The Danger of Prison Instead of Treatment for Those with Mental Illness

Ben Hall of Channel 5 News in Nashville recently featured the tragic story of William Runnells, the most recent Tennessee inmate suffering with severe mental illness to die in prison in the past few months.  Hall’s investigation shows that though Runnells was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, he ended up in prison where correctional staff do not have the training or resources to properly address such needs, ultimately leading to Runnells’ tragic deaths as he was being restrained. Individuals suffering from these illnesses not only end up in prison but on death row as well. 

Hall points out that currently Tennessee has only 660 hospital beds available for such very ill individuals while in 1990, the state had 1,700 available beds.  Severe budget cuts have led to this decline.  A recent national study showed that currently prisons have 3 times the number of those with mental illness in their populations than do hospitals.

The reality is that the state chooses not to spend the money necessary to treat these individuals but will spend the money to incarcerate them, and in some cases, execute them when they go untreated and break the law or become violent. 

If Tennessee ended the death penalty, even if only for those with severe mental illness,  the millions of dollars saved could be spent better ensuring these individuals get the treatment they need before a tragedy occurs.

Watch the video here and then go to Ben Hall’s Facebook page to tell Channel 5 that we want more stories like this.

Picture by Tim Pearce

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One Response

  1. Kitty Kirkland says:

    This is so tragic that we do not have a facility and people who care about our prisoners that suffer from mental illness. I have knowledge of a young man so tragically taken from us in a senseless killing this year all because no one cared enough to make sure he had his meds or that he was taken to the correct Drs , He never should have been at Riverbend he should have been in a mental facility . Thank you Mr Hall for reporting on these tragic deaths. something has got to be done ! How do the guards get away with murder and it surely was murder when he was handcuffed,shackled , tasered and beaten to death. he could not have been combative while restrained on stomach and drug. and does it really take 8 people to restrain one man.? How many more mentally ill prisoners have been killed by guards and covered up by saying it was natural causes or suicide? This was a young man who mattered he had a loving family and friends that have suffered a tremendous loss.We hope and pray with God’s help we will see justice for this young man and all other mentally ill prisoners.

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