Incarcerated Mental Patients are Given a Right to Treatment
At a glance:
- Series: Great Events from History II: Human Rights Series
- Categories: Social Issues, Reform, and Protest, Psychology, Psychiatry, Medicine, Health, Law, Legal History, Courts
- Subcategories: Civil Rights, Minority Rights, Minorities, Court Cases, Rulings, Appeals, Human Rights, Disabilities, Handicapped People, Kidnapping, Hostages, Prisoners
- Curriculum: American History 1951-present
- Geographical Location: Alabama
- Date: March 12, 1971
Article abstract: Federal Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., declared that mental patients incarcerated against their will without criminal proceedings had a right to adequate therapy.
Summary of Event
Progress in psychology and psychiatry in the twentieth century made many mental institutions appear backward. Many American states used their asylums as pens into which the aged, the retarded, and the ill were herded to keep them away from the rest of society. Institutions often lacked finances to provide inmates with adequate treatment. For therapists, the...
[The entire page is 2509 words long]
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