GateHouse Media
May 3, 2019
There is so much buzz in this country about criminal justice
reform. Much of the focus is on mass incarceration. America puts more people in
prison for longer periods of time than nearly every other nation in the world.
Prisons and jails are not pleasant places. They are often
dirty, smelly, overheated places filled to capacity with a constant threat of
violence. Some accused of a crime will spend enormous amounts of money to avoid
a conviction and a stint behind bars.
However, as inconceivable as it may seem, some people commit
crime hoping to get caught because they want to go to jail.
Some see incarceration as a way to get shelter and food.
Others seek jail as a way to get healthcare, or mental health treatment. Some
former inmates become institutionalized after a long prison stay and find it
easier to cope with the structure of a prison than adjusting to life on the
street.
Hidden Homelessness, a survey of more than 400 homeless
people by Sheffield Hallam University, in England, revealed the desperate steps
taken by the homeless to find shelter. One-in-five homeless people have
committed offenses punishable by incarceration just to spend a night in jail
away from harsh weather and the dangers of the street.
Correctional facilities in the U.S. are considered the
largest provider of mental health services. More people are receiving mental
health treatment in prison than in mental health facilities.
When mental health facilities began to close in the 1950s,
they weren’t replaced, as promised, with mental health services in the
community. As a result, prisons and jails have become de facto mental health
facilities. Many people with mental illness have scrapes with the law,
intentional and unintentional, and end up incarcerated.
At the same time, the correctional system is struggling to
provide constitutionally adequate treatment. At least those in prison are
mandated to receive treatment - no such “mandate” exists on the street. Nearly
40 percent of inmates in state and federal prison report having some mental
health disorder.
Then there are those who seek to be imprisoned in order to
get health care treatment unavailable or unaffordable to them on the street.
A vivid example of “prison in exchange for health care” is
Frank Morrocco of Amherst, New York. He was released from prison after serving
20 years on felony drug conspiracy charges, reported the Business Insider.
Unable to afford healthcare for a rare form of leukemia,
Morrocco walked into a grocery store, stepped up to the counter, and grabbed
about $23 worth of merchandise in front of store employees and walked out the
front door.
He was eventually arrested on a shoplifting charge. The
charge was a violation of his parole. He was hoping the act would result in
returning to prison so that he could get health care treatment unavailable on
the street.
“It was an act of desperation. I went into that store and
took things I didn’t need, and I made sure a lot of people saw me,” Morrocco
told The Buffalo News. “At the time I did it, I felt that I didn’t have any
other way to get the care that I need for my leukemia.”
What is the state of a nation that has people who seek the
comfort of a prison cell as opposed to “freedom?”
Reform advocates are pushing lawmakers across the country to
ease the pressure on jails and prisons. Leaders on both ends of the political
spectrum want less people in prison. Yet, for some, life is so difficult
outside prison walls that they seek the refuge of incarceration.
Matthew T. Mangino is of counsel with Luxenberg, Garbett,
Kelly & George P.C. His book The Executioner’s Toll, 2010 was released by
McFarland Publishing. You can reach him at www.mattmangino.com and follow him
on Twitter @MatthewTMangino.
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