Welcome!
Thank you for visiting! My interest in issues surrounding the prison system stems from the disparity within the system as it relates to minorities, people living with mental illness, and those who have struggled in the educational system. Specifically, I am interested in the point at which all of these issues meet. The purpose of this blog is to provide a place for dialogue, research and the investigation of those moments when people with mental illness and learning disabilities find themselves interacting with the criminal justice system.
My desire to investigate the issue of criminality and mental illness stems from my own relationship with Bipolar II disorder. I was diagnosed in August of 2015 after two hospitalizations that were then considered a part of major depression. Full blown attacks of mania can result in delusions: people thinking they can fly, for example. I worry what would happen if for some reason I had to come off of my medication, perhaps due to affordability, and I swung hard one way or the other. Would I, could I, do something criminal and end up in prison?
Your Mental Health Matters [Mental Health Art]. (n.d.). Retrieved June 23, 2016, from http://www.namisnohomishcounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/mental-illness-art-a3ce9bb6a9a7cdbc1.jpg
According to the Treatment Advocacy Center “20 percent of inmates in jails and 15 percent of inmates in state prisons have a serious mental illness,” (2014)1. The center considers bipolar disorder, major depression, paranoid schizophrenia and psychotic disorder serious mental illnesses. These illnesses can lead to delusions and hallucinations that could manifest themselves in criminal activity, possibly in acts of violence. I would like to investigate specific stories of inmates living with mental illness and what the interactions were with the criminal justice system.
More information can be found at:
In addition to living with this illness, I am also a middle school English Language Arts Teacher. Each day I come into contact with individuals who live with many challenges: ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, autism. OCD, ODD, bipolar, anxiety, depression, and other such difficulties. I worry about them just as I worry about my own children. Especially in the last few weeks of school, I think about where they may be going, knowing that they still have four more years of school after they leave me.
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The United States Department of Justice claims that „ "about 2 in 10 prisoners and 3 in 10 jail inmates reported having a cognitive disability, the most common reported disability in each population." There are obvious correlations between cognitive learning disabilities and interactions with the criminal justice system.
Skelley, A. (n.d.). Blend Images [Digital image]. Retrieved June 23, 2016, from https://fthmb.tqn.com/YgJdVGPAURlq4uJVg09AFGDWbk8=/3866x2578/filters:no_upscale()/about/135205410-56a59d7a5f9b58b7d0dda7dd.jpg
The United States Department of Justice claims that „ "about 2 in 10 prisoners and 3 in 10 jail inmates reported having a cognitive disability, the most common reported disability in each population." There are obvious correlations between cognitive learning disabilities and interactions with the criminal justice system.
