Talk:Mentally ill people in United States jails and prisons

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Future plans for this article

Hello! My name is Magen and I am the creator of this article. It is a work in progress. I have sources lined up and plan to write future sections about suicide, management issues within prisons, and policy/advocacy very soon. If you have any suggestions for this article, please feel free to let me know! I am a student and I am always excited to learn more from the Wikipedia community. Magenstat (talk) 04:19, 20 April 2015 (UTC)

@Magenstat: I have added a relevant search query at the beginning of this talk page. Jarble (talk) 20:28, 28 April 2015 (UTC)

@Jarble: Thank you, Jarble! I appreciate it.

Quick suggestions

Fascinating topic, thanks for contributing to the coverage of it. I may review it, but here are some quick suggestions before I get to it.

• use the <ref name="E. Torrey" > tag so you don't have a million different instances of "E. Torrey, et al. 2010, p. 1." in the references section. You can even use {{sfn}} for multiple pages in the same book (e.g. look at slavery in Haiti for use).
• Try to think of ways to add images. e.g. could the solitary confinement section show a cell used for the purpose?

Sorry this is a driveby, I will give this a much more thorough look later if you wish! delldot ∇. 05:43, 14 May 2015 (UTC)

Pluck some links out of "See also"

Hi folks. Magenstat, I see you've done a lot of work on this article. One thing which you might be able to do pretty easily is add in a few of your links from "see also" into the body text. Right now the article does a fine job building the web (linking out to recidivism, deinstitutionalization, etc.) but you have a number of very specific, very helpful links in the see also section which could be used to give a reader some context right at the moment of contact with a new term or idea. For instance, in the test (following "These are sometimes “mercy bookings” intended...") we link to Homelessness in the United States and not Homelessness and mental health. See also sections can be great for articles which don't quite fit as links in text but still might interest the reader. If you find links in see also sections which would be useful in the body text, a good strategy is to take them out and find a spot in context where they work. If you can't, it can stay in the see also section. If you can, readers now have a better understanding of the text without too much additional work. Adam (Wiki Ed) (talk) 15:24, 15 May 2015 (UTC)

Citations

I've updated the citations by converting them to templates and shortening the Author-date footnoting to use only last names (not first initials). I don't think either change will be controversial but I may have introduced some transcription errors. Please let me know if I have and I'll fix it. Adam (Wiki Ed) (talk) 19:24, 15 May 2015 (UTC)

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Mentally ill people in United States jails and prisons/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Markworthen (talk · contribs) 12:43, 5 September 2015 (UTC)

I am currently reviewing this article. - Mark D Worthen PsyD 12:43, 5 September 2015 (UTC)

Review completed. - Mark D Worthen PsyD 11:45, 22 September 2015 (UTC)

Criteria

Good Article Status - Review Criteria

Further information: WP:WIAGA

A good article is—

1. Well-written:

(a) the prose is clear, concise, and understandable to an appropriately broad audience; spelling and grammar are correct; and

(b) it complies with the Manual of Style guidelines for lead sections, layout, words to watch, fiction, and list incorporation.

2. Verifiable with no original research:

(a) it contains a list of all references (sources of information), presented in accordance with the layout style guideline;

(b) reliable sources are cited inline. All content that could reasonably be challenged, except for plot summaries and that which summarizes cited content elsewhere in the article, must be cited no later than the end of the paragraph (or line if the content is not in prose); and

(c) it contains no original research.

3. Broad in its coverage:

(a) it addresses the main aspects of the topic; and

(b) it stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail (see summary style).

4. Neutral: it represents viewpoints fairly and without editorial bias, giving due weight to each.
5. Stable: it does not change significantly from day to day because of an ongoing edit war or content dispute.
6. Illustrated, if possible, by media such as images, video, or audio:

(a) media are tagged with their copyright statuses, and valid non-free use rationales are provided for non-free content; and

(b) media are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions.

Review

1. Well-written:

Criteria	Notes	Result
(a) (prose)	I offer some suggestions (below), but I consider the suggestions 'fine tuning' as the article exhibits above average prose quality.
(b) (MoS)	Some changes recommended (see below).	N

2. Verifiable with no original research:

Criteria	Notes	Result
(a) (references)	Please see comments and suggestions below.	N
(b) (citations to reliable sources)	No problems.	Y
(c) (original research)	No problems.	Y

3. Broad in its coverage:

Criteria	Notes	Result
(a) (major aspects)	Some major aspects not covered (see below).	N
(b) (focused)	The style suggestions for 1(a) will also sharpen the focus of the article.	Y

4. Neutral: it represents viewpoints fairly and without editorial bias, giving due weight to each.

Notes	Result
Looks good. :O)

5. Stable: it does not change significantly from day to day because of an ongoing edit war or content dispute.

Notes	Result
The opposite: Civil, productive discussions. Good job!

