Type of Submission
Podium Presentation
Keywords
Prisons, abuse, mental health, mental illness
Abstract
Abuse among mentally ill inmates is a relevant issue in prison systems worldwide. This presentation will focus on the pervasiveness and severity of this abuse in the US and abroad. Pertinent statistics regarding the prevalence of abuse among the mentally ill in prison systems, as well as the obstacles to obtaining such statistics will be presented. Following the major deinstitutionalization of mental hospitals in the 1970s, the mentally ill inmate population has seen exponential increase in the United States. Abuse statistics of the mentally ill in United Kingdom prisons will also be presented and analyzed, including concerns in prison staff training, support, and supervision. A large portion of the presentation will also focus on the discontinuity between current Bureau of Prisons legislation and the current state of affairs in the American prison system - highlighting problems with maximum security exploitation, disproportional staff-to-inmate ratios, and police brutality resulting from a lack of education. In closing, opportunities for advocacy will be explored.
Faculty Sponsor or Advisor’s Name
Julie Furj-Kuhn
Campus Venue
Stevens Student Center, Room 240
Location
Cedarville, OH
Start Date
4-16-2014 2:00 PM
End Date
4-16-2014 2:20 PM
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Included in
Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms Commons, Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons, Mental Disorders Commons
Prison Abuse and Mental Health
Cedarville, OH
Abuse among mentally ill inmates is a relevant issue in prison systems worldwide. This presentation will focus on the pervasiveness and severity of this abuse in the US and abroad. Pertinent statistics regarding the prevalence of abuse among the mentally ill in prison systems, as well as the obstacles to obtaining such statistics will be presented. Following the major deinstitutionalization of mental hospitals in the 1970s, the mentally ill inmate population has seen exponential increase in the United States. Abuse statistics of the mentally ill in United Kingdom prisons will also be presented and analyzed, including concerns in prison staff training, support, and supervision. A large portion of the presentation will also focus on the discontinuity between current Bureau of Prisons legislation and the current state of affairs in the American prison system - highlighting problems with maximum security exploitation, disproportional staff-to-inmate ratios, and police brutality resulting from a lack of education. In closing, opportunities for advocacy will be explored.
