Frederick Douglass Incarceration

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Mass incarceration has left the United States with the highest rate of prisoners who are being treated with harsh treatment. Frederick Douglass, a former slave, experienced extreme unjust treatment, just as prisoners today do. Douglass endured many traumas, such as separation from his family as an infant. Prisoners today share a similar experience of trauma as they are being separated and treated unjustly. Douglass had also experienced physical abuse, often receiving severe beatings leading to a decline in his mental health. Today many prisoners are struggling to stay strong, coping with their mental health as they are offered no care or services for it. Although Douglass had encountered brutal treatment, he still managed to stay persistent, …show more content…
Prisoners today often face a number of mental health struggles, and the ability to stay strong, just as Douglass also experienced in his incarceration. For instance, “About two in five people who are incarcerated have a history of mental illness (37% in state and federal prisons and 44% held in local jails). This is twice the prevalence of mental illness within the overall adult population.” (Nami 2024). Mental illness is a common struggle in the prison system; due to the lack of resources, inmates often become more depressed and violent throughout their sentence. Both Douglass and the prisoners today share a similar experience: struggling to take care of themselves while facing poor treatment, leading to a further decline in mental health. In addition, it is said that mental illness, “Behaviors related to their symptoms can put them at risk for consequences of violating facility rules, such as solitary confinement or being barred from participating in programming.”(Nami 2024). Prisoners facing any form of mental illness are put in danger of even worse