[prisoner-rights] USA: Congress addresses plight of mentally ill offenders

(New York, October 22, 2004) — New federal legislation addresses the high
rate of mentally ill offenders in U.S. jails and prisons and the woefully
deficient mental health services they receive, Human Rights Watch said
today. Congress passed the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime
Reduction Act of 2004 on October 11, and it now awaits signature by
President George W. Bush.

The legislation authorizes $50 million in federal grants for the coming
fiscal year to help keep people with mental illness out of the criminal
justice system, improve training for police in dealing with the mentally
ill, and improve the quality of mental health treatment in jails and
prisons.

"Congress has recognized that prisons should not serve as the nation's
primary mental health facilities." said Jamie Fellner, director of Human
Rights Watch's U.S.  Program. "It has also realized prisoners receive
abysmal mental health treatment.  This bill could catalyze reforms across
the country in the way the criminal justice system responds to people with
mental illness."

Last year Human Rights Watch released a report, "Ill Equipped: U.S.
Prisons and Offenders with Mental Illness," which documented the
staggering proportion of prisoners who have serious mental illnesses and
the mistreatment, neglect, and abuse they face in prison. At least one in
six prisoners is mentally ill, and many suffer from serious illnesses such
as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression.

Human Rights Watch found that prisoners with mental illness were given
inadequate treatment, or not treated at all, because of the shortage of
qualified staff and specialized facilities. They frequently endure
violence, exploitation and extortion at the hands of other inmates, and
physical abuse and harassment by security staff.  Inability to comply with
prison rules lands them in solitary confinement which, at best, is
counter-therapeutic and at worst, dramatically increases their chances of
psychiatric breakdown.

The enactment of the Mentally Ill Offenders Treatment Act was one of a
number of key Human Right Watch recommendations to address the growing
number of people with mental illness being swept into the criminal justice
system and to improve the quality of treatment offered in jails and
prisons.

Human Rights Watch Press release