Suicidality of Mentally Ill Prisoners
Mental illness can manifest in many different ways such as prolonged depression, excessive fears, worries, anxieties, changes in eating and sleeping habits, social withdrawal, and strong feelings of anger (Rousseau, 2024). It could be argued that these behaviors might go unnoticed in institutions such as prisons, especially given there could be more overt behaviors staff are on the lookout for. While there are checks and balances such as psych evaluations and clinical support in some prisons in most cases those who are mentally ill go ignored within the system (Rousseau, 2024). While in an institution those with mental illnesses are far more likely than the general population to experience thoughts and desires of suicide (Rousseau, 2024). Even if the individual does not complete suicide within a prison, they face integrating back into the “real world” often times with worse mental health than they entered with (Rousseau, 2024). As someone with an undergraduate education in psychology I learned the importance of being mindful of these issues and I believe there is a large issue with unintentional trauma to those with mental illness within the criminal justice system. I do want to emphasize that I do not believe this is intentional behavior on the part of prison staff but human error from people who may not be trained or have not had practice spotting warning signs. Regardless, when these warning signs go unnoticed it causes issues as the individuals mental illness is worsened by interactions with staff or other inmates. These individuals are then released and, in the case of those without parole officers, are left to their own devices where they either commit suicide or continue deviant behavior because no one was able to intervene to assist with positive behaviors or coping skills. If I were to propose a way to intervene I would suggest introductory assessments and release assessments to each prisoner so in the best case they could be referred to a mental health service. I realize this is an “ideal world” suggestion but I believe it would be more effective than needing to flag warning signs along the way and possibly missing someone in need.
Reference:
Rousseau, D., Forensic Behavior Analysis: Module 4 (2024)