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- Professionals in law enforcement and corrections must be advocates for mental health policy.
- Prisons and jails have become the nations de facto psychiatric hospitals.
- In the 19th century, Dorothea Dix began a crusade that led to the creation of the state psychiatric hospital system, after recognizing that many people in U.S. jails and prisons had mental illnesses. By 1880, less than 1 percent of the population in jails and prisons were mentally ill.
- Today, 8 to 16 percent of the jail and prison populations have mental illness. If we had the same conditions that Dorothea Dix worked so hard for, estimates are that we would have fewer than 22,000 incarcerated mentally ill, in contrast to current estimates of 175,000 to 350,000.
- In the juvenile setting, 50 to 75 percent of in incarcerated youth have diagnosable mental health conditions.
- By default, law enforcement personnel are the first responders for people in psychiatric crises.
- Since police officers and corrections officers will undoubtedly be asked to respond to crises involving persons with mental illnesses, it can be helpful to understand how best to communicate with the individual and reduce the tension that can occur in these encounters.
- The following Dos and Donts are excerpted from the “Law Enforcement Street Guide to Mental Illness” a pocket manual written by Captain Melissa Beasley and Henry Stough, retried Mental Health Authority Director, Montgomery, Alabama. The full manual is available at www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org
- This list is available in a pdf TABLE format
| DO: |
DON’T |
- Lose your composure
- Get excited
- Shout or give rapid orders
- Startle the individual
- Move suddenly
- Act in anger
- Threaten
- Abuse
- Deceive
- Agree/disagree with delusions
- Touch
- Ridicule
- Tease or joke
- Whisper to others
- Confuse the individual
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- Lose your composure
- Get excited
- Shout or give rapid orders
- Startle the individual
- Move suddenly
- Act in anger
- Threaten
- Abuse
- Deceive
- Agree/disagree with delusions
- Touch
- Ridicule
- Tease or joke
- Whisper to others
- Confuse the individual
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