Human Rights Watch

There are between 200,000 and 300,000 men and women in U.S. prisons with mental disorders, some with serious mental illnesses. In many of the prisons in which they reside, mental health services are far from satisfactory due to understaffing, insufficient facilities, and limited programs. Without necessary care, mentally ill inmates live with painful symptoms and deteriorating mental conditions. Although mentally ill prison inmates generally suffer under poor conditions in prison, some U.S. prison systems have achieved significant advances in mental health services; however, they continue to face persistent obstacles due to the punitive nature of prison regimens and the current fiscal crisis in States across the country. Recommendations to the U.S. Congress are to enact the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act currently pending before Congress, which could catalyze significant reforms in the way the criminal justice system responds to people with mental illness; to improve access to public benefits that cover all needed mental health services; and to amend or repeal the Prison Litigation Reform Act, which hinders inmates in their efforts to remedy unconstitutional conditions in State correctional facilities.

NY. Human Rights Watch. 2003. 222p.