Do the Mentally Ill in Texas Jails Get Proper Care?-2
In the study used as a resource in Part 1 of this series, it is the opinion of psychiatric professionals that criminalization in connection with the mentally ill refers to their being arrested, whether or not subsequently incarcerated and prosecuted for a minor offense, instead of getting help from the mental health system.
It should also be acknowledged that many with mental disabilities who commit serious crimes might not have entered the criminal justice system if they had received mental health treatment before advancing to serious criminal activity.
Incarceration of the Mentally Ill
Why are mentally ill detainees incarcerated for much longer than the rest of the population? In a New York jail, Riker’s Island, the average stay for all inmates is 42 days, but for mentally ill detainees, the average stay is 215 days. In Florida’s Orange County Jail, those numbers are 26 and 42 days, respectively.
The primary reason detainees with mental disabilities stay in jail longer than others is that many of them struggle to understand and follow jail rules. One study showed that the mentally ill were twice (19% vs 9%) as likely to be charged with facility rule violations. In another study, 41% of the infractions were committed by mentally ill detainees although they constituted only 19% of the population.
See Part 1 and this ongoing series.
Helping detainees in Texas jails is one of this website’s purposes. There is no intention of insinuating that any person or entity has been involved in unlawful activity.
–Guest Contributor
smchugh
smchugh