Yesterday, the Senate
Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law held a hearing
entitled,Human
Rights at Home – Mental Illness in U.S. Prisons and Jails.
The decision of this Subcommittee (which, last session
addressed genocide in Darfur and rape as a weapon of war in the Congo) to focus
on this domestic issue
recognizes that our nation's unparalleled incarceration and solitary confinement rates, and
disproportionate incarceration of people with mental illness raises and
implicates core human rights.
The choice also reflects the reality that U.S. prisons
and jails have become the primary provider of services to the mentally ill following decades of criminalization of mental illness, and that
those services, both correctional, and community, by all accounts, are failing miserably.
In his introductory comments, Senator Durbin points out
some startling facts:
- The three largest
mental health facilities in the U.S. are - The Los Angeles County
Jail, Rikers Island Jail, and the Cook County Jail. - Today in the
United
States, more than 2.3 million people are
incarcerated. This is by far, the most prisoners of any country in the world,
and by far, the highest per capita rate of prisoners in the world. - African Americans
are incarcerated at nearly 6 times the rate of white
citizens - Many of these
prisoners are nonviolent drug offenders, over half suffer from a mental health
problem, and many of those from serious, persistent mental illness. - Women are especially
vulnerable. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics - 61% of women in
federal prisons have mental health problems compared to 44% of males. - As are children.
Two thirds of boys and three fourths of girls detained in Cook County juvenile detention facilities have
at least one mental illness. Those with serious mental illness are more likely
to be abused by fellow inmates and have their sentences extended because of
conduct relate to their mental illness. - Eight years ago,
9000 children were surrendered by their families to the juvenile justice system
so they could receive basic mental health services.
Durbin points out, accurately, that our current practice
of jailing our mentally ill communities is like going backward hundreds of
years, "to another time when people with metal illness were incarcerated."
There is an understanding that the transition to community mental health
services has failed. We have been largely unable to meet the needs of the de-institutionalized mentally
ill – many of whom, as a result, cycle in and out of correctional institutions
where they find they have limited or no access to mental health services, and
their conditions, predictably, deteriorate.
Inmates suffering from mental illness tend to have
difficulty complying with directives and rules, and are thus, disproportionately
represented in solitary confinement, which
only makes their condition worse (in addition, solitary confinement has been shown to have the potential to creating mental illness and physical changes in even healthy brains of POWs). In the fascinating and disturbing March
2009 New Yorker piece on solitary confinement, former POW John McCain is
quoted as saying that social isolation is as “torturous and agonizing as any
physical abuse” he suffered - - keeping in mind this is from someone who’s
physical abuse included regular beatings, denial of medical treatment for three
broken limbs and chronic dysentery.
Maine Corrections are not immune from the same concerns
that prompted yesterday’s hearing (all of which can be watched streaming,
online). Maine’s statistics echo the nation’s in terms
of the high proportion of mentally ill within our jails and prisons. And, there
has been concern over the years surrounding the use and conditions of solitary confinement (or
“segregation” especially punitive) at the Maine State Prison, prompting at least two
reported hunger strikes by inmates in the past year.
In the past three decades, the U.S.
has quadrupled its incarceration rate, but not its space for prisoners. The
increased security risk that comes from tighter quarters and potentially
unpredictable inmates has also increased use of techniques, such as solitary
confinement, that actually impair the inmate's ability to successfully
reintegrate into our jail or home communities.
The vast majority of professionals and inmates involved in the criminal
justice and corrections systems understand the enormous challenge involved in
solving this national crisis. The challenge is to create better systems to defer the
low risk mentally ill from incarceration, and to provide adequate medical
treatment to those who continue to end up in our jails and prisons. But this
crisis must be addressed.
To quote Sentor. Durbin, “Our country was founded on the
principle that all people are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable
rights…That’s true even for, an in fact, especially for the least among us,
whether it’s a crack addict serving a mandatory minimum sentence, or a person
with mental illness who cycles endlessly through the shelters, hospitals, jails
and prisons.” Couldn’t have said it better myself…
You can watch the hearing here.