Running Head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Tomkins 1

Annotated Bibliography
Curtis Tomkins
November 8, 2015
English 123
Professor T. Sung
Cal Baptist University

Annotated Bibliography

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Caie, J. (2012). Climbing the walls: prison mental health and community engagement.
British Journal of Nursing, 21(11), 658-662 5p.

In this journal article, Climbing the walls: prison mental health and community
engagement, it explores the benefits of community based psychological and medical
therapy interventions within the prison setting. According to the article, it is believed that
such community based interventions can be successfully applied to prison setting and
have a positive mental health effect of the prisoners. These interventions will
successfully engage them with the communities after their release while still in custody.
According to the article, prisoners face many barriers after they are released from
prison. While in prison many of these inmates are provided with support groups,
education, and mental health care, it is after the release when they find it hard to cope
without the support they have previously received in prison. Many of these ex-offenders
have a difficult time finding housing, employment, and overall resettling themselves in
the community. Therefore, making both physical and mental barriers less tangible and
harder to overcome. Furthermore, it is important to note that mental health problems
require more than just psychological and medical interventions to ensure successful
outcomes. Mental health requires the ability to have the basic needs of human survival
to increase and ensure a persons quality of life. It requires the role of occupation and
employment, housing, and social opportunity. Therefore, if community engagement
towards mental health can be successfully provided in the prison setting, then theses
prisoners will be able to flourish in the real world and build a bridge between prison and
the outside community.

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Cloud, D. H., Drucker, E., Browne, A., & Parsons, J. (2015). Public Health and Solitary
Confinement in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 105(1), 1826. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2014.302205

This journal article from the American Journal of Public Health examines the
ethicality and sheer number of prisoners placed into solitary confinement in the United
States. According to this article, the United States holds more people in Solitary
confinement than any other nation in the world. Todays supermax prisons are
mechanized to isolate thousands of prisoners every day for years or even decades.
Furthermore, these prisoners endure extreme harsh conditions during confinement.
According to the article, these conditions include sensory deprivation and idleness. The
lack of natural light, poor ventilation, and lack of any meaningful human contact, one
might wonder what this does to a persons psyche. Yes it is true that solitary
confinement was designed to confine the worst of the worst, however statistics and
jurisdictions have proven that the majority of the prison population that are confined do
not pose a threat to staff or other populations. Rather most are punished for minor rule
infractions. Example of these infractions include and are not limited to insolence, failing
to report to school or work, and refusing to return food trays. Furthermore, these long
periods of confinement will have an effect on the overall wellbeing of a prisoners life
after prison. Thus, creating many barriers for public health educators and professionals
who work with this population, due to the fact the goal of public health is to prevent
disease, morbidity, and premature mortality. The authors argue that public health
officials should work to prevent prisons from becoming overly reliant on solitary
confinement as a form of rehabilitation. Prisoners in solitary confinement released

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straight to society are likely to repeat violent behaviors, and according to studies,
suicide is the number one cause of death of prisoners. Therefore, it should be the goal
of public health professionals to take the ethical lead to insist that the government
should use modern models for rehabilitation and restorative justice, and replace the use
of reliance of solitary confinement.

Hunt, E., Peters, R. H., & Kremling, J. (2015). Behavioral Health Treatment History
Among Persons in the Justice System: Findings from the Arrestee Drug Abuse
Monitoring II Program. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 38(1), 7-15.
doi:10.1037/prj0000132

This article from the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal overviews a study

exploring the concerning lack of behavioral health services available for arrestees and
prisoners who suffer from substance abuse or mental health disorders. According to the
journal, behavioral health disorders are significantly higher among arrestees than the
overall population. Approximately 70-74% of adult offenders have substance use
disorders and over half of these offenders struggle with mental health problems.
However despite these high rates, only few jails, prisons, or other justice settings
provide enough services to address these settings. According to other recent studies, it
has been noted that about 18% of offenders who have a substance abuse problem has
had mental health treatment. However it is more likely for these offenders to seek
substance abuse treatment, but not as likely to receive mental health treatment. And
with the lack of contemporary research, these gaps are more difficult to close.

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Kaba, F., Solimo, A., Graves, J., Glowa-Kollisch, S., Vise, A., MacDonald, R., & ...
Venters, H. (2015). Disparities in Mental Health Referral and Diagnosis in the
New York City Jail Mental Health Service. American Journal of Public Health,
105(9), 1911-1916. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2015.302699

In the article, it describes the disparities that jails and prisons face towards
mental health treatment. Approximately 12 million people pass a correctional system
annually, and about one-third of this population identify with a mental illness. Therefore,
treatment and discharge plans have become challenging for both offenders and mental
health professionals alike. In some cases, smaller jails face bigger challenges due to
the fact that mental health professionals may only be available a few hours a week.
Whereas, larger jails may have more comprehensive programs available. According to
the study, not only do lack of services create a disparity, but research has also proven
that there is a large health disparity that exist between incarcerated people of color. The
psychiatric mortality and morbidity by race in the correctional settings. It is known that
the Caucasian population have a higher percentage of depressive disorder and suicide,
whereas African American population have a higher percentage of schizophrenia and
nonschizophrenic psychotic disorders. To better understand the mental health
disparities, medical records upon initial admissions where analyzed from a New York
City jail. In conclusion, it was found that disparities ranged with age and race.
Caucasians were more likely to enter mental health services, while Hispanics and
blacks were more likely to enter solitary confinement. It was also found that the younger
the individual, the less likely they would receive a mental diagnosis. Therefore, more

