ENG-123 Module 3-6 Project 1
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Southern New Hampshire University *
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Running Head: ENG-123 MODULE 3-6 PROJECT 1 1 ENG-123 Module 3-6 Project 1
Sara L. Fineout
Southern New Hampshire University ENG-123-T4973 English Composition Two
Ellen Perry
March 19, 2024
ENG-123 MODULE 3-6 PROJECT 1 2
The topic I am choosing is Prisoners and Mental illnesses. The reason I am choosing this topic instead of the ADHD topic is that there are a lot more people that advocate and show support for ADHD and not so many for the mental health of Prisoners. Mental Health is a serious
matter and needs more attention. Prisoners and mental illnesses are related to my study of psychology and criminal justice as they tend to go hand in hand as there are so many people with
mental illnesses that end up having trouble with the law. Some with mental illnesses have those mental illnesses that get worse while or after being locked up. Therefore many prisoners need counseling of sorts for their mental illnesses which is a career I hope to get into after earning my degree. one side that can be argued is that locking someone up with mental illnesses is cruel and they will fare better with more counseling and less being locked away. The other side to that argument is that even though they have mental illnesses they still did the crime and need to do the time. The argument for more counseling suggests that they will be worse off by being imprisoned more while the other argues the point of don’t do the crimes if you don’t want to do the time. I have seen people with some mental illnesses be locked up and come out with even more mental problems. I have also seen someone with little to no mental problems be locked up and come out with PTSD and other mental health problems as a result of being locked up.
The Audience I will be writing for is my professor and my classmates. I also hope to reach the audience of others that advocate for reform in prison and mental health. Those people would include Administrators in the prison system, Mental health Administrators, and other Psychology and Criminal Justice students. One challenge I could face supporting my argument with my audience is that they may not see it the same way I do. Another challenge would be getting my paper to those higher up and hoping that they would read it. Even if they do read it they may not agree or may just not want to help push the issue. They may have their own Bias against people who have been to jail or prison. They could also have a Bias against mental illnesses and needing counseling as in some cultures that is frowned upon and looked at as a
ENG-123 MODULE 3-6 PROJECT 1 3
weakness. Hopefully, I will be able to overcome this challenge and at least make my audience give this topic more thought and consideration. That is my goal for writing this essay and I will be happy to get a good grade and get people to think twice and be less Bias against Prisoners or people with mental health problems. On page 3 of an article titled Prison Health care there is a quote that says, “Many mentally ill people are in prison who should not be there,” says Jeffrey L. Metzner, a psychiatrist,
and clinical professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Unless the country develops a good community mental-health system, “this will continue.” (Clemmitt, 2007) This is
my main argument as I think they need better mental health help and not just to be locked up in prison or jail where health care is lacking for the most part. That article tells us just how bad the health care system is in the prisons. A second key point that helps support my argument is in Prisoners and mental illnesses on page 5 it says “Most experts say the solution lies in keeping the
mentally ill from being incarcerated in the first place by treating their illness. That's the idea behind specialized mental health courts, which offer mandated treatment in lieu of a conventional sentence behind bars.” (Glazer, 2015) I agree with that as there should be more mental health options available instead of incarceration. A third key point would be that most of the 50 states in the United States allow for a plea of insanity and 12 of them even go as far as to allow a guilty but mentally ill plea where the person would be held responsible still but also given mental health help. I read this in an article titled the insanity defense (Lyons, 2019) which showed a table made by Amber Widgery who is a senior policy specialist at the National conference of state legislators. (Widgery, 2019) While the article titled prison healthcare may be a little out of date it does show a lot of evidence of the lack of care the prison system has for not just mental health but healthcare in general. This article supports my argument of the fact that there needs to be more preventive mental health available to people worldwide. The Author integrates a lot of evidence that many people in prison have had mental health problems that
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ENG-123 MODULE 3-6 PROJECT 1 4
have gotten worse or have gained mental health problems from being in prison. It also talks about other healthcare issues within the prison system. She starts off the article by stating “A high percentage of the more than 2 million inmates in U.S. jails and prisons suffer from mental illness, addiction or infectious and chronic diseases like HIV/AIDS and diabetes. About a quarter
suffer from major depression and a fifth from psychosis.” (Clemmitt, 2007) Further down she talks about how prisons have basically replaced mental health hospitals. The article Prisoners and
mental illnesses. The author Sarah Glazer talks about the mental health of prisoners. She says that prison is not somewhere for people with mental illnesses but that many mental health facilities have been closed. She points out that while not all get worse many do and that some of the prisons put them in solitary confinement for their safety as well as the safety of others, but that can actually make it worse. The article shows a picture of a man in confinement with a helmet and chains on but there is blood on the wall from him banging his head and face on it. The report titled the Insanity Defense talks about the insanity defense and how some think it is a good thing and others think that it is a get-out-of-jail-free card. Some states did away with the insanity pleas and some states have the option to claim insanity but get mental help like going to a mental health hospital instead of jail or prison. The evidence in this report both supports and opposes my argument so that is why I chose this one. The Author does say in her report that while some may not need jail some others do and some sort of mental health option would be a better fix than sticking mentally ill people in prison or jail. Sadly, many states do not have enough options for mentally ill people that break the law. These are just some of the pieces of evidence that I have found to back up my argument and I will include these and a few more in my essay. I will try to incorporate a decent amount of evidence such as quotes or paraphrases into my final project but not overload it with too many. I want to try to keep a good balance of both evidence and my own paragraphs. Cq researcher and Shapiro library have been a big help in
finding articles to support my essay.
ENG-123 MODULE 3-6 PROJECT 1 5
I believe my instructor provided me with some good insight and feedback. I incorporated the feedback by reevaluating my audience and how to illustrate a proportionate amount of evidence like quotes or paragraphs into my final project. I will probably show a few direct quotes
and a couple of paraphrases and then use my own arguments. My instructor also suggested that I write a summary of the articles and reports I chose to use so I tried my best to do that. If my instructor or peers have any other feedback I will try my best to incorporate that as well before submitting my final project.
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References
Clemmitt, M. (2007, January 5). Prison health care.
CQ Researcher
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17
, 1-24. http://library.cqpress.com/
Glazer, S. (2015, March 13). Prisoners and mental illness.
CQ Researcher
,
25
, 241-264. http://library.cqpress.com/
Lyons, C. L. (2019, October 11). The insanity defense.
CQ Researcher
,
29
, 1-18. http://library.cqpress.com/
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