Could ‘compassionate release’ put a dent on the mental illness crisis in America’s prisons?

Roughly 64 percent of inmates in U.S. jails have reported mental health concerns. Within America’s warped healthcare policy landscape, prisons have been the only space where some guarantee of the right to healthcare has remained. In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court even declared that state and federal facilities were bound to provide medical care to prisoners under the Eighth Amendment. But as the definition of right to health has only become narrower, a new avenue has received expanded treatment, with ‘compassionate release’ offering the potential for a more dignified treatment of America’s incarcerated.