The mental anxiety and depression of the prisoners are clearly into display through these statistics. Earlier, in eighties the situation of the prsions in England and Wales became worse. In the 90’s the number of suicides decreased considerably  and it has begun to increase again in the twenty first century.  The prisons of Uk are in a situation of pandemonium. The relation of moral conduct and discipline inside such a government institution is completely missing   It is possible that most of these prisoners are subject to sexual or physical assault inside prison.  Sexual assaults are historically believed to be one of the major reasons to suicides. If the prisons will not become disciplined to tackle such heinous happenings, this situation does not seem to improve in the prisons of the United Kingdom.

The overcrowding of the prisons has increased in the last four decades.  The situation has become more and more alarming. Hence, this case needs a special intervention from the government. There is an ardent need of alternative policies for the betterment of the situation. Many of the other governments in the world have initiated two important practices to intervene in the situation. In other nations, the government has introduced Crisis Intervention Teams (CITs) in order to handle the current situation. These are small units, who will work as trainers of officers to educate them about mental illness. The CIT trains the prison officers to act in a scientific manner if they notice a prisoner’s mental illness. They also have the authority to develop the emergency mental health care units in the prison.  The CIT helps every needful patient with all kinds of medical facilities if they find a prisoner, who is incapable of returning to his community.  These officers will be trained by de-escalation method, which help them solve the crisis. The CIT model has been considerably successful in reducing the number of arrests and crime rate in several l countries. Most of the arrests take place due minor crimes like public disturbances and property disputes, which is often stopped by the CIT.  The introduction of mental health courts is also part of the CIT program. These courts are special courts like drug courts and courts for veterans.  The mental health issues are addressed with special care in these types of courts. These courts evaluates the underlying reasons of a crime and act accordingly.  These mental health courts are very effective in limiting the human rights violation in the prisons of the United Kingdom.

The history of mental illness in prison is very old. The mentally de-moralizing therapies were treated with insulin-coma.  This led to further degradation of the circumstances in prison. It is the policy of the government that the prisoners with serious mental health problems should be shifted to hospitals. This delayed process is followed by rejection of admission in the hospitals. However, it is not done very often and even when it is done there are significant delays. These delays are one of the reasons of the suicides.  There are studies, which refer to several such incidences in London, where psychotic men are rejected in the hospitals of London.  Most of the mentally ill patients are treated inside the prisons. The prisons of the UK are classified into three different groups according to geographical areas. These areas are called North and Midlands; East Anglia and Kent; Central England, Wales and the West Country.  According to a survey done by Dr Maden the mental disorders among the prisoners are clear. The survey was conducted with a 10 percent of sample from each geographical area. The assessment of this survey was alarming. The alcohol dependency of the inmates and the dysfunctional management of diagnosis is a normal fact in the prison. It is clear through the understanding of this assessment that the best supervision and health care of the prison cannot match the likes of a mental hospital.  In this survey, 544 adult inmates along with 206 young prisoners are interviewed. It is almost 9 and 10 percent of them. 9.4 percent of these inmates were unconvicted. The mental, physical and social torture to people who are not even proved to be criminals. The number of mental patients among the unconvicted is even more in number and proportion. Among the unconvicted prisoners, more than half of them had mental disorders. This is quite unfortunate. All these  people should be shifted to the hospitals according to human rights code of conduct. The unconvicted prisoners deserve better facilities in a prison.  All these surveys are a testament of the current situation in UK prison.

A report in The Guardian stated that more of the mentally ill people are found in the prisons of the UK rather than the psychiatric hospitals. There are about 16 thousand beds for mental patients in NHS whereas there are more than 21 thousand mentally ill patients in the UK prison according to estimates. These people mostly have bipolar disorders, depression or personality disorders. Disease like paranoid schizophrenia is common among these prisoners.  The mental health care system of the UK is already the verge of collapse.  NHS has done a major reduction in the number of nurses and doctors. This crisis has led to the rise of crimes. If referred to the Government data, the state has spent only one third ($40 thousand) on the mental patients of UK.

Nowadays, there are more mentally ill people who are being imprisoned instead of being given proper mental health care. There are only as many patients in the mental hospitals as there were when the system had just started. The accessibility to psychotropic medicines and the non-standardisation of the state-owned centres have contributed to more mentally sick people in prisons than in rehabilitation. Usually, the people who are mentally unstable have the tendency to be swayed towards the prisons; however, their system does not meet the requirements needed to deal with mental illnesses. Consequently, violent and sexual abuse are sometimes inflicted on those sick people, and they have little or no scope of getting any kind of assistance even when they return to the normal society. They are unable to function normally, and become the victims of the judiciary incompetence of the British.

Measures could be taken to minimise the pressure of the justice system on such people; the officers can be given proper training that is required to understand and differentiate between a sick and a normal person, and they should consider the issues faced by them and come up with alternative options rather than arresting them straightaway for trivial reasons. Also, most of the prisoners do not have access to healthcare facilities, and they are mostly isolated for being mentally ill. The correctional system should reduce the imprisonment of mentally ill people to prevent them from being victimised. There should be a proper line of procedure when it comes to the re-introduction of such inmates back into society, so that they can continue receiving care and treatment even after being released.

The existing system works only to deal with any particular symptom of the mental ill prisoners, rather than approaching and identifying its root causes. The presence of so many of them in the correctional homes signifies the failure of the systems to efficiently approach and manage the sick people; a better option would be to ensure that they do not end up in prison altogether than working towards having better system of care. Mental health courts could be an alternative –– they are known to have been successful in reducing the number of mentally ill people, who have committed minor offences, in prison.   The communities that have been assigned to deal with the mentally ill have undergone vast modifications over time and the healthcare has been pretty consistent, but unless there is a marked change in the attitude towards those people, the future for them does not appear promising.

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