Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T06:13:38.523Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Prisoner mental health in the USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Nigel Bark
Nigel Bark*
Affiliation:
Bronx Psychiatric Center, Bronx, New York, USA, email [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The mental health of prisoners in the USA is affected by American history: Dorothea Dix's 1830s campaign; the Civil War and slavery; presidential interventions; the Great Depression; and the introduction of Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. In 1934, the ratio of prisoners to mental hospital patients was 0.4; now, it is 3:1, with states varying from 10:1 to 1:1. Those states with the highest ratios also have the highest rates of imprisonment and the lowest expenditures on mental health. Litigation is likely to improve mental health services in prisons and to keep people who are mentally ill out of prisons.

Type
Guest editorial
Information
International Psychiatry , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , August 2014 , pp. 53 - 55
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 2014

References

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) (2009) Human Rights at Home: Mental Illness in US Prisons and Jails. Statement for the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law on 15 September 2009. ACLU.Google Scholar
Aron, L., Honberg, R., Duckworth, K., et al (2009) Grading the States 2009: A Report on America's Health Care System for Adults with Serious Mental Illness. National Alliance on Mental Illness.Google Scholar
Baillargeon, J., Binswager, I. A., Penn, J. V., et al (2009) Psychiatric disorders and repeat incarcerations: the revolving prison door. American Journal of Psychiatry, 166, 103–109.Google Scholar
Bromberg, W. & Thompson, C. B. (1937) The relation of psychosis, mental defect and personality types to crime. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 28, 70–89.Google Scholar
Cohen, A. (2014) When good people do nothing: the appalling story of South Carolina's prisons. The Atlantic, 10 January.Google Scholar
Fazel, S. & Seewald, K. (2012) Severe mental illness in 33 588 prisoners worldwide: systematic review and meta-regression analysis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 200, 364–373.Google Scholar
Gilligan, J. & Lee, B. (2013) Report to the New York City Board of Correction, 5 September (available online).Google Scholar
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) (2011) State Mental Health Cuts: A National Crisis. NAMI.Google Scholar
Penrose, L. S. (1943) A note on the statistical relationship between mental deficiency and crime in the United States. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 47, 462–466.Google Scholar
Rich, J. D., Wakeman, S. E. & Dickman, A. B. (2011) Medicine and the epidemic of incarceration in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine, 364, 2081–2083.Google Scholar
Scott, D. A., McGilloway, S., Dempster, M., et al (2013) Effectiveness of criminal justice liaison and diversion services for offenders with mental disorders: a review. Psychiatric Services, 64, 843–849.Google Scholar
Steadman, H. J., Osher, F. C., Robbins, P. C., et al (2009) Prevalence of serious mental illness among jail inmates. Psychiatric Services, 60, 761–765.Google Scholar
Swanson, J. W., Swartz, M., Van Dorn, R. A., et al (2009) Racial disparities in involuntary outpatient commitment. Are they real? Health Affairs, 28, 816–826.Google Scholar
Swanson, J. W., Van Dorn, R. A., Swartz, M. S., et al (2013) The cost of assisted outpatient treatment: can it save states money? American Journal of Psychiatry, 170, 1423–1432.Google Scholar
Torrey, F. T., Kennard, A. D., Eslinger, D., et al (2010) More Mentally Ill Persons Are in Jails and Prisons Than Hospitals: A Survey of the States. Treatment Advocacy Center.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.