Our last article discussed that our jails and prisons are the dumping grounds for the mentally ill. Dumping ground can also mean death for mentally ill inmates. According to a report by the Miami Herald,the Florida Department of Corrections fired the 32 correctional officers on September 19th after inmates have died because of criminal misconduct. […]
According to Michigan Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, “Jails have become the dumping ground” for the mentally ill. The sheriff added, “the state and the federal government have pretty much walked away, in my opinion.” If you think this is an isolated opinion, listen to sheriffs in Indiana. Franklin County Sheriff Kenneth Murphy told the […]
After two months of incarceration, it was clear that correctional officers were part–time inmates. Although they went home after their shift, a considerable part of their life was spent behind bars. They were not in the cells, but they also stared at dark walls and barbed wire. A recent article in the Nation concluded that […]
Private medical staff at one Arizona prison told sick inmates requesting medical care, “Be Patient or Pray.” Doctors who visited the prisons in Arizona that provided privatized health care complained in reports about the atrocious medical care given to mentally ill inmates. Doctors have reported that the private health care staff would not prescribe essential […]
Overcrowded prisons and jails are dangerous to the inmates, correctional officers, and at the end of the day, to society. One major cause of too many prisons and too many inmates is the excessive incarceration rate of non-violent inmates. The United States is addicted to locking up non-violent inmates. In Ohio, two young heroin addicts […]
The relationship between inmates and correctional officers is complicated by the various issues that arise from an artificial environment. When you enter a prison, you enter a different universe. People on the outside think they know what prison is like, but they really do not know what prison is really like until they have a […]