U.S. Prison System Requires New Commitment to Treat Mentally Ill Inmates
Interview with Mike Lawlor, Connecticut state representative, conducted by Melinda Tuhus
Connecticut was rocked by the suicides of five inmates in a ten-week period from April to June 2004, numbers usually seen in the course of a year. In a system with 18,500 inmates in jails and prisons, the state Department of Corrections has acknowledged that up to 2,500 of those incarcerated are afflicted with serious mental illness.
Each year, 10 million people enter U.S. correction facilities and studies indicate that the incidence of serious mental illness among these individuals is at least three to four times higher than in the general population.
A politically inspired crackdown on quality-of-life offenses such as the possession of narcotics have put many people with mental illness behind bars, hitting hard those dually diagnosed with mental health and substance abuse disorders. Ill-equipped to provide a comprehensive array of services that these individuals need, corrections administrators often see the health of people with mental illness deteriorate further, prompting behavior issues and disciplinary infractions that only prolong their confinement in the criminal justice system.
Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Connecticut state representative Mike Lawlor, co-chairman of the General Assembly's Judiciary Committee. Lawlor, who also co-chairs the Consensus Project, a national organization that brings together experts in the criminal justice and mental health fields. Lawlor discusses efforts underway to provide better care for mentally ill offenders.
For more information, call the Consensus Project at (212) 482-2320 or visit the group's website at consensusproject.org
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