PSYCHIATRIC STIGMA IN CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES

While legislatively sanctioned discrimination against the mentally ill in general society has largely disappeared, it persists in correctional systems where inmates are denied earn-time reductions in sentences, parole opportunities, placement in less restrictive facilities, and opportunities to participate in sentence-reducing programs because of their status as psychiatric patients or their need for psychotropic medications. The authors discuss the prevalence of such problems from detailed examinations of several correctional systems and from the results of a national survey of correctional medical directors.