Mental illness is rampant in American jails and prisons

According to University of California, Irvine, School of Law Professor Keramet Reiter in her book 23/7: Pelican Bay Prison and the Rise of Long-Term Solitary Confinement, more than 400,000 prisoners experience isolation each year. Thirty-three to 50 percent of those prisoners in isolation suffer from a serious mental illness. And the data suggests that at least 50 percent of all prisoner suicides take place in isolation, despite holding a fraction of the incarcerated population.

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