Advancing Corrections Journal - Edition #9 - Management and Treatment of the Mentally Ill and Mentally Unwell in Corrections (ACJ9-A000)

As this Edition of Advancing Corrections is released, the world will likely still be suffering from an unparalleled ‘collective’ mental health crisis. Other than the deniers among us who choose to remain blissfully uninformed or misinformed, the spread of an invisible virus has slammed most of us into a state of acute and uncomfortable mental distress – fear, anxiety, depression, isolation, loneliness and even paranoia and panic. Millions of us have had to endure (or perhaps are still enduring) home confinement, separation from family and friends, boredom, restlessness, and gnawing uncertainty. We can ‘feel’ what it is doing to us. But, of course, there are millions of people we confine involuntarily for much lengthier periods of time and who are now facing similar anxieties but with even much less control over their lives. We often fail to ‘feel’ what confinement is doing to these millions of other individuals. Compound the effect of confinement with the psychic vulnerabilities of mental illness, and it becomes almost impossible to conceive what it might ‘feel’ like for these individuals. Correctional services all over the world are working feverishly to mitigate the effects of Covid-19 and the dedication of staff members in-the-line of fire is deserving of our utmost respect. But when this crisis is over, the management and treatment of the mentally ill in our prisons, jails, and community centers will continue as one of the most persistent, complicated and resource-taxing issues facing correctional services worldwide.

 

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