New federal legislation addresses the high rate of mentally ill offenders in U.S. jails and prisons and the woefully deficient mental health services they receive, Human Rights Watch said today. Congress passed the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2004 on October 11, and it now awaits signature by President George W. Bush.
The legislation authorizes $50 million in federal grants for the coming fiscal year to help keep people with mental illness out of the criminal justice system, improve training for police in dealing with the mentally ill, and improve the quality of mental health treatment in jails and prisons.
“Congress has recognized that prisons should not serve as the nation’s primary mental health facilities.” said Jamie Fellner, director of Human Rights Watch’s U.S. Program. “It has also realized prisoners receive abysmal mental health treatment. This bill could catalyze reforms across the country in the way the criminal justice system responds to people with mental illness.”
Last year Human Rights Watch released a report, “Ill Equipped: U.S. Prisons and Offenders with Mental Illness,” which documented the staggering proportion of prisoners who have serious mental illnesses and the mistreatment, neglect, and abuse they face in prison. At least one in six prisoners is mentally ill, and many suffer from serious illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression.
Human Rights Watch found that prisoners with mental illness were given inadequate treatment, or not treated at all, because of the shortage of qualified staff and specialized facilities. They frequently endure violence, exploitation and extortion at the hands of other inmates, and physical abuse and harassment by security staff. Inability to comply with prison rules lands them in solitary confinement which, at best, is counter-therapeutic and at worst, dramatically increases their chances of psychiatric breakdown.
The enactment of the Mentally Ill Offenders Treatment Act was one of a number of key Human Right Watch recommendations to address the growing number of people with mental illness being swept into the criminal justice system and to improve the quality of treatment offered in jails and prisons.
