The Mentally Ill in Jail: Contemporary Clinical and Practice Perspectives for Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing

Individuals with serious mental illnesses (SMI) who are incarcerated pose major treatment challenges for both correctional personnel and healthcare providers, yet deserve the same high standards of care as those in traditional mental health facilities. The literature references these challenges as types of mental health treatment disparities, and calls for improvement measures from clinicians, researchers, policy-makers, and advocates. From the standpoint of psychiatric-mental health (PMH) nursing, this paper explores, examines, and offers some contemporary clinical and practice perspectives for providing best-practice psychiatric care for SMI individuals who are in jails. The diverse roles of PMH nursing can contribute meaningfully to tackling quality improvement initiatives on mental health treatment agendas for SMI inmates.