Posted: February 28th, 2022

Prisons should provide better mental health care for inmates

Prisons should provide better mental health care for inmates
While the overall number of people incarcerated continues to fall, the number of those incarcerated with a mental condition continues to rise globally. The United States leads with approximately 10.3 million people currently in jails and prisons. According to research, almost half of these people suffer from at least one mental disorder.
The increasing rate of mental disorders in prisons can be associated with various factors. These factors include the misconception that people with mental illnesses pose a danger to the community, intolerance to disturbance behaviors by people with mental disorders, and also lack of access to mental health services in many countries. Most of the prisoners are sick before imprisonment, while others develop the mental conditions after imprisonment due to poor living conditions such as overcrowding, and violence in jails, and prisons.
What can be done?
Access to mental health care: When people are incarcerated, there is a sudden change in their access to treatment. Most of them lose their health insurance benefits and have to rely on services provided by prisons. For those who begin treatment after imprisonment, may lose access after they are released back to the community. This can have a fatal impact on individuals who suddenly stops taking their medications. Prisons should create a system that supports assessments and treatment options to such people as their transition in and out of prison.
Also, the mental health services provided to the prisoners should be similar to those provided to the general community. If not possible, the prisons should come up with ways to allow the prisoners to access health services from outside sources. Patients with severe mental disorders should be given personalized care, such as access to mental specialists who can carefully assess and prescribe the most appropriate treatment.
Prisoners requiring acute mental care should be also be temporally be placed either in psychiatric wards or hospitals to receive more personalized treatment. Such people should also have access to the prescribed medications at all times and closely monitored for symptoms of self-harm.
Training prison staff: All prison workers who are directly involved with the prisoners, including correctional officers, administrators, and health workers, should be provided with basic training regarding the recognition and management of common health disorders. The training should also focus on creating awareness of human rights, understand the effects of stigmatization, and encourage mental health promotion for the prisoners and other staff members.
The likelihood that a person who has a mental illness will be arrested is almost twice higher than that of an entirely mentally healthy person. Most of them start with minor offenses such as theft and public disturbances. Early interventions such as community support and ensuring such people have access to mental health care remain the best way to keep such people out of prison.

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