A Tie to Mental Illness in the Violence Behind Bars

AMARILLO — The most violent prisons in the Texas state system share a common factor: they house a high proportion of mentally ill inmates.

The Texas Tribune analyzed data from violent-incident reports from 99 state prisons filed from 2006 to 2012, and found far more reports of violence at facilities housing high numbers of mentally ill, violent offenders than at other prisons. 

It is not surprising that prisons with a greater proportion of mentally ill inmates would have more violence than others, said Michele Deitch, a prison conditions expert at the University of Texas at Austin’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. But the volume of violent incident reports raises questions about the staff’s ability to manage inmates and keep prisoners and officers safe, Ms. Deitch said. 

“You can’t ignore those numbers,” she said. 

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