Corrections Corner / Deacon John Cord

Addictions and mental health in our jails and prisons

Many of you may remember the days of state-operated mental health institutions. The federal government officially funded the operation of these hospitals from the early 1960’s through the early 1980’s.

The purpose and goal of these facilities was to provide care for those with severe psychotic mental illnesses. However, quality of care in some of these facilities was very poor. Their reputation suffered from this poor care.

The federal government decided to begin the process of shutting down these facilities in 1971. The invention of Thorazine and other antipsychotic drugs gave the false hope that people could manage their own mental health conditions. From 1971 to 1980, 650,000 individuals were discharged with only a prescription for these drugs. There was no plan for aftercare.

Many, if not most of these individuals, ended up homeless or in our jails and prisons. Studies have shown that at least 24% of our incarcerated have a severe psychotic mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorders and several anxiety disorders.

This means that more than 400,000 people with severe psychotic mental illnesses are imprisoned. This is estimated to be six times higher than the number of people in mental health hospitals with the same mental health conditions. There are hundreds of thousands more living in homeless shelters and roaming our streets.

In addition, the number of incarcerated people with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is alarming. It has been reported that people with these conditions are much more likely to end up in jail or prison than a “normal” person.

TBI can be caused by shaking a baby, concussions, loud explosions near the head, a fall and many other things. PTSD is known to be a leading cause of mental illness for our returning veterans. This may explain why so many veterans end up in prison.

Addictions are considered to be a form of mental illness. People with lowered levels of dopamine will seek stimulation from outside sources, such as alcohol and drugs. As we all know, when this dependency becomes overwhelming, the addicts can end up incarcerated.

There are approximately 1.7 million people incarcerated in the U.S. in our local jails, state prisons and federal facilities. It is estimated that around 60% of these individuals have one of the above mental illnesses.

It is very expensive to keep a person locked up. It costs U.S. taxpayers more than $80 billion per year to keep these people incarcerated. That is an average cost of nearly $50,000 per person per year. However, the cost to house a mentally ill prisoner is considerably higher than that of a “normal” prisoner.

Our jails and prisons have become our mental health hospitals. Our homeless shelters have become our recovery centers. We have a broken system. We need to find humane ways to properly care for our brothers and sisters who are suffering from mental illnesses.

If you have stories relating to people who have these illnesses and they have been struggling with homelessness and incarceration, I would love to hear from you.

If you would like to learn more about our mental health crisis, I recommend reading American Psychosis: How the Federal Government Destroyed the Mental Illness Treatment System by Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, or Waiting for an Echo: The Madness of American Incarceration by Dr. Christine Montross.
 

(Deacon John Cord is the coordinator of Corrections Ministry for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. To volunteer in prison ministry, check with your parish office to see if a ministry already exists. If not, contact Deacon Cord at jcord@archindy.org.) †