Research on Mental Illness in the Prisons
My friend is doing research on mental illness and how it is handled in the prisons/jails. I figure if you know someone or are someone that has mental illness and were/are in jail, you might respond to this and help her out. The questions she is trying to answer are:
- Did you have access to your meds when you needed them?
- How did you feel you were treated by staff?
- Were you asked if you had a mental health issue, and if so, were you placed in special housing?
Come on. This is an easy one to respond to and you can help her get a good grade. BTW, I have received many questions from you all, about getting your meds while going to Tent City. I know some of you can respond to her questions and help her out.
Thanks!
Tags: Jail, Mental Health, Prisons
November 17th, 2008 at 9:56 am
I do not have a mental illness (that I know of), but I am currently spending 5 days in tent city with work release. Two of the people that were booked in with my group were on meds or needed medical attention. The female that came in with us had a kidney condition that made her need a bag for her urine. She has had this condition since she was five, but she very recently had surgery on that area. I know this is not a mental illness, but the treatment of a person with any illness is probably relatively indicative of how others will be treated. This lady with the urine bag requires a great deal of fluids during the day for her to remain healthy. Our group of ten women was held in a 6 by 8 cell for 13 hours without being provided any water. We were fed for the first time at 6pm, which was nearly 12 hours after we got there. When the guards were asked about the water they said we had to drink from the rusty faucet that was attached to the toilet, even the lady with the medical condition. She was also told she would be examined by a nurse. This did not happen in the time she was within my eyesight, which was about 15 hours. The man that came in with meds was quite old, maybe 65 to 70. I do not know that kinds of conditions he may have had but he came in with a bag full of meds. He was held in a cell with a bunch of other men just as long as we ladies were held (although the men did have a much bigger cell and there were only two more of them than us). By the time the guards walked us to the tents, the old man could not walk very straight and seemed disoriented. Even some of the other inmates were trying to comfort him. The guards made fun of him, laughing and saying he must “still be drunk,” which of course was an impossibility, seeing as how he had been sitting under watch all day. They finally let him have some of his meds when we got to the tents themselves. This would have been about 15 hours after he got there. The older man was in Tent City for DUI. The lady with the bag was there because she could not complete her community service as schedual on a previous offence because she had had to have emergency surgery because of her condition. Instead of letting her finish her service, she was sentanced to jail. She is also the sole caretaker of her diabetic father with whom she lives, but she will have to be away from him for at least three days. If these two cases are any indication of how people with known illnesses are treated, I shudder to think how those with mere “potential” or not curently diagnosed illnesses would be treated. I don’t know if this was helpful for your project, but I hope so.
November 19th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
I just finished a 10 day stint in the work release tents. I don’t have a mental illness, but I do take medication for high blood pressure. Intake did indeed take about 20 hours, and those inmates who needed to take pills more than once per day were practically begging for their medication. They were mostly ignored by the DOs. Eventually, ill or injured inmates and those requiring medication were separated into a different holding cell and were provided their medications several hours late.
When we first arrived at the tents, the detention officers informed us that it would be announced when we could get our medication during the day. Another inmate asked a DO when they would be dispensed, and we were informed that it would be announced around 10:30am. We waited and nothing was announced.
I waited until the late afternoon for any announcement, which never came. I finally asked a DO (very politely) if I could get my medication. His response was “Where were you this morning?” and “When did you get here?” I told him that I was finally given a bunk at 2:45am after being in intake for 20 hours, so I didn’t know when medications were normally dispensed.
He opened up the gate to the medication lockers for me, and several other inmates who were in the same predicament quickly showed up to get their meds. The DO expressed how unhappy he was that we were inconveniencing him.
Unfortunately, I never quite determined when medications were normally dispensed, because the time drifted between days and announcements were sporadic.
In the evenings, medications are usually dispensed between 7:30 and 8:00pm (although one evening was after 8:30pm) and after ID/Headcount at 9:30pm. I think the morning medication is dispensed at 6:00am to 6:30am, but it was never announced during the 10 days I was there. I finally gave up on getting my meds from the DOs and I ordered a refill to take at home during work release.
I observed one individual who seemed to have a bit of a mental problem. During intake he kept collecting rubber bands and items on the floor, and seemed to be obsessed with making something out of them. He was a little belligerent with the guards and they seemed to determine that he was missing his medications. Rather than send him home, they told him they would reduce his 4 day sentence to 3 days if he would cooperate. He ended up in the tents with us.
Normally, the DOs won’t admit you without your required medications (if you are self-surrendering). They’ll send you home to get them, and if you need extra time they’ll require that you report back to the court to reschedule your sentence. In this case, they strangely made an exception.
It is unfortunate that they require you to bring your meds, however, as I found it somewhat difficult to obtain them at first and the guards are unwilling to make special trips outside of when they feel like dispensing them.
If my prescription would have been “as needed for pain”, I think it would have been very difficult to get the cooperation of the guards to get my meds.
Those inmates with more severe physical handicaps were not allowed in the tents. They were instead placed in a cell, although I’m not sure in which jail. I would imagine that if a more severely mentally ill person were to be clear about their handicap during intake, they would either be placed in the infirmary or into one of the cells.