It’s no secret that the United States criminal justice system has a disturbingly high number of mentally ill incarcerated persons. It’s also true that a disturbingly high number of mentally ill inmates have been discriminated against throughout their lives, their arrests, and prosecution. The criminal justice system has not yet figured out a way to humanely treat the mentally disabled. In a new piece from monthly publishing magazine Reason, C.J. Ciaramella details how cruelly some prison systems have treated the mentally disabled. The piece was based off a new report on “Disabled Behind Bars” that sheds some light on the continuous plight of the disabled in this country:
“According to the report, “Disabled Behind Bars,” 31 percent of those in prisons and nearly 40 percent of those in jails report having at least one disability. Fully half of women in jails have at least one reported disability. Compared to the general population, people behind bars in state and federal prisons and jails are three and four times as likely to have at least one disability, respectively. Down syndrome, autism, dementia, intellectual disabilities, and learning disorders are among the most commonly reported disabilities, according to the report.”
The disabled are easily forgotten about, their treatments needed ignored, and are sometimes put through nothing short of torture by indifferent prison guards or wardens. Solitary confinement, which is a form of torture no matter what some will try to say, is often used to throw the mentally disabled in for the reasons of “protecting themselves.” It’s not protecting them, it’s torturing them. The report says, “They’re more likely to be abused by guards, have their treatment and medication regime disrupted, and have a harder time overcoming the considerable obstacles a criminal record puts on finding steady work and housing, the report says.”
The report not only laments the lack of human rights inside the prison for the disabled, but also how they seem to pay an expensive amount to incarcerate them and treat them poorly. Instead of putting them into centers where they can get help or real care they’re thrown in prison like they don’t matter. The report continues;
“Mass incarceration of people with disabilities is unjust, unethical, and cruel,” the report states. “But it is also penny-wise and pound-foolish, as community-based treatment and prevention services cost far less than housing an individual behind bars.” The report cites a 2014 study that found jailing a person with serious mental illness in Los Angeles County costs more than $48,500 per year. “By comparison,” the report goes on, “the price tag for providing Assertive Community Treatment, or ACT, and supportive housing—one of the most intensive, comprehensive, and successful intervention models in use today—amounts to less than $20,500 annually.”
Its expensive and inhumane the way things are going now as the report states. The horrific Rikers Island is one of the biggest mental health facilities in the country now. The positive effects of ridding the country of cruel draconian mental institutions has now just been traded for throwing them in cruel prison systems. They’re denied justice and fair treatment nearly every step of the way. Take a look at the case of this poor women suffering with deafness;
“The report highlights cases like that of Christine Stein, a deaf North Dakota woman who was arrested after using a video relay to call 911 to report a suicidal man in her apartment. Unable to understand her, police arrested Stein on suspicion of harming the man. “According to a lawsuit against the Jamestown police department and courts, Stein was denied a sign language interpreter not only during police questioning and booking, but also when she was brought before a judge for court proceedings,” the report states. “The charges were ultimately dropped after she was able to meet with an interpreter two days before she was scheduled to return to court. People who are deaf are sometimes denied access to court interpreters or in other cases billed for them”, Vallas said. According to the advocacy group HEARD (Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of the Deaf), deaf people are often held in solitary as a “substitute for the provision of accommodations for and protection of deaf and disabled prisoners.”
Having a negative encounter with the police is a much higher likelihood for the disabled. The report encourages expanding police training in trying to make exchanges with the disabled more peaceful and safer for everyone. There’s no easy solution for how to truly help the mentally disabled achieve justice and equality, but a good place to start is treating them and recognizing them like their actual humans and people the government can’t just throw away and forget about.
