Which numbers do not tell us

The latest figures have come out. There have been 9,180 prisoners suffering from mental illness, 150 deaths by suicide, five prisoners suffering from schizophrenia and epilepsy.

While we know the numbers, we don’t know what is considered mental illness and whether these numbers are limited to individuals living in mental health wards, or include those living in barracks But still on psychotropic medication. We also don’t know when the disease started and what the different diseases were or how long they have been in jail. The Prison Statistics India Report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) is for the year 2021. Perhaps this needs to be reiterated, yet there is a mental health crisis in prisons.

We often hear that the object of punishment (or at least one of its purposes) is reform and rehabilitation. Yet when we look at the place where that punishment is carried out, we find situations that ensure hopelessness, despair and helplessness rather than promote rehabilitation. In any case, our prisons are not crowded with convicts, rather it is the undertrial population which is more than 70% of the prison population. More than half of those with mental illness were under trial (58.4% were under trial, while 41.3% were convicted). However, the number could very well be higher.

For example, Project 39A’s report on mental health and the death penalty, worthy of deathrevealed that more than 60% of those sentenced to death had a current episode of mental illness, but many of them were not identified by the prison as needing treatment and care. worthy of death It also turned out that suicide had little to do with mental illness and much to do with absent social support, violence, distress and despair.

lack of solution

India’s National Mental Health Policy, 2014, considers prisoners as a section of people vulnerable to mental illness. But when the NRCB gives us the data to confirm this classification, it doesn’t take us much further toward formulating a solution, and leaves us none the wiser. Why do we have so many prisoners living with mental illness? Were all these prisoners living with mental illness prior to incarceration, or did they have their first episode in prison? The system is not equipped to give us such important information.

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It is important to understand these numbers in a meaningful context because without it our default response to this crisis would be treatment and the conversation would be stuck on poor healthcare infrastructure in prison.

To solve the mental health crisis in prison, a purely medical approach will only take us so far. We need to take a more comprehensive approach, moving from treating individuals to identifying the social and underlying determinants of mental health in prisons. We also need to look at mental health in prisons from a social and structural perspective. Otherwise, we could end up with a heavily medicated gel population, but not a healthy one.

aspects of imprisonment

There are some aspects of incarceration that cause distress – loss of independence, loss of close contact with loved ones, loss of autonomy. Therefore, a certain amount of distress is bound to be present in the prison population. However, at first the conversation can’t just end there; The crisis must be addressed in a way that is not limited to addressing it. Second, there are aspects of incarceration that are now regarded as common features of it, such as overcrowding and violence, but are certainly not inherent in incarceration. It would be absurd to think that a population subjected to constant violence (of various kinds) would be healthy.

Anyone who has interacted with prisoners and prison officials would attest to the fact that each suspects the other and that the relationship (as odd as it is) is based on mistrust and fear. Spaces that are meant to facilitate resettlement instead become spaces with further disability and suffrage.

It is no coincidence that these are goals that are essential for a mentally healthy population. Reform, rehabilitation or reunification is meant to make prisoners responsible and accountable for their lives, their choices and their ability to make decisions. The process is meant to be empathetic and caring. Instead, it is violent, harsh and ultimately leaves the prisoner for better, if not worse. We should not be surprised by the high rate of suicides and mental illness. However, this should make us question the purpose and effectiveness of our punitive and social justice policy.

Maitreyi Mishra is the head of the mental health and criminal justice team at Project 39A, National Law University, Delhi. She is the lead author of the Project 39A report Deathworthy: A Mental Health Perspective of the Death Penalty,