Death of 4 Inmates Brings Awareness to Mental Health in Prisons

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO)- Psychiatric care for inmates in state prisons has come under scrutiny following the incident at Kirkland Correctional Institute.

Mental health experts sauy something needs to be done because there are more prisoners then there is help.

“People are not criminals because they have a mental illness, they have a disease that needs to be treated,” Executive Director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Bill Lindsey said.

Treatment that some believe isn’t there for the thousands of prisoners housed in the states most violent and dangerous prison.

“They are seriously under funded in the department of corrections,” Lindsey said.

The Kirkland Correctional Institution does have a mental health staff, but with the number of inmates cycling through the prison Lindsey feels all the prisoners aren’t getting the help they need.

“They’ve done a lot but its going to take a lot more,” Lindsey said. “Its not just slapping somebody on the hands and say you need to do a better job, they have to give them the tools to make it happen.”

Lindsey says people with mental illness are likely to stay behind bars longer than those without.

“Since their illness isn’t treated they can’t adjust their behavior to the requirements of the jail so they get more time added on,” Lindsey said. “People with mental illness that end up in jail end up serving two and a half times longer then people that do not have mental illness.”

The South Carolina Department of Corrections say the four inmates that were killed were serving time in a unit that treats prisoners with behavioral problems and long sentences, however the Department of Corrections did not confirm if they were receiving mental treatment.