6. Illustrated, if possible, by media such as images, video, or audio:

Criteria	Notes	Result
(a) (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales)	Although images are not required, they always help an article, in part by drawing readers in and keeping them engaged (we are visual creatures). See Manual of style:Images, which includes advice for finding good images for a Wikipedia article.
(b) (appropriate use with suitable captions)	n/a

Result

Result	Notes
N	But an excellent start on a vitally important topic!

Discussion

First of all, I want to thank Magen Eissenstat for writing about such a serious yet underappreciated problem that plagues correctional institutions--and most importantly, the mentally ill persons incarcerated therein--throughout the United States. Bravo! And my hat's off to the Rice University instructor, Vignespassy, who requires her/his students to create a Wikipedia article on a topic pertinent to the class, in this case Human Development in Global and Local Communities. What a great way to develop research, writing, and analytic skills, while also educating others! Nice. - Mark D Worthen PsyD 13:48, 5 September 2015 (UTC)

Note that my use of the pronouns 'you' and 'your' are meant to apply to any editors who work on this article, not any one specific editor. - Mark D Worthen PsyD 15:19, 22 September 2015 (UTC)

Detailed Comments and Suggestions based on Good Article Criteria

Good Article Criterion 1(a) Prose

• When reporting research findings, you usually do not need to include the study details in the main article text. For example, the first sentence in the Prevalence section is the right way to do it: "There is broad scholarly consensus that mentally ill individuals are overrepresented within the United States jail and prison populations." Great sentence!

• For example, for the next sentence, which begins: "In the 2010 study titled. ...", consider something like this instead: In fact, there are currently three times more seriously mentally ill persons in jails and prisons than in hospitals in the United States, with a nearly ten to one ratio in Arizona and Nevada.

Good Article Criterion 1(b) Lead

• The lead needs some improvement, although it is a solid start. I made a couple of changes myself (diff).

• I am not sure you need this sentence: "The majority of prisons in the United States employ a psychiatrist and a psychologist." I think the most important question is: Do correctional institutions provide reasonably good mental health treatment to inmates suffering from severe mental illness? I would put the answer to that question in the lead--just one sentence, because you will expand on it in the body of the article.

• I would rework this sentence: "While much research claims mentally ill offenders have comparable rates of recidivism to non-mentally ill offenders, other research claims that mentally ill offenders have higher rates of recidivism." As it stands now, it suffers from what social psychologists call the "recency effect", i.e., what we hear last (most recently) tends to dominate. Thus, the sentence conveys a sense that the best research indicates higher rates of recidivism, which I suspect is not what you intend to imply.

• "Mentally ill people experience solitary confinement at disproportionate rates and are more vulnerable to its adverse psychological effects." - Excellent point; nicely written sentence. :o) Perhaps include something in the body of the article about President Obama's new initiative to reduce solitary confinement rates in federal prisons, and California's new policy in this regard. Good articles recently in the NY Times on this topic btw.

• "Twenty-five states have laws addressing the emergency detention of the mentally ill within jails..." --> I know what you mean here, but I don't think it is clear to the average reader. The problem is the verb "addressing", which is vague.

• "...the United States Supreme Court has upheld the right of inmates to mental health treatment." --> Slight tweak suggested: the United States Supreme Court has asserted that inmates suffering from severe mental illness must receive adequate mental health treatment. (Of course, whether or not that happens in practice is another question.)

Good Article Criterion 1(b) Layout

I don't see any problems here. :O)

Good Article Criterion 2(a) References

• Torrey, et al. 1998 is not listed in the References.

• Torrey, E.; Kennard, A.; Eslinger, D.; et. al (2010) falls into the category of grey literature, meaning in part that it was not subject to peer review. That does not necessarily mean it has no value or credibility. In this case, the lead author (E. Fuller Torrey, M.D.) is a leading expert on seriously mentally ill people in the U.S., not to mention the other authors's credentials. Thus, one or two references to the document would have been fine, but it is cited 11 times. An alternative would be to consult some of the texts referenced in Torrey, et al. (2010), many of which are to peer-reviewed scholarly journals.

