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Stories of those Affected |
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The following testimonies by inmates are taken from "Ill Equipped: U.S. Prisons and Offenders with Mental Illness," published by Human Rights Watch.
R.U.-Nevada
At one point and time in my life here in prison I wanted to just take my own life away. Why? Everything in prison that's wrong is right, and everything that's right is wrong. I've been jumped, beat, kicked and punched in full restraint four times...Two times I've been put into nude four point as punishment and personal harassment...During the time I wanted to just end my life there was no counseling, no programs to attend...Three times I attempted suicide by way to hang myself. I had no help whatsoever. Days and weeks and months I had to deal with myself. Depression, not eating, weight loss, everyday, overwhelmed by the burdens of life. I shift between feeling powerless and unworthy to feeling angry and victimized. I would think about death or killing myself daily.
E.N.X. - Illinois
I am on the mental health wings. I've seen some bizarre acts on these wings. Self-mutiliation. Attempted suicides. All types of crises. The last D.T.Q. self-mutilation where he told the officer he wanted to see mental health or h was going to cut on himself and the c/o replied "so what." Then thought I was lying to him that D.T.Q. cut himself. It was ten minutes before c/o came down to D.T.Q.'s cell. Another guy had a crisis and was banging his head on the cell door, busting his forehead open. Staff crisis member don't make it a priority to go see inmates who request to see them.
M.C. - New Jersey
My mental illness is said to be bipolar disorder...As for a general history in prison, I can generally say that "I have seen it all." Everything from receiving what I think is the best medical care to covering myself with feces with the hope that the corrections officers would be disgusted to beat me simply because I am a special needs inmate. Being a special needs inmate is okay from the hours of 8?00 AM till 5/00 PM as long as there are doctors on the wing then police will treat special needs inmates with respect. However any time doctors are not on teh wing then the police begin to treat all special needs inmates less than human at the least.
The following accounts are taken from testimony before the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons on July 20, 2006.
Thomas Farrow - former inmate, incarcerated with mental disorders for two decades in the New Jersey Department of Corrections
Our problems persist in the special mental health units because overcrowding in the system at large has pushed an overflow of the general population into these units. In other words, these units were originally established, by law, for people with mental illness, but because of the overcrowding in the prison system, they put other people from the general population into these units and that brings with it a whole host of problems that are outside of the spectrum of mental health. The result is that these units are not always the refuge they are meant to be for prisoners with problems and who are particularly vulnerable.
Joe Baumann - correctional officer in the California Department of Corrections' California Rehabilitation Center
[U]nless a given correctional officer is familiar with the particular inmate involved, outbursts and unusual behavior are often misinterpreted and therefore reacted to in a way that may worsen the given situation. An officer generally assumes that an inmate that doesn't make his bed or clean up after himself because he's lazy, rather than realizing that the individual may be decompensating. Because we're not properly trainied and are often unfamiliar with the idvididual inmate, officers may also misinterpret outbursts of anger or other emotions as an inmated wanting attention, when in fact the inmate is in serious distress and lacks the faculties to properly express that fact.
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