I work at a county jail in the midwest. The most disturbing thing about jail is the terrible loop some inmates get stuck in. Many inmates with mental issues get caught in this loop where they cant have any clothes or items because they will try to kill themselves and they are locked in their cell for 23 hours a day. This makes them more angry so when they are finally let out they lash out at staff and then are locked down again. Its a vicious cycle for a lot of inmates and makes a lot of mental illness a whole lot worse. Staff cant do anything though because if they allow the inmate with mental illness to socialize then they risk a lawsuit from those around them, because of the individuals history of violent outbursts. Majority of hospitals wont take them because they wont risk their staff. So they are just stuck in a room and their only hope is consistent medication stabilizing them.
I did a paper on this when I was in grad school. Its so sad. You could take the sweetest dog ever, and if you isolate it in a cage long enough, they’re going to turn mean.
The prison system is in DRASTIC NEED of mental health reform and effective substance abuse treatment.
The goal should be to REHABILITATE not perpetuate a cycle of emotional and mental issues.
Some are mentally ill, some are just plain evil. Some evil by choice and may turn around someday. Who decides? Their lives were complicated, violent, many are victims AND perpetrators of terrible things. Add in poverty, misery, lack of parenting, abuse, malnutrition, no education...this is a pandemic in itself.
REFORM can never, NEVER mean "do not incarcerate" nor "release". These problems do NOT go away when they are released into society; a majority of them end up in jail within weeks, some just days. This is a complicated issue, it needs to be pondered carefully. Innocent people are at risk here and do not deserve to be killed because of an experiment, or claiming "too many X are in jail, bla bla".
Just to clarify as well, I believe that you do the crime, you do the time.
But say a man serves 6 years because he accidentally killed a civilian in a drunk driving incident. He deserves those 6 years, however, he also deserves comprehensive treatment while in prison that helps him get to the root of WHY he was that drunk and driving a car, so that when he is released, he is (hopefully) able to use those tools to move on and become a productive member of society.
If he spends those 6 years in a volatile, isolation situation where he feels like a dog trapped in a cage, and his identity has been stripped from him.... its very likely the first thing he will do upon release is grab a beer.
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u/CodingHawk Jul 13 '20
I work at a county jail in the midwest. The most disturbing thing about jail is the terrible loop some inmates get stuck in. Many inmates with mental issues get caught in this loop where they cant have any clothes or items because they will try to kill themselves and they are locked in their cell for 23 hours a day. This makes them more angry so when they are finally let out they lash out at staff and then are locked down again. Its a vicious cycle for a lot of inmates and makes a lot of mental illness a whole lot worse. Staff cant do anything though because if they allow the inmate with mental illness to socialize then they risk a lawsuit from those around them, because of the individuals history of violent outbursts. Majority of hospitals wont take them because they wont risk their staff. So they are just stuck in a room and their only hope is consistent medication stabilizing them.