issues in corrections

Issues in Corrections
Student’s Name
Institution’s Name
Abstract
The United States of America ranks among the countries with a massive prison population. Having so many people in prisons leads to several problems. Some of the common issues in prisons notwithstanding their location are overcrowding: mental health care, gang activity, racism, and privatization. Chief among the problems highlighted, of concern, is healthcare and more specifically the mental health of prisoners). The USA incarcerates more people per capita than any other country in the world. One percent of the USA population is serving term hence depend on the correctional facilities for their health. People who society has failed to take care of due to their mental states, find themselves in prison where their condition gets exacerbated. Prisons accommodate two to three times the number of mentally ill persons in the outside world. It is clear that prisons have turned to be homes for the mentally ill persons. Some prisoners get incarcerated while sick intellectually, and others acquire the state of mental illness while incarcerated. Dangers associated with one turning into a person with a mental health condition in prison include cruelty from prison staff, solitary confinement, and physical abuse from other inmates. States and the federal government have turned a blind eye to the mentally ill persons who find themselves at loggerheads with the justice department.
Keywords: mentally ill, prison, incarceration, health.

Issues in Corrections
The prisons are soaring each day all over the world. The United States of America ranks among the countries with a huge prison population. Having so many people in prisons leads to several problems. Some of the common issues in prisons notwithstanding their location are overcrowding, mental health care, gang activity, racism, and privatization. The USA correctional system is no exception as all the highlighted issues are alive in the prisons. It could be argued by many that the American correctional system is on its knees. Chief among the problems highlighted, of concern, is healthcare and more specifically the mental health of prisoners. Health is a central issue to the human race hence needs critical attention than any other presented problem. Prisons are primarily meant to rehabilitate criminals and not prepare them for their demise if their health does not get considered (Wilper et al., 2009).
The prison population in the USA has steadily escalated for the past two decades, and the rise is not seemingly coming to a halt anytime soon if the current trends are anything to take into consideration. The USA incarcerates more people per capita than any other country in the world (Braga, Cormier & Anton, 2015). One percent of the USA population is serving term hence depend on the correctional facilities for their health. The percentage is not a small number as that translates to more than 2.3 million people. Existing literature indicates that access to health care for prisoners in the USA is deficient (Braga, Cormier & Anton, 2015).
Some prisoners get incarcerated while mentally ill while others acquire the state of mental illness while incarcerated. Some of the reasons associated with the development of mental illness in prison are stress, isolation, and stigmatization of imprisonment. People who come from marginalized parts of the community get prone to mental health problems (Wilper et al., 2009). Prisoners with a background of extreme poverty, unemployment, family breakdown, and substance report higher rates of suffering mental problems. Unfortunate to those who turn into psychological health patients in prisons is the limited facilities for such particular patients. When one gets convicted and sentenced while assumed to be of perfect health, they get sent to correctional homes where psychiatric care may be lacking or limited. Majority of the correction facilities in the USA were not equipped to provide mental health services.
Dangers associated with one turning into a person with a mental health condition in prison include cruelty from prison staff, solitary confinement, and physical abuse from other inmates. American prions have turned to be asylums for the mentally sick (Stuart, Arboleda-Flórez & Sartoris, 2005). It is a sad situation that many people as much as ten times the number of those admitted to psychiatric hospitals are sent to ordinary prisons with disregard to their health. In a 2012 study, more than three hundred thousand mentally ill persons were in prisons and jails while only thirty thousand were in state psychiatric hospitals, where they belong (Braga, Cormier & Anton, 2015).
Over the years the USA has endeavored to reduce state the capacity of state psychiatric hospitals by closing some down. In the 90s the bed capacity in mental hospitals was more than half a million while today the number is approximately forty thousand. Given the current state of affairs, extremely sick persons end up in prisons, hence worsening their condition (Yi, Turney & Wildeman, 2017). The danger of recidivism is high among the mentally ill who serve and get released from prisons. When the inmates cannot bear the conditions anymore, they commit suicide to save themselves the agony.
