Mental Effects on Inmates from Overcrowded Prisons

When a defendant is convicted of a criminal offense, it is expected that the person will become an inmate in a jail, state, or federal prison. What the new inmate does not expect is how being in prison will affect that individual. An inmate initially has a difficult time making the change of having someone now told him what to do, how to do it, when to do it. That change alone is enough for a person who has been previously free to make their own decisions, to suddenly now develop mental issues such as anxiety and stress. The ability of correctional officers to enforce these rules or commands is often by the use of harsh measures. However, this invasion of privacy, and even invasion of that person's body are only a few of the more serious effects of being in prison and the effects on the inmate may be devastating. In fact, changes in personality, fear, anxiety, depression, and loss of control are but a few of the effects on the mental psyche of prisoners.

In fact, many prison systems have become committed to the use of harsh policies and procedures designed primarily to maintain order, control, intimidation, fear, and little else. They also now rely increasingly on sophisticated security hardware and surveillance technology, including cameras in cells, community rooms, cell walks, and bathrooms. There is an increased use in metal detectors, leg irons, waist chains, handcuffs, "violent prisoner restraint chairs, chain-link fences, razor wire, tasers, stun guns, pepper spray, tear gas canisters, and gas grenades. In some jurisdictions, mini-14 and 9mm assault rifles, 12 gauge shotguns, and other firearms are employed inside a number of minimum and maximum-security prisons.

With over 2,300,000 million individuals in prison today, most prisons are seriously overcrowded and often, beyond the capacity for which the prison was built. Inmates are double, tripled, and even quadrupled in spaces that were originally intended for just one person. When that space may be a room that is only 6 foot by 8 foot and filled with a bunk area and a toilet, which means each person is literally invading the personal space of another 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Rape and brutality among prisoners have escalated dramatically. Mental health issues ranging from anxiety and depression to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD) have become the norm for thousands of inmates previously not affected by these illnesses. Conflicts between prisoners and their custodial caretakers, normally known as correctional officers, are increasing and the chance of rioting is always an immediate issue for many prisons, thus raising the levels of anxiety for everyone.

Even so, with the largest groups of offenders in prison at over 50%, are those who have committed minor or victimless crimes, such as those who are already suffering from mental illness, and who are often those engaged in drug usage, prostitution, and other minor violations, but crimes that in and of themselves have hurt no one. At a cost of approximately $45 thousand dollars a year to maintain just one prisoner, something needs to be done. However, with the concept of rehabilitation not being one embraced by most in the legal system, it seems that retribution is the name of the game. Everyone appears to want the proverbial "pound of flesh" instead of extending a helping hand for someone who is mentally ill or made a bad mistake, but a mistake that should not carry with it a sentence of extended years in prison.

Few prisons are able to evaluate and then provide competent educational programs, vocational training, or mental health care that provide inmates with the resources to combat aggression or feelings of inadequacy in themselves. Even by the most conservative calculations, several hundred thousand prisoners are badly in need of counseling and treatment for a variety of pre-existing cognitive, emotional, and psychological problems. Suicides in jails and prisons have been found to happen where the inmates outnumber the staff due to extreme overcrowding, and which is found in most of them. Those with pre-existing mental illnesses are often forced into prison because of a minor crime instead of being placed in a mental institution to be treated for their mental disability. However, although places such as mental rehabilitation or hospitals are in such dire need, there is no incentive to build them. Any existing hospitals are already filled with patients that need constant monitoring and medications and there is no room for more.

Unfortunately, the numbers of those in prison are rising quickly each day causing an unprecedented" growth in building new prisons. The fact is prisons have become big business and a source of economic security in many areas, so there is even less incentive to build hospitals or rehabilitation facilities. Studies have shown that violence begets violence and placing an offender of a victimless crime into a situation where they are going to be bullied, harassed, or even raped by a hard time criminal only creates more anger and violence within the prison community. When released, this built up anger will flare out against other innocent people.

Prisoners in overcrowded correctional settings interact with unknown people, under extremely close quarters that afford little or no privacy or reprieve from the daily onslaught of crowding and where their basic needs are less likely to be addressed or met. Indeed, overcrowding operates at an individual level to exacerbate the experience of imprisonment by literally changing the social context to which prisoners must adjust to on a day-to-day basis. With little to do, idleness translates into added aggravation and frustration, increasing the probability of conflict between individuals or groups, and increases the number of assaults in prison, including assaults of a sexual nature. A prison researcher has noted, "In less well-regulated institutions in which prisoners have little recourse to protection or in which there may be collusion between dominant prisoners and staff to maintain the peace, sexual violence tends to be greater". Overcrowding reduces the opportunities for staff to monitor prisoner behavior and limits the options to reduce building animosity between prisoners. In fact, negative behavioral effects that are likely to occur cause an increased risk of victimization of one inmate by another inmate.

Not surprisingly, several studies have suggested that overcrowding is associated with increased recidivism, especially among those already suffering from a mental illness. The U.S. Government Accounting Office spokesperson noted, "Corrections officials believe that extensive inmate idleness can lead to destructive behavior and increase violence within institutions. Moreover, idleness does little to prepare inmates for re-entry into society." These rates were significantly measurably higher in inmates than of low-risk offenders who had been placed in halfway houses or other mental health facilities that did not involve imprisonment in a cell.

State laws that now mandate the incarceration of drug offenders should be repealed and replaced with public and private treatment centers to which nonviolent drug abusers can be referred. The sentences for these offenders should be comprised of the least amount of time so that they can go back to work and remain a member of their communities. Jails and prisons should be stopped from housing the mentally ill or those convicted of victimless crimes. Improving living conditions and investing in prison programs and significant activities in which prisoners could participate will lower aggression, mental illness, and decreased violence. Even the simple fact of using carpet on hallways floors to reduce the noise levels, have been found to reduce the amount of frustration and aggression within prison walls. More minimum-security prisons should be built with the mission to rehabilitate versus retaliation against those accused of minor crimes.

Even more so, it would benefit the community and the nation if a restitution model were set up for those who are guilty of petty or victimless crimes. Instead of prison, they should be allowed to work in a non-prison setting, support themselves, and pay restitution to their victims. This would benefit both the offender and the victim because the offender would still be a contributing member of society instead of having the victim pay taxes to keep and maintain that offender in prison. The biggest benefit would be that a restitution model would free up space in the prisons for those who are truly guilty of committing heinous crimes in the community and who need to be in prison. By sending fewer people to prison and by reducing the lengths of prison sentences, the effectiveness of imprisonment might be a real deterrent to future criminal activity. Diverting mentally ill criminals who should in fact be patients, to a mental health facility, will also reduce the numbers of those in prison who are taking up unnecessary space for a minor crime. Timely diagnosis and prompt treatment for mental illnesses in a mental facility is a more appropriate action.

Sources:

The Real Reason Behind Overcrowding in Prisons, Anthony Gregory, July 26, 2006

STANDING ROOM ONLY: What to do about prison overcrowding, Jan 25, 2002, By Ed Marciniak

Prison Overcrowding: Harmful Consequences and Dysfunctional Reactions, Testimony of Professor Craig Haney University of California