Prison vs. Mental Hospital...

[Bigmack]

The new Harper's Index (Sorry, no link. Too new.) has a very interesting comparison.

We have about the same percent of the population now as in 1953 who are in prison and mental institutions... combined.

Only thing is, in 1953, 25% of that population was in prison, whereas now, 97% are in prison.

I'm guessing that we now have a shitload of people in prison that we used to have in mental institutions.

Anybody got any other ideas or comments?

(Source is the dept of HHS)

[babylonsister]

1. Yes. There are real criminals, but there's a shitload of 'prisoners'

who are in there for paltry crimes, like having a joint, stealing a slice, etc.

[proud patriot]

2. I think we are as a nation turning our backs on

The Mentally Ill/Impaired/Impacted/Disturbed.

It's disgraceful

[mmonk]

3. Unfortunately, probably accurate.

I know a local hospital shut down near me and they are now debating whether shopping, office space, etc. should go there. For some reason, the integration back into the community is not going as well as some thought. I think they are being neglected now.

[lectrobyte]

4. It seems like there are a lot more people in prison now for things like

the war on some drugs, and there are a lot more people now who could be institutionalized that are out on the streets. It is an interesting statistic, though.

[MountainLaurel]

5. I once heard a criminal justice researcher

Refer to juvenile detention centers as "the poor child's mental health facility." The situation isn't much different for adults.

[silverlib]

6. From personal experience, yes

my daugher's ex-boyfriend, seventeen at the time, had to restrain his bipolar + other diagnoses when he took off his clothes and lay naked in the street. He was held at a local jail for three months without speaking. He was an entertainer and had no insurance. Fortunately, he had dual American/Canadian citizenship and his sister was eventually able to come and get him and take him to Canada.

So much damage without his meds, which he did purchase on his own, that he was in a mental institution in Canada for almost a year, but is now making great progress in a halfway house.

Yea, it's quite a system we have.

[razors edge]

7. But we can

kick them out on the street, prescribe an anti-depressant, and say we did our best.

What more could we do?:sarcasm:

[I_Make_Mistakes]

8. PBS did a special on this. I can't remember the name of the

program, but IIRC, it was a Frontline piece. It was really interesting and came to the same conclusion as you did. It really is a sad state of affairs.

On edit: The thing that was the most disturbing to me about this report was that, if they were able to get it together with the meds., when they were released, they were given less then 2 weeks worth to sustain them. Then with no income, assistance (too short of time to even get in the system), many reverted back to the same behavior that landed them in jail.

Someone should do a report on the savings that society would incur by providing the meds., vs. the cost of incarceration(s), like NOW did with the homeless program they aired recently.

[jwirr]

9. One of the Democratic candidates in 2006 was a former counselor

in the state hospital that was closed down some years ago. He said the same thing but he also included many of the homeless in his statement. Although mental institutes often had people who did not belong in an institution they also offered a haven for others. It is a medical/economic decision to only keep patients until they are stabilized, no more long term housing. When they simply dumped people out of the institutions in the 60s & 70s and stopped caring for patients on a long term basis it resulted in homelessness which in turn probably contributed to more prisoners.

One of the basic reasons for this mess is that when the mentally ill patients were released the local communities ignored them instead of building an infrastructure that would have given them the services (housing, counseling, therapy) they needed.

It was the direct opposite when persons with developmental disabilities were brought back to the community. This was because the parents of this group became advocates and communities learned to love them. Today most states have community based services that address every aspect of their life and they are well cared for - an integrated part of the community.

The problem is that my mentally ill brother is not as appealing to the community as my beautiful daughter with her wonderful smile and loving ways. It is our attitudes that cause the terrible neglect that is happening all across the country to the mentally ill.

[I_Make_Mistakes]

11. There's hope. NOW recently did a report on a homeless program

that assists people with serious problems. It is on their website, you can watch, I recommend if you have hi-speed internet service (if not the have audio) , cause I really liked the main man they followed.

[Horse with no Name]

10. Three word response to that.

Thank you Reagan.:sarcasm:

[NMMNG]

12. There are millions of people in prison who have mental illnesses

About one in six prisoners in the US has a mental illness (source). They get either no treatment or very inadequate treatment there and are often subject to abuse. In many cases they wouldn't even be in prison if they got appropriate treament on the outside.

It's shameful that these individuals don't get the treatment they need, but in this For Profit nation, if you don't have the money you don't get what you need. Perhaps that's why they end up in prisons--which are often run for profit these days--instead of being treated to prevent that. :shrug:

[I_Make_Mistakes]

13. Things are slowly changing. I watched the Frontline story

entitled "The New Asylums", looked it up for you guys about mental health issues and the prison system. The criminal system in some cases, is well aware of the mental illness in the general prison population. This show details an Ohio system, but recently I had the occasion to deal with the PA. system and they too understand the mental health issue.

I know personally, they (The System)are trying to help someone with their issues (mentally), by requiring a Psychiatric review of their problems and treatment specifications. In this case, the person has been in treatment at one of the best, if not the best facility in the country, and another time a very reputable treatment center, not everyone with a problem accepts the help that is offered to them.

In this case, I welcome the help, because family members have no authority, How do you prove that someone is a danger to themselves or others? In this case, the person is both!

We have tried, the System can require individuals to not only seek treatment, but to accept it.

This person was involved in an assault arrest, not innocent by any means. I love this person, but have no ability to help them, they don't want their situation to change.