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consideration is needed of different race, ethnicity and age in understanding how to

address these problems.
Reingle Gonzalez, J. M., & Connell, N. M. (2014). Mental Health of Prisoners:
Identifying Barriers to Mental Health Treatment and Medication Continuity.
American Journal of Public Health, 104(12), 2328-2333 6p.
doi:10.2105/AJPH.2014.302043

This articles identify the many barriers of mental health treatment and medication
continuity of prisoners with mental health issues. Although it is mandated by the court
for inmates to receive adequate health care, access to health care and mental health
has been sporadic. Most treatment decisions are based by the limited resources that
are available. And since at least 50% of the male prison population identify with some
mental health condition, it is nearly possible to for all of them to receive the proper
treatment. Which then creates a bigger consequence, because most of these inmates
repeat the same criminal offense in and out of prison. Therefore, the article suggest that
all prison staff should be trained and use to correct assessment tools to identify signs
and symptoms of mental disability. This will gauge the security risk of a new admission
to the correctional facility. This will help with the inmates poor adjustment to the life in
prison, and will help them deal with the mental challenges they will face on the daily
bases. Developing models and affordable tools will allow the public health system to
give better mental health treatment among inmates, and will prevent more expensive
healthcare costs after prison.

Walker, J., Illingworth, C., Canning, A., Garner, E., Woolley, J., Taylor, P., & Amos, T.

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(2014). Changes in mental state associated with prison environments: a

systematic review. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 129(6), 427-436.
doi:10.1111/acps.12221

The American justice system is not the only system that suffers from disparities
and barriers between correctional facilities and mental health. This journal article
proves that mental challenges in prison environment is an international problem.
According to the article; in an international systematic review of 62 surveys across 12
countries, including over 22,000 prisoners, it was found that there were much higher
rates of mental disorders among prisoners than the general population. It was also
found that depression and psychotic illness are higher in the prison population than the
general population, and even more so among female prisoners. However, if proper
mental health screening is done upon entry, it will identify suicidal and severely mentally
ill individuals who would require intervention, and mental states may improve in time.
Besides proper screening, if prisons were less crowded and used less solitary
confinement, it may also improve prisoners mental stability and quality of life.
Furthermore, the article suggest that it is the duty of policymakers, clinicians, prison
staff to be aware of these major issues, and address the overcrowding and isolation. If
such interventions are made, this will decrease the deterioration of prisoners mental
health after release, and perhaps help them live a close to normal life after prison.

Warren, M. (2015). Mental health care beyond prison. British Journal of Nursing, 24(15),
790-791 2p. doi:10.12968/bjon.2015.24.15.790

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This article from the British Journal of Nursing explains a widespread epidemic in
which individuals with mental health concerns are not being placed under the proper
cafore within the criminal justice system. Although services have been established to
provide proper assessments to those with mental health issues upon entering the
criminal justice system, a severe lack of inpatient beds and mental health facilities has
caused many of these individuals to serve normal prison sentences. To help combat
this, teams have been set up in several prisons to provide mental health care services
to inmates. A recent study done in Scotland shows that the amount of prisoners who
experience some type of mental illness is up to 80%. The ultimate goal of providing
psychiatric services in these prisons is to help ease the transition back into society upon
release. For incarcerated mental health service users, the process of leaving prison can
be extremely complicated. Following their release, prisoners must follow a prison in
reach team with regular contact for psychological and medical treatment. He will have a
probation officer along with a forensic community mental health nurse to support him
upon release. This will allow prisoners to gain control of their after prison life and
become more stable.

Wilson, A. B., Farkas, K., Ishler, K. J., Gearhart, M., Morgan, R., & Ashe, M. (2014).
Criminal Thinking Styles among People with Serious Mental Illness in Jail. Law &
Human Behavior (American Psychological Association), 38(6), 592-601.
doi:10.1037/lhb0000084

In the article Criminal Thinking Styles among People with Serious mental Illness
in Jail, it suggest that people with serious mental illness are overrepresented in the
criminal justice system. Prominent efforts have been made to explain why mental health

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programs and treatments have struggled to impact the safety of the general public.
Explanations have been made to excuse to why these effort have not been successful,
one in which being that there are a lack of services to provide the proper treatment for
offenders with mental health issues. It is believed that the lack of mental health
interventions, associates with a higher crime rate with those who suffer from mental
disabilities like schizophrenia and mood disorders. Studies have proven that people with
mental illness in current jail settings think in ways that lead to criminal attitudes. They
interact with the world the support and maintain a criminal lifestyle. Evidence have
proven that there is a need of therapeutic support. Also, criminogenic interventions need
to be implemented into traditional mental health services to prevent future crime and
justice involvement. Furthermore, if mental health professionals can prevent or
decrease criminal thinking of people who suffer from mental health illness, it is possible
that crime will not be repeated. It will also decrease the number of suicide among the
offenders, and help them open up about their illness and motivate them to seek proper
care.