Do the mentally ill serve longer or shorter sentences than the general population?
According to the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, mentally ill inmates in state prisons serve on average 15 months longer than other inmates. Mentally ill inmates in local jails serve on average two months fewer than other inmates. Often the reason mentally ill prisoners end up spending more time in prison — sometimes longer than their original sentences — is that because of their illnesses they have difficulty following the strict rules of prison life. They are more likely than other inmates to be involved in prison fights, and they tend to rack up conduct violations, known as “tickets,” for violating the rules. Depending on the number of tickets they’re received, prisoners’ privileges may be revoked or they may be moved to a higher security classification. “It’s an evolving process every day, trying to figure out the role that the mental illness plays against the rule infraction and how you’re going to deal with that.” explains Nixon-Hughes. The mentally ill
