Comparison between Incarceration in Jails and Prisons and Incarceration in Psychiatric Institutions and Facilities
Due to ongoing and systemic racism, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color are overrepresented in the serious mental illness designation, over-represented in exposure to restrictive and coercive interventions, forced and depot medication; and over-represented in both involuntary inpatient and outpatient commitment proceedings. They also have disproportionately died from COVID 19 due to existing racialized disparities in healthcare and are dying in jails and prisons and psych facilities, cut off from the outside world.[1]
Comparison between Incarceration in Jails and Prisons and Incarceration in Psychiatric Institutions and Facilities | ||
Jails/prison | Psych | |
BlPOC are overrepresented due to systemic racism* | X | X |
Disregard for rights and safety of trans and nonbinary people | X | X |
Law enforcement response/transport | X | X |
Solitary confinement and seclusion = neglect/torture | X | X |
Forced medication (chemical restraint); often in form of long-acting injectable antipsychotics = abuse/torture | X | X |
Physical restraints (carceral abuse) routinely practiced | X | X |
Violence and physical abuse are the norm | X | X |
People with medical complaints are not believed and sometimes die as a result. | X | X |
Sexual assault is routine with protections poorly enforced | X | X |
Extremely limited access to sunlight or fresh air. (Some psych facilities have zero outside time.) | X | X |
Limited access to information from the outside world, phone calls, or visits. Restricted or lack of access to news & media. | X | X |
Cell phone access is not allowed | X | X |
Numerous barriers to obtaining safe, affordable, supportive housing upon release | X | X |
Little recourse/power to appeal legal or medical decisions | X | X |
Draconian supervision requirements upon release/discharge and possible legal requirements to comply with “treatment” (which usually consists of antipsychotics and little else). | X | X |
Numerous barriers to employment upon discharge, leading to becoming unhoused or needing to rely on the “grey economy” | X | X |
Overwhelming majority are survivors of traumatic experiences. | X | X |
Right to vote upon release | Maybe, depending on charges. | Yes, but routinely denied inside. |
Exposed to harm/negligence in the pandemic | X | X |
[1] Emphasis in this document is on the settler colonial United States, also known as America.