Keywords
mental illness, incarceration, deinstitutionalization
Abstract
This paper focuses on the relationship between historical mental illness treatment and modern incarceration, reimagining it as a horseshoe, with mental illness on one end and prison on the other. There are three reasons why the two parallel each other, these being: formulated sequestration, chronicity, and histories of failed high-minded reform. The paper then writes about the intersection of the two in a mental health ward in a prison. The last aspect discussed is the gap between the ends of the horseshoe, which is due to the role of volition.
Recommended Citation
Liu, Alicia Y. (2021) "The Horseshoe Theory of Mental Illness and Incarceration," Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal: 2 (1), 5-16. 10.24968/2693-244X.2.1.1 https://works.swarthmore.edu/suhj/vol2/iss1/1