Literature indicates that some states spend substantial sums of money in getting mentally ill persons pose as competent defendants in court. Notorious for these acts is the state of Florida. In Florida, mentally ill people are trained to act as ordinary persons, and if they do, they get sent to prison where they serve term without any medication (Braga, Cormier & Anton, 2015). In essence, Florida does not want to spend any money on mentally ill inmates; the state pays an average of $53000 to make a mentally sick person legally culpable for their offense. More than fifty million dollars is spent annually trying to restore the competency of an ill person so that they can serve sentences in prison and not psychiatric hospitals (Braga, Cormier & Anton, 2015). A circle gets created where the sick get released to society, and soon they come back and undergo the same competency training; consequently, persons desperate for mental health care get ignored continually by being sent to prison.
Currently, few prisons accommodate people with mental health needs. Mentally ill inmates attract scorn and possible placement in maximum security solitary confinement. Solitary confinements may be windowless and untidy since it is all a measure of discipline. Mental stimulus in single cells is unavailable; this aggravates the misery of the mentally sick. At times, those leaving solitary cells may get psychiatric care, but they are not let off the prison system, they return shortly after inadequate care inside outside the walls (Yi, Turney & Wildeman, 2017). The cycle of activities continues where the correction centers act as illness incubators, where psychiatric breakdowns often occur (Stuart, Arboleda-Flórez & Sartoris, 2005).
Prisons were never intended to be homes for the mentally ill bit that is their role today if the actions of Florida are anything to go by. People who society has failed to take care of due to their mental states, find themselves in prison where their condition gets exacerbated. Prisons are homes to two to three times the number of mentally ill persons in the general public. It is clear that prisons have been turned into homes for the mentally ill persons.
From the above, it is clear that mental health is not a consideration of the American correctional system. States and the federal government have turned a blind eye to the mentally ill persons who find themselves at loggerheads with the justice department (Wilper et al., 2009). There is lack of care for the mentally ill, or where present, care is inadequate. Ignoring of the sick poses dangers to the community at large and prisoners when the sick get locked up (Yi, Turney & Wildeman, 2017).
However, there are steps that the states and the federal government can take to care for the mentally ill. The federal government should undertake to ensure that in every jurisdiction there are established psychiatric hospitals where the mentally sick criminals can undergo rehabilitation. Some of the conditions that attach the label of criminality to people are so trivial that minimal psychiatric care can cure. The mental hospitals should be under the federal government to avoid the scenario of Florida where sick persons are trained to appear legally competent in court. Funds that could go into restoring the normalcy of ones’ mental state are minimal as compared to the frequent ‘competency training’ done by states like Florida (Braga, Cormier & Anton, 2015).
Another way that the current state of inadequate mental health care for those affected can get dealt with is through the upgrading of prisons to the required levels of providing psychiatric health care to the incarcerated. Prisons have turned many inmates to mentally unstable person. Instead of dealing with the mentally ill as disciplinary cases by sending them to solitary confinement or ignoring them, prison wardens should get a lesson on when to take some occurrences seriously with the weight they deserve (Stuart, Arboleda-Flórez & Sartoris, 2005). Mental illness impairs the ability of a person to cope with prison guidelines that require strict adherence. An infraction of prison rules attracts punishment regardless of one’s mental health condition. Even instances of self-harm have always drawn penalties from the prison wardens. Prison care for psychiatric cases should be limited to the handling of emergencies when a psychiatric breakdown occurs (Prins, 2014). After handling of the initial signs of mental conditions, those declared mentally unfit for regular prisons should get transferred to psychiatric hospitals for appropriate care.
Mental health does not attract the seriousness that other health conditions seem to attract. When it comes to prisons, one is not allowed to show signs of mental illness let alone being a mentally ill inmate. The current correctional system of the USA punishes the mentally ill for being sick. It is not the role of the prisons to aggravate what is already worse; prions are meant to be homes where desired attributes and behavior gets encouraged. However, the correctional system is not to blame for the shortcomings it faces but the federal and state governments. If society is going to turn back to normalcy, mentally ill prisoners need to get the appropriate care just like any other sick citizen.

References
Braga, M., Cormier, A., & Anton, L. (2015). Florida spends millions making sure the mentally ill go to court and gets nothing for it. Tampabay.com. Retrieved 4 February 2018, from http://www.tampabay.com/projects/2015/investigations/florida-mental-health-hospitals/competency/
Prins, S. J. (2014). Prevalence of mental illnesses in US state prisons: a systematic review. Psychiatric Services, 65(7), 862-872.
Stuart, H., Arboleda-Flórez, H., & Sartoris, N. (2005). Stigma and mental disorders: International perspectives. World Psychiatry, 4(Suppl 1), 1-62.
Wilper, A. P., Woolhandler, S., Boyd, J. W., Lasser, K. E., McCormick, D., Bor, D. H., & Himmelstein, D. U. (2009). The health and health care of US prisoners: results of a nationwide survey. American journal of public health, 99(4), 666-672.
Yi, Y., Turney, K., & Wildeman, C. (2017). Mental health among jail and prison inmates. American journal of men’s health, 11(4), 900-909.