PRISONS

Prisons

Introduction

The purpose of this study is to expand the boundaries of our knowledge by exploring some relevant facts and figures related to drug addiction and mental health problems in UK prisons. Drug addiction has prevailed amongst prisoners widely and has resulted in increased mental health in the prisons of United Kingdom. Drug trading is another problem which is prevailed mainly because of gang formation in prisons. Furthermore, because of the increased drug consumption and hostile environment, prisoners are observed with mental health problems. Criminology is the social science that studies the nature, extent and causes of crime, characteristics of criminals and criminal organizations, problems of detention and punishment of offenders; operation of prisons and other correctional institutions, rehabilitation offenders both in and out of prison and crime prevention.

High numbers of people in prison in the UK have drugs dependency problems and mental health problems and in many cases these problems are linked to their criminal activity. In this paper, the author will discuss these issues among the prison population and whether imprisonment is the right form of punishment for these populations of offenders. The author will use findings from research to illustrate the scale of these problems among the prison population.

Discussion

Prison is a place where almost all the aspects of life are controlled by the authorities. It is a place, which accelerates the process of human aging. Prisons have conventionally been known as 'school of crime' as it helps in building up a pool of bitterness. It can also be taken as a place that facilitates the prisoners in learning criminal tricks. There are no standard customs on which a prison is regulated; this is the main reason behind all the evolving problems in prisons around the globe. Through past researches it have been analyzed that almost two- third of all the released prisoners come back to the prison within two to three years of their release. In UK, there are at least four sets of rules that are followed by almost all the prisons: the criminal code, the colour line, the official governing rules and regulations and gang membership rules (Room , 2007).



Drugs and mental health problems among the prison population in the UK

United Kingdom is the country in which large number of prisoners in their prisons is found suffering from depression and mental problems due to use of drugs. It is found from previous researches that almost 8% of prisoners found suffering from serious mental illness and 40% of the prisoners have mental and personality disorders. Prisoners face various problems in prisons like rape and other physical abuses. Mother prisoners also face many problems in taking care of their children in prison as they don't get facilitated accordingly (Newman, 1999).

The person imprisoned is not only affected with the trouble and depression, but it is also their family member who has to face the society and bear negative comments of people. The family members of the person who is imprison has to face Psychological burden, social stigma, and ...