Don't misunderstand me; I wasn't meaning to suggest that mental illness is a cause. You made a linkage to violence. That was not in my mind at all.
What I'm trying to find out is whether there is a link between underlying mental health issues: anxiety, depression, paranoia, feelings of insecurity, all the way down to things such as post-traumatic stress disorder, which I know is epidemic in women's institutions, as well as FASD, which I know is not mental illness but is something that I think lessens impulse control. In a lot of cases, are those some of the underlying contributors to why that person is in prison?
The reason I ask that is because it would seem to me, then, that if we are not accurately diagnosing and treating those issues in the corrections system, are we doing what we can to reduce the recidivism of those people when they come out? If there's no linkage, then I guess we don't have to diagnose or treat them in prison, do we, because there is no linkage. But I happen to believe there is.
That is what I was getting at. I wonder if that helps flesh it out, and I would invite any comment on that.