Mentally Ill Prisons And The Death Sentence - 2084 Words

Mentally Ill Prisons and the Death Sentence Criminals with mental disorders should be held accountable for their actions and receive adequate punishment up to and including the death penalty. If they’re well enough to commit the crime that someone without a mental disorder can commit they should get the same punishment. Inmates with mental disorders are more likely to disrupt day to day prison activity, leading to needing more and more prison guards to keep the order. An estimated 283,000 prisoners are spared from death row because of a mental disorder. With that information it isn’t hard to believe that there is a big problem with overcrowding and over population. Not every single inmate is being cared for properly or getting the right†¦show more content†¦It worsens their sickness. This also entails that more people will be out in mainstream prison, meaning more that the prison guards have to deal with. They’re probably going to have to add more cells in prison and hire more guards to keep the p risoners in line. There are thousands on top of thousands of crimes committed by the mentally ill, and nowadays pleading guilty is seen as a loop hole or a way to shorten your sentence and make the jury feel bad for the defendant. Take Jane Toppan for example. A nurse at a private practice, she racked up dozens of victims between 1885 and 1901. She would experiment different medicine and different dosages to patients. When they were about die she got into bed with them and held them close, feeling their lives slip from them. She got sexual satisfaction out of this, so she pled guilty by reason of insanity. She would live out the rest of her life in a minimum security prison where she was treated well. Juana Barraza, a Mexican wrestler aka â€Å"the Old Lady Killer†, killed as many as 49 elderly ladies in the 1990s. Later caught in 2003 and sentenced to prison for 759 years. She was excused from death row by reason of insanity. Sometimes the system does work though, like in the case of 21 year o ld Jessica Stasinousky and 19 year old Valerie Parashumti. The two women bludgeoned a 16 year old girl to death in 2008. They pled guilty by reason of being temporarily