• I don't recognize the citation style used in the article--it is similar to APA Style, but not APA Style itself. This is not a problem because Wikipedia requires within-article consistency in citation style, not adherence to a particular style. At the same time, since most folks involved in research and intervention use APA Style, one might want to consider converting to APA Style for the reference list. (Although I do not recommend the same for in-text referencing, i.e., footnotes are much easier to read.)

Good Article Criterion 3(a) Main aspects

Some major aspects that need coverage (in no particular order) include:

• economic costs
• mental health courts (one brief paragraph, and then link to Mental health court)
• veterans courts
• how 'mental illness' is defined, and how the definition affects research results, e.g., 'any mental disorder' versus 'serious mental illness'
• significant effect of substance use disorders on incarceration generally, recidivism, and as a co-occurring condition with serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
• probable racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities
• juvenile versus adult findings
• more nuanced discussion of the role of transinstitutionalization, e.g., the multiple factors that have led to the current problems
• unique problems faced by female, LGBTQI, undocumented immigrants, and perhaps others.
• expand coverage of legal issues - this is a big topic in itself, so no need for comprehensive coverage, but more coverage is needed.

Search Strategies for Mentally ill people in United States jails and prisons

Expanding your review of reliable sources will help improve coverage of the major aspects. Three particularly effective methods to achieve this task are:

1. When reading a good journal article, locate some of the key references cited in the article to see if they also might add substance to the Wikipedia article.
2. Use Google Scholar to find subsequent articles that have cited the good journal article you have read. Search for the article by title in Google Scholar, then when the article is displayed, click on the Cited by link to generate a list of articles that have cited the present one.
3. Similarly, after finding an article in Google Scholar, click on the Related articles link.

As a jump start, here are some pertinent journal articles on the topic. Note that the doi links take you to the publisher's web page for the article.

Cowell, A. J., Hinde, J. M., Broner, N., & Aldridge, A. P. (2013). The impact on taxpayer costs of a jail diversion program for people with serious mental illness. Evaluation and Program Planning, 41, 31–37. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2013.07.001

Greenberg, G. A., & Rosenheck, R. A. (2014). Psychiatric correlates of past incarceration in the national co-morbidity study replication. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health: CBMH, 24(1), 18–35. http://doi.org/10.1002/cbm.1875

Hawthorne, W. B., Folsom, D. P., Sommerfeld, D. H., Lanouette, N. M., Lewis, M., Aarons, G. A., … Jeste, D. V. (2012). Incarceration among adults who are in the public mental health system: rates, risk factors, and short-term outcomes. Psychiatric Services, 63(1), 26–32. http://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201000505

Lynch, S. M., Dehart, D. D., Belknap, J. E., Green, B. L., Dass-Brailsford, P., Johnson, K. A., & Whalley, E. (2014). A multisite study of the prevalence of serious mental illness, PTSD, and substance use disorders of women in jail. Psychiatric Services, 65(5), 670–674. http://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201300172

Nowotny, K. M. (2015). Race/ethnic disparities in the utilization of treatment for drug dependent inmates in U.S. state correctional facilities. Addictive Behaviors, 40, 148–153. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2014.09.005

Olley, M. C., Nicholls, T. L., & Brink, J. (2009). Mentally ill individuals in limbo: obstacles and opportunities for providing psychiatric services to corrections inmates with mental illness. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 27(5), 811–831. http://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.899

Prins, S. J. (2011). Does transinstitutionalization explain the overrepresentation of people with serious mental illnesses in the criminal justice system? Community Mental Health Journal, 47(6), 716–722. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-011-9420-y

Prins, S. J. (2014). Prevalence of mental illnesses in US State prisons: a systematic review. Psychiatric Services, 65(7), 862–872. http://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201300166

Of course, it is also important to search relevant databases for additional peer-reviewed articles, books, and reports. IMHO the most valuable databases for this topic, in order of importance, are:

• PsycINFO and PsycARTICLES - Individual subscription or institutional access required.
• PubMed (MEDLINE) - Although PubMed is (thankfully) free, finding full text versions of articles, as opposed to the abstract only, can be a challenge without institutional access. For editors not enrolled in college or university, or whose employer does not subscribe to various full text providers, you can inquire at community and public university libraries. I recommend visiting such libraries in person and speaking with a reference librarian. (One should not underestimate the exceptionally valuable assistance reference librarians provide.)
• National Criminal Justice Reference Service - Free from the U.S. Department of Justice
• Social Science Research Network - Great source for full text articles.
• Google Scholar - Last on this list, but certainly not least, as attested to by the frequent references I've made to it herein!

