The Released
The Released: What happens after the mentally ill are released from prison.
Abstract
Mental illness has been around since the beginning of time. Back in the 1940s or '50s, a man with schizophrenia would have been locked away in an isolated state mental hospital. In the 1960s or '70s, following the widespread deinstitutionalization of people with mental illness, he likely would have been released. Now the future for people with mental illness could be very different. The most likely place a person with a mental illness, who has no other resources, will end up is prison. Most people with a severe mental illness cannot control themselves or their emotions; because they cannot control themselves it leads the individuals to out lash and unintentionally break the law. Once released the mentally ill inmates are given a certain amount of medication and simply let off into the “real world”. Because they have no other place to go the mentally ill either end up back in prison or homeless on the streets.
The Released
America’s prisons have become a dumping ground for the mentally ill because non-prison treatment facilities are unavailable or unaffordable. PBS Frontlines documentary, The New Asylum, “goes deep inside Ohio’s state prison system to explore the complex and growing issue of mentally ill prisoners. With unprecedented access to prison therapy sessions, mental health treatment meetings, crisis wards, and prison disciplinary tribunals…” Five years later in 2005 film makers Karen O’Connor and Miri Navasky went back to the Ohio state prison to make a documentary, The Released, that uncovers what happens to the mentally ill when they are released. The Released shows that even though the mentally ill are being treated in the prisons, because they have no stable environment to go to and no way to take care of themselves, once released the inmates soon end up back in prison or homeless.
As of 1996 approximately 20-25% of the single adult homeless
Abstract
Mental illness has been around since the beginning of time. Back in the 1940s or '50s, a man with schizophrenia would have been locked away in an isolated state mental hospital. In the 1960s or '70s, following the widespread deinstitutionalization of people with mental illness, he likely would have been released. Now the future for people with mental illness could be very different. The most likely place a person with a mental illness, who has no other resources, will end up is prison. Most people with a severe mental illness cannot control themselves or their emotions; because they cannot control themselves it leads the individuals to out lash and unintentionally break the law. Once released the mentally ill inmates are given a certain amount of medication and simply let off into the “real world”. Because they have no other place to go the mentally ill either end up back in prison or homeless on the streets.
The Released
America’s prisons have become a dumping ground for the mentally ill because non-prison treatment facilities are unavailable or unaffordable. PBS Frontlines documentary, The New Asylum, “goes deep inside Ohio’s state prison system to explore the complex and growing issue of mentally ill prisoners. With unprecedented access to prison therapy sessions, mental health treatment meetings, crisis wards, and prison disciplinary tribunals…” Five years later in 2005 film makers Karen O’Connor and Miri Navasky went back to the Ohio state prison to make a documentary, The Released, that uncovers what happens to the mentally ill when they are released. The Released shows that even though the mentally ill are being treated in the prisons, because they have no stable environment to go to and no way to take care of themselves, once released the inmates soon end up back in prison or homeless.
As of 1996 approximately 20-25% of the single adult homeless
References: Ditton, P. M. (1999). Mental Health and Treatment of Inmates and Probationers [Data file]. Retrieved from http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/mhtip.pdf (2010, March 10). The Released (survey). Ball State University. Guilty of Mental Ilness. (2004, January 21). Healthy Place [article]. Retrieved from http://www.healthyplace.com/thought-disorders/articles/guilty-of-mental-illness/menu-id-64/ Lee, J. (2008, May 20). Makeshift Space for Inmates as Prisons Exceed Capacity. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/nyregion/20prisons.html Macor, M. (2006). Chronicle [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2007/Prison-Budget-College21may07.htm McNulty, J Navasky, M., & O 'Conner, K. (2005, April 28). The Released [Documentary]. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/released/etc/credits.htm Navasky, M., & O 'Connor, K. (2005, May 10). The New Asylums [Documentary]. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/asylums/view/