Even if an inmate's sentence is not oppressively long, their treatment while incarcerated can still constitute subhuman treatment. Prisons are not medical facilities, but they regularly are forced to deal with mental health problems and care for elderly and terminally ill inmates. Food, if it's even edible, usually lacks enough nutrition for inmates' health to not deteriorate. Plus, with a lack of opportunities to see family, read, or gain skill sets, inmates are placed in buildings which lack any resemblance of the civilized world.
"Inmates with mental health issues have psychiatrists around during the day, but how many inmates are they really going to get into it with? Nobody wants extra paperwork. I had a lot of time to sit and listen on the 24-hour suicide watch."
The Marshall Project
August 9, 2018
Read More"National advocacy groups say New Hampshire is the only place in the country where the ward for people at risk of hurting themselves or others, called a secure psychiatric unit, is located in a prison."
The Marshall Project
July 30, 2018
Read More"Colorado’s Department of Human Services has fielded at least 59 contempt of court citations or threats of contempt — including against the state’s chief of the agency — for how long it is taking mentally ill people to access treatment before standing trial, according to an investigation by CPR News."
Colorado Public Radio
July 23, 2018
Read More"While the mental health industry has the luxury of turning away people it doesn’t want the corrections system must accept whoever arrives at the door. If we "normalize" mental health jails for individuals with mental illness, we accept the shift from programs that help manage symptoms in the community, with or without supervision, to treatment in jail or prison as a first stop."
The Advocate
July 11, 2018
Read More"By some accounts, nearly half of America's incarcerated population is mentally ill — and journalist Alisa Roth argues that most aren't getting the treatment they need."
NPR
July 10, 2018
Read More"'From the prison to the judicial system nobody listened to me, it`s like they don`t care, you see what I`m saying?' he said. 'Once they sentence you it`s over'."
WTVR Richmond
July 10, 2018
Read More"Harris County believes it’s the first to formally create a separate bureau responsible entirely for mental health and jail diversion. It has equipped deputies with tablets that connect to a psychiatrist for on-the-spot treatment or triage and will set up a central booking desk this fall to better sort those arrested into treatment before they get charged with a crime."
Politico
July 9, 2018
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