Mentally Ill Inmates and Corrections

Psychologists continue to study the neuroscience of mentally ill inmates and convicted murderers to characterize what motivates them. Consider the case of John Wayne Gacy, an affable young adult, family man, and doting father, who turned out to be a ruthless predator. Before his arrest and imprisonment at the Cook County Jail, he tortured, raped, and strangled 33 young men between 1972 and 1978. Even during his final moments, he showed no remorse. His last words before his execution by lethal injection on May 10, 1994, were, "Kiss my ass."

From his three-decade tenure at the Cook County Sheriff's Office, retired Sheriff's Superintendent Elvis Slaughter recounts the story of Amanda Wallace. Wallace gagged her 3-year-old son, Joseph Wallace, sat him on a chair, and kissed him good-bye before slaying him with an electrical cord in their apartment on Chicago's West Side. Of the thousands of mentally ill inmates Slaughter managed or met, Wallace was by far one of the most challenging.

In another expos, correctional officers, staff, and public defenders at Cook County Jail reported assault and harassment by the inmates. Shocked onlookers testified that prisoners exposed themselves and even masturbated in front of law clerks, interns, and lawyers. County Public Defender, Amy Campanelli, remarked on the challenges, "Our attorneys are being forced to work in an environment that is traumatizing and debilitating. These attacks have also affected the safety of the workplace." Though mentally ill inmates seem beyond resolution, a humane approach goes a long way to make correctional facilities safer for everyone. Explorative and insightful, Slaughter's latest work is a must-have guide for all stakeholders, including those working, advocating, teaching, and consulting in the correctional field.