It is always gratifying to see solid, in-depth reporting. Today I’d like to share an excellent example of such an instance – a special report on the Emmy-Award winning interactive news talk show Richard French Live.
French, who has interviewed personalities ranging from Presidents Obama and Clinton to Sen. Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner, takes on the troubling topic of prison suicide.
The conditions in our penal system are often in the news because of brutal or substandard conditions. Inadequate supervision, use of unusual force, inmate violence, drugs and other reprehensible conditions are no longer surprising when they turn up in the news.
In two of our books we have looked at the plight of women in prison and the shameful state of juvenile justice. Here is another look at the system that examines the conditions faced in a New York facility that primarily houses male inmates.
(Since this is a full length report I’ve embedded a playlist with all the parts in the proper order for ease of watching.)
While the suicide rates in jails is troubling and in most facilities treatment programs can use improvement, it is important to remember that many jails do not have a pharmacy for immediate medication dispensing nor are they equipped with an emergency psychiatric unit. Society is using jails and correctional facilities as “Psychiatric Hospitals” but without the medical staff needed to operate as such. Focus really needs to include the state’s closing of psychiatric facilities, the deluge of opiate and benzodiazapine prescriptions and the sparsity of training, not to mention the understaffing in medical, mental health, and security.
Agreed. In no way did I mean to over simplify a very complex situation. The lack of proper facilities and training are an ongoing problem, one that we have looked at from different angles in our trilogy of books. If you look though this blog or any of our work you will note that we embrace and endorse rehabilitation over incarceration. It is not only less expensive to taxpayers, but also yields far greater rewards socially.
I just wrote a post recently talking about youth being held in detention centers because the treatment programs were full. Another aspect of the same issue you bring up.
Thanks or joining the conversation!