Dealing with the mentally ill is something that makes many people uncomfortable and feel unsafe. This is not to say that all mentally ill people are scary and should be feared, but more that the people around them are not entirely educated on how to be around someone with a mental illness. Sometimes it just takes a little more patience, understanding and compassion. Unfortunately, the mentally ill do not always get treated in the best way and often end up in a prison and mental institution for majority of their lives. To me that is unfortunate, the really unfortunate part is sometimes prisons and institutions become a home to them where they are more comfortable and happy to stay. .
In today's society, the ideal place for any mentally ill individual is locked up somewhere. It seems like anymore, our world firmly believes that saying "out of sight, out of mind" in cases where the mentally ill are involved. According to a video, Frontline's: The New Asylum, roughly 500,000 mentally ill people are now inmates in prisons are the United States (Navasky, M., & O'Connor, K). This video was based around Ohio's state prison systems and how they utilize their resources to accommodate the mentally ill and their needs. This example was enough to get things stirred up on the issue of mentally ill and really get people thinking about what the next step is to help improve this system. .
Currently, it seems like the popular method of dealing with the mentally ill is arresting them and putting them into jail. But once they are incarcerated, they are facing some additional difficulties. To me, one of the biggest issues are those with policies. While incarcerated, the correctional officers tend to treat them as other inmates. Although normally we, as Americans, go to fair and equal treatment, when dealing with the mentally ill things just have to be a little different. Some people have compared it to the same as dealing with a child.