Here are some helpful 'how to' documents, videos, and tips for searching PubMed and Google Scholar. (I would have offered some tips for PsycINFO too, but I'm writing this from home and I access PsycINFO from work.)

PubMed (MEDLINE)

http://PubMed.org

How to use the PubMed Advanced Search Builder (PubMed Video)

How to use the PubMed Filters Sidebar (PubMed Video)

How to Use MeSH to Build a Better PubMed Query (PubMed Video) ==> Example: "Mental Health Services"[Mesh] AND "Prisoners"[Mesh] AND "United States"[Mesh]

PubMed Help

Finding Systemic Reviews in PubMed

MeSH terms relevant to the article

Note: This is not an exhaustive list.

MeSH Major Topic [MAJR] - Primary

• Community Mental Health Services
• Criminal Law
• Humans
• Mental Disorders
• Mental Health Services
• Prisoners
• United States

MeSH Major Topic [MAJR] - Secondary

• Odds Ratio
• Risk Factors
• Severity of Illness Index
• Socioeconomic Factors

MeSH Subheadings [SH] - Primary

• Crime/statistics & numerical data
• Homeless Persons/psychology/statistics & numerical data
• Mental Disorders/diagnosis
• Mentally Ill Persons/legislation & jurisprudence
• Mentally Ill Persons/statistics & numerical data
• Prisoners/statistics & numerical data
• Prisoners/psychology
• Prisons/statistics & numerical data
• Prisoners/psychology
• Prisoners/statistics & numerical data
• Prisons/statistics & numerical data

MeSH Subheadings [SH] - Secondary

• Crime Victims/statistics & numerical data
• Depressive Disorder, Major/epidemiology
• Mental Disorders/economics
• Mental Disorders/epidemiology
• Mental Disorders/psychology
• Mental Disorders/therapy
• Mental Health Services/economics
• Mental Health Services/statistics & numerical data
• Psychotic Disorders/epidemiology
• Schizophrenia/epidemiology
• Substance-Related Disorders/rehabilitation
• Substance-Related Disorders/diagnosis
• Substance-Related Disorders/epidemiology
• Substance-Related Disorders/psychology

MeSH Terms [MH] - Sort (Use if you want to focus on a particular population - other good 'sort' MeSH terms would be those that specify ethnic, racial, socioeconomic, LGBTQI, and other subgroups)

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Female
• Male

Google Scholar

https://scholar.google.com/

Google Scholar Search FAQ

How are documents ranked in Google Scholar search results? - "Google Scholar aims to rank documents the way researchers do, weighing the full text of each document, where it was published, who it was written by, as well as how often and how recently it has been cited in other scholarly literature." - from the Google Scholar home page.

Google Scholar Search Tips - Google Scholar Help

Using Google Scholar - Cooperative Library Instruction Project (CLIP) Video

Example search query: "mentally ill" prison* (limited to years 2005-2015) - click to see search results if you search for < "mentally ill" prison* >

Concerned about possible POV in the first paragraph

While reading through this page, I noticed the sentence "Mentally ill people are overrepresented in United States jail and prison populations relative to the general population." I am concerned about the word "overrepresented" and it's POV implications. Then I saw "There are three times more seriously mentally ill persons in jails and prisons than in hospitals in the United States.", which also sounds like POV when coupled with first sentence. Is this POV? ^{[Username Needed]} 12:26, 14 July 2017 (UTC)

P.S. Please ping me when you reply, as I probably will want to look at the answer ^{[Username Needed]} 12:27, 14 July 2017 (UTC)

I don't see any problems. Please explain further.   - Mark D Worthen PsyD (talk) 17:09, 5 May 2018 (UTC)

Torrey

You got enough Torrey in your references? Give me a break.--Mark v1.0 (talk) 13:35, 3 May 2018 (UTC)

You are welcome to find additional references to replace some of the Torrey citations.   - Mark D Worthen PsyD (talk) 17:10, 5 May 2018 (UTC)

