Crisis in corrections: the mentally ill in America's prisons.

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Crisis in corrections: the mentally ill in America's prisons.

From Cool Hand Luke and Escape from Alcatraz to The Shawshank Redemption and Dead Man Walking, movies about prison life have fueled the imagination and fed America's insatiable curiosity about the world of crime and punishment. In fact, criminal behavior is one of the few issues that transcends economic, political and social lines, and impacts all individuals, either directly or indirectly. Whereas these movies have typically focused on the problems of male offenders adjusting to prison life, there is a problematic subpopulation behind bars that is increasing daily and capturing the interest of the media as well as the attention of politicians, prison officials, advocacy groups and litigators. It is the mentally ill in prisons and, in the past several years, the growing number of inmates with mental illnesses behind bars that has created an apparent crisis in corrections. It is a crisis that, if ignored, will result in the nation...

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