Descripciones mejoradas de Syndetics:

A Disturbing and Shocking Expose-A Passionate Cry for Reform

Prison Madness exposes the brutality and failure of today's correctional system-for all prisoners-but especially the incredible conditions Andured by those suffering from serious mental disorders.

"A passionately argued and brilliantly written wake-up call to America about the myriad ways our penal systems brutalize our entire culture. Dr. Kupers not only diagnoses the problem, he also offers a set of solutions. I hope this book will be read by all concerned citizens and voters, for it conveys truths that are vitally important to all of us."
-- James Gilligan , Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, and author of Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Foreword(p. ix)
• Preface(p. xv)
• Acknowledgments(p. xxxi)
• Introduction(p. 1)
• Part I The Mental Health Crisis(p. 7)
• 1 The Mentally Ill Behind Bars(p. 9)
• 2 Why So Many Prisoners Develop Mental Disorders(p. 39)
• 3 The Failure of Current Mental Health Programs(p. 65)
• Part II What Goes on Behind Bars(p. 91)
• 4 Racism: a Mental Health Hazard(p. 93)
• 5 Special Problems for Women(p. 113)
• 6 Rape and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder(p. 137)
• 7 Lack of Contact with Loved Ones(p. 157)
• 8 Prison Suicide(p. 175)
• Part III An Immodest Proposal(p. 191)
• 9 The Possibilities and Limits of Litigation(p. 193)
• 10 Recommendations for Treatment and Rehabilitation(p. 217)
• 11 The Folly of Law and Order(p. 257)
• Endnotes(p. 275)
• For Further Reading(p. 287)
• About the Author(p. 291)
• Index(p. 293)

Reseñas proporcionadas por Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Kupers, a forensic psychiatrist and psychology professor at the Wright Institute, has been an active observer at county jails for 25 years and has served as an expert witness in court cases involving treatment of prisoners. Here he delivers a powerful and constructive criticism of the attitudes prison professionals hold toward inmates and the way inmates are physically handled, especially the mentally disturbed but also women and racial minorites. He focuses on abysmal physical conditions, unsanitary and often physically threatening overcrowding, the traumatization and debasement of prisoners, worker burn-out, and woefully inadequate inpatient, psychiatric, or counseling services, contributing to increasing individual dysfunction and financed by taxpayers. Kupers concludes his cogent presentation by suggesting strategies for a quantum shift in mindset (madness no longer seen as badness) to realize a climate of, at least, support for the basic constitutional and human rights of prisoners. Highly recommended for academics and professionals.ÄSuzanne W. Wood, SUNY Coll. of Technology, Alfred (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Kupers, a forensic psychiatrist experienced in the court system and with mental health in prisons, asserts that "prisons and jails have become the largest mental asylums" in the country. Also, persons with various mental problems have been deinstitutionalized with very little planning for follow-up care and have often become homeless or been driven to commit crimes. The prisons themselves seem almost designed to push the borderline individual over the edge into mental illness. The problem, therefore, is twofold, and Kupers and Toch explore both aspects. Besides providing general descriptions, they draw on many case histories that may upset and infuriate some readers. For instance, the most ardent law-and-order proponents believe that providing mental health services for prisoners amounts to coddling them and that maximum security institutions, lengthy solitary confinement for those acting oddly, and increased restrictions on prisoners' lives are necessary for a safe society. Such attitudes, this book argues, verge on the inhumane and increase both recidivism and costs. (Reviewed March 15, 1999)0787943614William Beatty

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

TERRY KUPERS M.D., a psychiatrist and professor at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, is cochair of the Committee on the Mentally Ill Behind Bars of the American Association of Community Psychiatrists. He has served as an expert witness in more than a dozen class action lawsuits concerning the conditions of confinement and the adequacy of mental health services in jails and prisons. Kupers has also served as a consultant to the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and to Human Rights Watch.