NEW YORK TIMES: …The changes, which were introduced on Friday, were set in motion after videos showed corrections officers in state prisons dousing severely mentally ill inmates with pepper spray and forcibly removing them from their cells. The videos drew public outrage and were called “horrific” by a federal judge who ordered the footage made public last year…
The increasing number of mentally ill prisoners in prisons and jails across the country — in 2013, mentally ill prisoners made up just over 28 percent of California’s prison population — has raised questions about their treatment in corrections systems poorly equipped to deal with psychiatric symptoms. Mentally ill inmates, whose challenging behavior often leads to their placement in solitary confinement, are frequent targets for a cell extraction — the forcible removal of an inmate from a cell by a tactical team equipped with Tasers, pepper spray or other less-lethal weapons — or for other uses of force by guards…
California’s new policy requires that before there can be any use of force, a mental health practitioner must conduct an evaluation of the “totality of circumstances involved,” including the inmate’s medical and mental status and ability to understand and comply with orders. A “cool-down period,” during which a mental health professional attempts to de-escalate the situation, is also required… (more)
EDITOR: An observation and a suggestion:
Walking in the Upper West Side of Manhattan early this morning, a man was observed angrily shouting as he strode defiantly down the side street, but apparently not addressing any one in particular. The policeman who happened to be nearby and the few pedestrians averted their eyes. The shared assumption: This was someone suffering from Schizophrenia and should just be ignored and avoided.
The suggestion is that we have special prisons or sections in prison for the serious mentally disturbed. Of course, being the over a quarter of the inmates, this would radically alter our approach to incarceration in specifics and the criminal justice system in general.
