Project Problem: Placing Mentally Ill people in Jail

1. Project and Research by: Michaela Brodie-Willey and Billy Elliott 2/8/12 Pd. 3 Project Problem: Placing Mentally Ill people in Jail

2. Putting Mentally ill people in jail may not appear as a problem to you, but taxpayers, who are all legal citizens of the United States pay for jail without knowing it. These mentally ill people will not be given proper care, and will endanger others’ safety. They will be put into cells with murderers and others who were fully aware of their crimes, but those with severe diagnosed illnesses who suffer a condition they can’t control causes them to do things they would not normally do. Innocent but sick people are being put into jail because there are not enough mental facilities to contain them. Imagine if this was you or a family member. Would you want to be put into jail along with major criminals if you weren’t in a mental state of mind to know what you even did wrong? http://ezinearticles.com/?Mental-Illness-in-the-Prison-System&id=3828243– Statistics for the Problem The Problem-Putting Mentally Ill People in Jail

3. "Deinstitutionalization" - the process of closing down mental hospitals throughout the country due to shortening of funds. In the 1950s, the U.S. had 600,000 state run hospital beds for those suffering from any form of mental illness. Because of deinstitutionalization and cutting of state and federal funding, the U.S. now has just 40,000 beds for the mentally ill. The inability to get proper treatment left this segment of our population vulnerable and, consequently, many of them now land in prisons. http://www.ehow.com/about_5037701_taxes-toward.html - Statistics and dates for root cause. *Root Cause of the Problem*

4. This problem should be a nationally tackled problem because it happens across the U.S., and nothing can really be done on a state level because there are not many severe mental institutions in the state. Scope of the Problem

5. Provide more medical care for those will mental illnesses to reduce the chance of them committing crimes in the first place. Creating separate wings in jails for those with severe mental illnesses, providing them single cells and medical treatment. Creating more mental facilities around the country for the mentally ill. *Three Possible Solutions*

6. Provide more medical care for those will mental illnesses to reduce the chance of them committing crimes in the first place. *Best Solution*

7. This solution is best because not only are mentally ill patients being treated, they are kept out of jails and aren’t crowding up rooms in which real criminals should go. This solution was selected based on simplicity and necessity because it must be done to prevent overcrowding of jails, and to maintain the stability of the U.S’s mental state as a whole. Why the Solution is Best

8. Senator John Carney Senator Chris Coons-Got response via email U.S. Representative Tom Carper All were contacted through contact forms on their sites. Contacts

9. Dear John Carney, Hello our names are Michaela Brodie-Willey and Billy Elliot. In the past few weeks, we have been working on a Social Studies project. Together we came up with a problem topic of the mentally ill being put into jail. We would like you to take a few minutes of your time to consider our proposal. As we did our project, we thought about needy people in the world. Although this may not cross your mind, the severely mentally ill are very needy people. They are often misunderstood, and their illnesses cause them to do things they would not normally do. Diagnosed people with critical conditions should be getting more care. Innocent people with mental illnesses are being put into jail because there are not enough mental institutions to put them in. U.S. citizens have to pay for their jail care, even though the patients/inmates are not being treated for their severe medical conditions. In patients, hallucinations may occur, causing the severely mentally ill to have a sudden reaction to “voices” in their heads. When a person has a hallucination, he/she hears or sees things that do not exist. Hallucinations can affect other senses as well, such as touch, taste and smell, which could make these people do things they would normally not think about. Some mentally ill people may not be able to control their rages and they do bad things during those times. They do not know what they are doing and cannot prevent these actions from happening. These people need to be treated, instead of being put into jail with murderers and others alike. To fix this problem, we would like for you to help provide more medical care for those with mental illnesses to reduce the chance of them committing crimes in the first place. Opening more health facilities for the severely mentally ill will keep them from incarceration and fix the crime rates for the percent of mentally ill citizens in the U.S. These people are getting sent to a jail when they can’t help themselves. If we opened more medical facilities for the mentally ill they would be able to be put in the place that they belong. With this they would also be treated properly according to their illness. We would like to thank you for your time in considering our opinion. We look forward to your reply. Sincerely, Michaela Brodie-Willey and Billy Elliott Email: chaelacat143@gmail.com or redskins1235.be@gmail.com Letter