Senator Durbin takes us "back to another time" "when we incarcerated the mentally ill"..oh wait, it kinda looks like we still do

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:

1. The three largest mental health facilities in the U.S. are - The Los Angeles County Jail, Rikers Island Jail, and the Cook County Jail.
2. 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. 
3. African Americans are incarcerated at nearly 6 times the rate of white citizens
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.