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A Look into the Life of the Mentally Ill Criminal- Can they be Saved from Mistreatment?

Shelby Morrow April 3, 2017

The criminally ill and insane are a group of individuals that receive endless forms of mistreatment. Mistreatment varies from being seen as less than deserving of adequate treatment, to varying quality of life between males and females, experiencing delays in receiving treatment, enduring dangerous procedures, and being denied treatment. Can awareness save them?

Addison Duval from Psychiatry Online enlightens readers of the heartbreaking truth of the criminally insane and their lack of efficient treatment simply because they are seen as undeserving of sufficient and adequate care. Her article states, “The mentally ill criminal usually receives the least therapeutic attention of any of the mentally ill. In some states, such individuals are considered second rate citizens who do not warrant first rate treatment.� Not only is this a tragic reality, but it’s quite dangerous as well; lackluster treatment can allow the disorder to progress and delay, if not halt recovery.

As if providing “second rate� treatment isn’t concerning enough, mentally ill criminals often also experience being denied treatment. In London and Wales, patients are only granted treatment if their condition is bad enough to find treatment appropriate, but they must also be deemed treatable (Morgan.) This is unjust and ineffective. No one can predict how a patient will respond to treatment so basing the fact of whether or not they deserve treatment solely on the fact that their symptoms are predicted to subside is wrong. If someone gets admitted to the E.R. on the brink of death, do you think the doctor would refuse care because they are seen as unable to recover? No, the doctor will do everything in their power to make this patient recover until they are proven to be past the point of recovery (death or brain dead); so why should this be different for a mentally ill criminal?

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Mom and Dad, It has now been eight years since I was admitted to the British Columbia mental health hospital. I am astonished day after day by the treatment we endure here. I write to you, not to hurt you with this information, but as an attempt to bring some justice and awareness not only for myself, but for the other women here.

We are endlessly confined to our rooms or wards, denied of ground privileges, and so often placed under physical restraints. We are so lonely, human interaction is minimal and our relationships even on the outside are nearly nonexistent. Hell, I haven’t even seen my own parents in years. Not that I blame you guys, where I am hospitalized is so far from home, it truly makes visitation nearly impossible. Sadly, I am not the only one who hasn’t seen their parents in years. It’s almost as if any attempt made to “maintain a lifeline” is purposefully repressed which makes recovery only so much harder.

As if extensive isolation wasn’t enough, treatment intervention is not a rare thing around here. Drugs are administered left and right around here, and electroshock therapy is slightly less common, but more prevalent than you could even imagine.

There’s this unending feeling of being watched. Everything we do, think, say, and express are so closely monitored and our freedoms are minimal. We are sprinkled in general population, opposed to a specialized facility this subjects us to intense controls. I don’t know how they think we will ever get better when our individuality is suppressed, we are mistreated, and isolated. You can’t help but feel trapped while you’re in here. Not only are you surrounded by a ton of people who are not like you, but you are so confined its often just you; friendships aren’t easy to come by in here. That combined with being located so far from your friends and family, you feel forgotten and that makes you lose hope, fast.

Mom and dad, I hope you will be able to take what I am saying and find someone who can bring justice to us in the public mental institutions. The extensive mistreatment we experience is endless, this is only a fraction of it. Please help us in the fight against mistreatment.

Sincerely, your daughter.