Attached.

Surname 1
Name
Tutor
Course
Date
American Prisons Overlooking Mental Illness
Introduction
In many countries of the world, mental disorders are occurring at high rates. Therefore,
there is an apparent need for the countries to establish mechanisms to deal with the rising
mental illness disorders. In the United States, according to the American Psychiatric
Association, the number of the mentally ill in the correctional facilities is ten times higher than
the population in the psychiatric facilities. In addition, following the rise in the number of
mentally disordered population in prisons and jails in the United States in the previous four
decades, the facilities are experiencing other psychosocial implications among the inmates as
well as the prison staff. For instance, in most cases, mentally disordered people are either
secluded in solitary units to avoid more damages and for safety reasons or included in the
lesser affected population. According to the study by Reiter and Thomas (2015), a significant
number of the victims attempt suicide while citing isolation as a punishment for their health
concerns.
While the call to minimize the population of the mentally disordered people in the
American prisons is significant and timely, other factors are promoting inefficiency in the
process. The research by Kilgore (2014) depicts racial disparity as a major concern while
dealing with people with mental disorders in the American prisons. Kilgore asserts that "Mass
incarceration has exacerbated and further racialized the problems of mental illness. It is both
cause and effect.” Often, when people with mental disorder exchange words with the police

Surname 2
officers, they find themselves in the correctional facilities rather than the psychiatric facilities
(Swanson 28). However, the prisons fail to establish the thin line between the offense and the
health condition of the offender. This paper argues the overlooking of the mental health
concerns of the inmates in the American prisons.

Mental health concerns in the American Prisons
Correctional facilities including the prisons, jails, and paroles among others are neither
intended for nor the best facilities for the mentally disordered people. However, in the United
States, prisons and other correctional institutions hold extreme capacity of the mentally
disordered people. It is apparent that, people with psychological disorder best fit in the
psychiatry facilities where they could get adequate attention. Although there are dedicated
psychiatrists and other health practitioners in the prisons, jails, and paroles among other
correctional institutions, they lack the right facilities and equipment to attend the mentally
disordered prisoners. In addition, the prisons and jails long bureaucracies fail the health
practitioners in their line of duty. It is noteworthy that many prisons in the United States do not
have adequate health practitioners to meet the rising levels of mentally ill prisoners. In fact,
although most of the states establish units to deal with the psychologically disabled population.
Over the years, the prison administration and the overall justice system is seen to turn a blind
eye to the increasing levels of people with mental disorders.
According to American Psychiatric Association report, the number of people with
mental concerns in the correctional facilities is getting to the extreme while the psychiatric
institutions no longer hold a higher number of people with mental disorders in comparison with
the prisons as should be the case. In addition, although most of the psychiatric institutions have
the right equipment to attend to the mentally handicapped people, most people with such
conditions find themselves on the wrong side of the law for...