Malingering section

I edited the Malingering section to improve accuracy (diff). None of the (previously) cited articles provided a solid estimate of malingering incidence or prevalence, mainly due to lack of methodological rigor. For example, one article (McDermott, Dualan, & Scott, 2013) seems to report a 64% incidence rate among prison inmates. The methodology (procedure) was to thoroughly evaluate inmates suspected of malingering. Thus, the result was that 64% of inmates already suspected of malingering were in fact malingering, which is much different than concluding that a representative sample of all inmates revealed a 64% malingering rate. The Malingering section would benefit from expansion, but if you undertake that task, please read cited articles thoroughly before including incidence or prevalence rates, and note limitations to any such estimates. I concentrated on reading the articles (previously) cited and the articles they cited to support purported incidence or prevalence rates. I did not conduct an exhaustive literature review. The articles I read were:

McDermott, Barbara E., Isah V. Dualan, and Charles L. Scott. "Malingering in the Correctional System: Does Incentive Affect Prevalence?" International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 36, no. 3–4 (2013): 287–292.

McDermott, Barbara E., and Gregory Sokolov. "Malingering in a correctional setting: the use of the structured interview of reported symptoms in a jail sample." Behavioral Sciences and the Law 27, no. 5 (2009): 753–765.

Norris, Margaret P., and Mary C. May. "Screening for Malingering in a Correctional Setting." Law and Human Behavior 22, no. 3 (1998), 22, 315–323.

Teplin, Linda A. "The Prevalence of Severe Mental Disorder Among Male Urban Jail Detainees: Comparison With the Epidemiologic Catchment Area Program." American Journal of Public Health 80, no. 6 (1990): 663–669.

Walters, Glenn D., Thomas W. White, and Roger L. Greene. "Use of the MMPI to Identify Malingering and Exaggeration of Psychiatric Symptomatology in Male Prison Inmates." Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 56, no. 1 (1988): 111–117.

  - Mark D Worthen PsyD (talk) (I am a man. The traditional male pronouns are fine.) 00:43, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

The Larger Clinical Population

I think we're omitting a large portion of the clinical population that is incarcerated. Schizophrenia spectrum and mood disorders only make up a small slice of the clinical pie. Many cluster B personality disorders are highly prevalent within the prison populations, and sometimes even comorbid with other disorders. It's also worth mentioning that some of these disorders are often egosyntonic, those with antisocial personality disorders are often unlikely to believe they may need help. There also seems to be some evidence for developmental disabilities. Not to mention PTSD. Dabrams13 (talk) 15:05, 30 January 2020 (UTC)

@Dabrams13: Be bold and integrate that important information into the article. You have a good point!   - Mark D Worthen PsyD (talk) (I'm a man—traditional male pronouns are fine.) 13:26, 1 February 2020 (UTC)

References

Point of View

While reading through this article, I feel like sections of this article (especially The Shift from Mental Health Institutions to Incarceration and Mental health care in prisons and jails) lacked encyclopedic tone and neutral point of view. CuriousCat618 (talk) 13:48, 20 April 2020 (UTC)

Third Section

The third section of this article (The Shift from Mental Health Institutions to Incarceration) contains an insufficient number of citations (only one citation in 16 lines of text) and furthermore seems to be inconsistent with Wikipedia's intended encyclopedic tone. Can it be improved to meet these qualifications or should it be deleted? 73.172.81.116 (talk) 05:06, 11 October 2020 (UTC)

It can be improved. Be bold and add some citations (and improve the prose) yourself! :0) Mark D Worthen PsyD (talk) [he/his/him] 14:10, 11 October 2020 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassador Program course assignment

This article is the subject of an educational assignment at Rice University supported by the Wikipedia Ambassador Program during the 2015 Spring term. Further details are available on the course page.

The above message was substituted from {{WAP assignment}} by PrimeBOT (talk) on 17:25, 2 January 2023 (UTC)

Copy-edit tag

Hi Miniapolis I noticed that you placed a copy edit tag on this article, but after a quick glance through, I can't really see anything that I would call an issue. Could you elaborate, please? Dinkenfunkle 05:57, 18 August 2023 (UTC)

neutrality

i think this article should be rewritten to be a bit more neutral especially in the lead section Ivannilych (talk) 15:07, 12 January 2024 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: African American Studies

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 10 January 2024 and 24 April 2024. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Aquaorchid16 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Aquaorchid16 (talk) 22:39, 2 April 2024 (UTC)