[Peace] Fwd: NYT editorial on mental illness and prison suicide

[Joe Futrelle]

[This is relevant to the suicide cases locally that Sandra brought up 
last night -JF]

Here's a link to the editorial: 
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/13/opinion/13mon4.html

Here's the full text:
How the Justice System Criminalizes Mental Illness
By BRENT STAPLES

Jesse McCann was a baby-faced teenager of 17 the day he hanged 
himself in a New York State prison. The letters he had written to 
family and friends in the final weeks of his young life were not at 
all what one would expect of a person about to take his own life. In 
a letter dated March 16, 2001 - the final day of his life - he wrote 
passionately about wanting to pursue a degree in paralegal studies 
while in prison so that he could make a difference for young people 
in trouble. He asked his Uncle Dennis for a shipment of coffee - and 
talked about Twizzlers, one of his favorite candies. He signed the 
letter, "Love you, Jesse," and added a smiley face to the salutation.

This optimistic tone probably came from the medication he was taking. 
It seemed to ease his panic attacks and the depression and rages for 
which he had been treated often. The mood on display in this last 
letter, however, was not destined to last. According to official 
accounts, Jesse was being escorted to the mental health unit for his 
medication when he lost control - as inmates with mental problems 
often do - and began shouting obscenities. Predictably, a corrections 
officer tried to quiet him. Just as predictably, Jesse exploded. He 
struck the officer and was placed in the disciplinary housing unit, 
where unruly prisoners can be shut up for 23 hours each day.

Isolation, a hardship for even healthy inmates, is often catastrophic 
for those with mental problems. Their symptoms get worse and they 
often end up trying to harm themselves. Studies show, for example, 
that mentally ill inmates who are placed in isolation are far more 
likely to attempt suicide. The prospect of being isolated as a result 
of the latest outburst was apparently too much for Jesse. Shortly 
after being placed in the cell, he tied one end of a sheet to the 
window, the other to his neck and hanged himself.

This story has become familiar in New York, which has been widely 
criticized for using isolation too freely, especially with the 
mentally ill. Studies of suicide in the state prison system, 
underscored with stories like Jesse McCann's, have led the New York 
State Legislature to consider passing a law that would give 
psychiatric workers more latitude in the handling of inmates with 
serious mental illnesses. The proposed statute aims to expand access 
to psychiatric treatment and prevent disturbed inmates from trying to 
hurt themselves.

The prison mental health crisis, which has gotten so much attention 
lately in New York, is actually national in scope. Simply put, most 
of the mental institutions that would have once housed and cared for 
mentally ill people have been closed down - in most cases deservedly 
so, because they did their jobs poorly. But the community-based 
mental health system that was supposed to replace the mental 
hospitals never materialized. As a result, prisons have been become 
de facto mental hospitals, but without the treatment that would allow 
mentally ill patients to control their symptoms and organize their 
lives.

The debate surrounding this problem goes well beyond the admittedly 
serious matter of suicide. Also at issue is the fact that mentally 
ill people often serve substantially longer sentences than other 
prisoners convicted of similar crimes. No one has yet accounted for 
the difference. But it seems clear that mentally ill people often 
enter the criminal justice system for offenses and aberrant behaviors 
related to their illnesses. They end up doing longer sentences - and 
harder, more punitive time - for acting out in prison. To put it 
another way, people who hear voices - or who can't control themselves 
or follow even the most basic instructions - become automatic 
candidates for punitive sanctions like solitary confinement.

Jesse was not innocent when it came to breaking the law, but his case 
fits this category, too. He was arrested and confined to a county 
jail for a nonviolent offense. While there, he succumbed to hysteria 
and was charged with assaulting a corrections officer, which is a 
felony. The offense seems to have drawn him special attention from 
corrections officers, who make it their business to keep close tabs 
on inmates charged with assaulting one of their own. Isolated and 
under more pressure than ever, Jesse McCann ended his life.

The federal government began to focus on the mental health problem 
when it became clear that mentally ill inmates were driving up the 
prison population and contributing to recidivism. Congress made a 
promising start when it passed a law that encouraged states to 
integrate community mental health services more closely into the 
corrections system. What the country needs to do, however, is 
decriminalize mental illness. That means taking mental problems into 
account in the first instance - at least with nonviolent crimes - so 
that as many offenders as possible can go into treatment instead of 
into prison.
-- 
Joe Futrelle
Person
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