n but that compromise their successful transition back to the community. Some of these behaviors may include aggressiveness and intimidation of others or, conversely, extreme passivity, manipulative behavior and reluctance to discuss problems with (or "rat" to) authority figures.81 These behaviors create barriers to engagement in mental health services and treatment. Former prisoners may associate the structure of mental health treatment facilities, such as hospitals and supportive residences, with prison, and behave accordingly toward staff and fellow patients. Inmates with mental illness may be punished for disruptive behavior in ways that exacerbate their illnesses. The standard punishment for disobeying prison or jail rules is "punitive segregation" -- locking inmates in small single (or occasionally double) cells for 23 hours a day. Better known as solitary confinement, the punishment prevents contact with the general population, prohibits participation in programs or prison work, and often denies the inmate access to reading materials or hygiene products. A person with mental illness who has not violated rules, but whose presence in general population is deemed by correction officials to "pose a threat to the safety and security of the facility,"82 will be sentenced to administrative segregation. Despite the kinder-sounding name, administrative segregation is just as isolating as punitive segregation and often as restrictive in terms of movement and privileges. New York correction officials have been known to sentence inmates to punitive or administrative segregation for years at a time. People with mental illness are particularly likely to find themselves in punitive or administrative segregation due to behavior that is symptomatic of their illness.83 For example, studies in Ohio in the early 1990s found that hundreds of inmates had been placed in disciplinary cells for no reason other than mental illness.84 "Acting out" psychot...
