Rubric
Seen as less, undeserving of treatment
Bring Justice to these Individuals
“Mentally ill criminals receive the least therapeutic attention than all of the mental ill.”
Join the campaign to bring awareness to the mistreatment of the criminally ill and insane.
Why is that? Criminals are seen as “second rate” citizens who do not deserve “first rate treatment.” This causes many issues. Since they are not given the attention they so desperately need, diagnosis are not made. This has lead to numbers of undetected mental illnesses in prisons.
One heart breaking reality is that most mentally ill criminals were “accidental criminals.” Their crime was a byproduct of their illness, not because “they are criminal in nature.” Had these individuals received the appropriate treatment they could have been released when evidence supports that treatment was successful, however most “committed as criminally insane never get transferred to a hospital for civil patients.”
All of your support is needed.
contact:
Criminal Mental Health Awareness Hotline
xxx - xxx - xxxx
Follow the movement on Twitter and Instagram
@mentalhealthadvocate
And Visit Our Website
wikisite/mentalhealthadvocate
Delay of Prisoner Transport to Hospital Statistics (from London and Wales):
- Most transfers took over three months
- 10% of prisoners waited over six months
- 62/71 referrals resulted in transfers with a mean delay of 114 days; the wait for transfer ranges from the day of referral to 221 days later.
Whats the problem with these delays? There is a strong correlation with lengthy wait times and a poor outcome for the patient. Patients should be treated immediately as you do not want to give untreated psychosis the time to progress. Not to mention such delays violate Article three of the European Convention on Human rights by constituting inhuman and degrading treatment.
Mistreatment the Criminally Insane & Ill Face
Inequality of treatment between men and women
Enduring Dangerous Procedures
“The women are less likely to have prior criminal conviction or history of psychiatric hospitalization than their male counterparts, but the women received the same length of hospitalization- 10 years”
Denied Treatment London and Wales have a policy that a patient must have disorder of mind or nature to such a degree warranting treatment. In addition to this, they must present a high probability of recovery if given treatment; more specifically, “alleviating or preventing deterioration of condition.”
Whats the issue with this method?
The women are four times more likely to be given drugs and twice as likely as men to opt. for electroshock therapy.
Many patients experienced dangerous, risky procedures that often did not have the appropriate remedy to correct complications from the given procedure. Some of the procedures include:
- Metrazol Induced Convulsions Metrazol was used as agent to induce convulsions.
The “thoughts, feelings, expressions of identity, autonomy, and sexuality” of the women were strictly monitored.
Women who had the “multiple stigma of criminality and madness endured a life of withering restrictions.” While the men were placed into a specialized institution the women were placed into general population of one of the two mainland hospitals which subjected them to intense controls more stringent than those placed on other patients.
However, the convulsions were so strong that spinal fractures occurred in 42% of the patients. It was later found to be too dangerous and uncontrollable to be used.
- Insulin Shock Therapy Patients were given high doses of insulin over the course of several weeks to produce daily comas. If that isn't extreme enough, one major concern was the fact that too much insulin caused convulsions. Additionally, it had side effects concerning enough to doctors to cause 5-9 hours of observation following the procedure. Later, studies showed that the cure was temporary, not permanent.
- Electroconvulsive Shock Therapy This procedure was often used to subdue and control patients in psychiatric hospitals. The troublesome patients were given multiple shocks per day; many times without the appropriate restraints and sedation.
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Placed under physical restraints Confined to single rooms or wards Refused of ground privileges and leaves and denied basic freedoms accorded to others Hospital location so isolated from friends and family “Efforts to maintain a lifeline were overtly repressed.”
This is not a good approach because for one, its very difficult to predict who will recover and who will not. It is very unpredictable as there are factors that even the best psychiatrist can't for see.
Additionally, it is simply unjust to decide if someone will receive treatment. If someone came to the emergency room do you think they would be turned away just because they are thought to be “too far gone?” No, they will be brought into the emergency room and doctors will try all they can to heal the patient. This should be the same for patients of all kinds, including mentally ill/ insane criminals.
Shelby Morrow Tiffany Isaacs April 17, 2017 ENC 2135-38
Genre 2: Brochure
For my second genre, I produced a brochure explaining all the different ways mentally ill criminals are mistreated. I think this was an effective method as I was able to not only explain the ways in which they are mistreated by also have a section dedicated to bringing justice for them as well as promoting awareness. This genre is much different than my other two, its more objective while actively attempting to bring change. While my other two genres focus on revealing the mistreatment from a personal account, this takes an objective stand, being strictly informative. Additionally, the back of the pamphlet has a section about bringing justice to these individuals. The traditional goal of a brochure (medical brochures, specifically) is to provide information as well as a contact center; this is also the main goal in this specific brochure. The brochure contains images of the procedures used on the patients, some of which are graphic which blatantly exemplifies what these patients were subjected to. Some of the images are cringe worthy, as they appear to be quite excruciating and will hopefully speak to the audience and abrupt them to join the movement to speak up for these individuals. This is an effective way to reach the intended audience, adults, as being made aware of this mistreatment will encourage them to speak against such acts. This broad audience brings more eyes to it as the pamphlet can be found in more places. It can be located in psychiatric hospitals, psychiatric
offices, activist group gatherings, and many more. The biggest issue regarding this topic is the lack of awareness, once people are made aware, they will know this is unjust and if they are provided with a resource to make this right, adults will do everything they can to make this right as many of them may have personal connections to it, imagining their kids going through this, or simply being able to comprehend such a topic which a younger audience would not be able to do. In other words, the brochure will be able to accomplish what it was intended to do- inform and provide the resources to make change. The topic of mistreatment illuminates a very prevalent dull, depressing, or gloomy feel this is supported by the colors of the brochure. It is strictly black and white. Not only does the color scheme support the topic, but also the attitude of the patients. Their lives lack color and optimism- their lives are black and white, just like the brochure. In summary, I think this is an effective genre as it gives an overview of all the mistreatment the criminally ill or insane can face instead of focusing on one viewpoint like my other two genres. I also think a strength of this genre is how objectively informative it is; it’s strictly factual while actively promoting awareness for these individuals. The brochure provides a resource for people willing to join the movement for justice. A website, phone number, and the social media username were listed to give the reader a plethora of outlets to join the movement however is most convenient for them.