California prisons contain a record number of prisoners, which continues to grow steadily every year. From 2012 to 2016, the number of prisoners in California receiving psychotropic drugs tripled and reached 77 percent (“Confronting California’s Continuing Prison Crisis” 1). The budget allocated for such medicines is growing even faster, increasing to 22 thousand dollars a year.
There are a significant number of stated reforms on the detention of prisoners with mental illness; among them is AB 109 (Coleman Plata). The reform planned to reduce the number of state prisons and the number of persons serving criminal sentences under a court sentence. At the same time, the reduction in the rate of persons held in institutions of the penal enforcement system will also be carried out by moving them to psychological dispensaries. Proposition 36 concerns life imprisonment, which is the most severe punishment after the death penalty. During the strikes, it was required at the legislative level to make it possible to sentence to life imprisonment only those who committed a violent crime. Criminals whose actions did not have a high degree of public danger were offered to eliminate the risk of life imprisonment.
In Proposition 47, it was decided to release minor repeat offenders from life imprisonment. In addition, according to this document, they were conditionally liberated from punishment for serious criminal offenses. A large number of prisoners were released without having fully served the term appointed by the court. Senate Bill 260 established conditional early release from serving the sentence of minors. The court recognized that for their correction, the minors did not need to perform their sentence fully. The termination of the further punishment imposed by the convicted person occurred if the prisoner was a minor at the time of the commission of the crime.
Proposition 57 proposed the early release of nonviolent criminals with the condition that they pass a rehabilitation program. Participation in this program involves not only serving a sentence but also restoring professional skills and motivation to work. Thus, the quota of jobs for former convicts would be regulated by law. Many mental health reforms were also proposed, among which the most significant is the program under the general name “Justice and Mental Health”. It aims to release offenders with mental illnesses from prison. During sentencing in the program’s framework, the lawyer and the prosecutor work closely with the doctor and health and social services representatives.
The issue of people with mental illnesses who were held in penitentiary institutions is certainly constitutional. It is necessary to amend that prisoners who receive medical care in a prison institution have the right to adequate medical care (Haney 321). It is necessary to establish at the State level the obligation to conduct an annual systematic collection of data on the level of mental illness in prisons.
These amendments are necessary because seriously ill people are sent to medical institutions when entering the prison system. And to identify a narrower sample of patients with mental illnesses but who did not get into a mental dispensary, specialized tests are needed (Leutwyler et al. 456). This will help to identify psychotic offenders who, as insane, will be sent to compulsory treatment or will receive assistance in another form.
In the future, it will be necessary to focus on draft laws related to crisis states that arise as a reaction to the hardships of imprisonment. So, it may be necessary to introduce work with a psychiatrist in prisons at the legislative level. He will help the prisoners to overcome the difficulties of adapting to the environment and isolation from previous ties. This makes it necessary to improve the organizational and legal framework for providing psychiatric care to convicts.
Works Cited
“Confronting California’s Continuing Prison Crisis: The Prevalence and Severity of Mental Illness Among California Prisoners on The Rise.” Stanford Justice Advocacy Project, 2020, pp. 1-10.
Haney, Craig. “Madness’’ And Penal Confinement: Some Observations on Mental Illness and Prison Pain.” Punishment & Society, vol. 19, no. 3, 2017, pp. 310-362.
Leutwyler, Heather, et al. “Case Management Helps Prevent Criminal Justice Recidivism for People with Serious Mental Illness.” International Journal of Prisoner Health, vol. 14, no. 5, 2017, pp. 169-173.