2.3 million people are incarcerated in the U.S., many for nonviolent crimes.
They struggle with problems like drug addiction and mental illness that can keep them in the criminal justice system.
DEMETRIA is 14, and on medication for anxiety disorder.She’s been to juvenile jail three times.
70% of youth in the juvenile justice system have been diagnosed with at least one mental health disorder.
“I don’t try to get locked up. But when I go to jail, I don’t feel like it teaches me a lesson. … It just makes me even more madder.”
KEITH is about to be released from another stint in prison. As a felon, he has limited job prospects.
77 % of people released from prison are arrested within five years. /p>
“I’m really scared , to be honest about it.”
CHRISTEL is 15, She started acting out in class during elementary school. Lately, she’s stopped showing up.
Black students are suspended and expelled at a rate three times greater than white students
“I was heartbroken when I got put in handcuffs. I felt like I was getting torn apart. I shouldn’t be in here.”
A Vietnam vet, MCDUFFIE has struggled with PTSD and drug addiction for decades. He’s been in and out of jail several times.
Jails and prisons house 10X as many people with severe mental illness than mental hospitals.
“Sometimes these nightmares won’t let me go to sleep.”
Follow the rest of their stories in Prison State, premiering Tuesday, April 29 online or on air starting at 10 p.m. EST on most PBS stations. (Check local listings.)
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