Prisons have now become de facto housing for the mentally ill

[Cali_Democrat]

Trend Persists Of Prisons As Mental Health Housing
AP | by DON THOMPSON
Posted: 04/15/2014 8:27 am EDT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A federal judge's objection to what he called the horrific treatment of some mentally ill inmates in California prisons highlights a trend that has been building for decades in the state and across the country: As mental hospitals closed or were scaled back, prisons and county jails have become the de facto housing for many who are mentally ill.

The state is struggling to deal with more than 33,000 mentally ill inmates, accounting for more than a quarter of the population of 120,000 in California's major prisons. By comparison, California's five state psychiatric hospitals combined now serve fewer than 6,000 patients.

Nationwide, 10 times more seriously mentally ill individuals are in state prisons and jails than in state mental hospitals, the Arlington, Va.-based Treatment Advocacy Center and the National Sheriffs' Association said last week in what it called the first national study of how mentally ill inmates receive treatment. It estimated there are 356,000 mentally ill inmates nationwide, compared with 35,000 patients in public mental hospitals.

"Prison and jail officials are being asked to assume responsibility for the nation's most seriously mentally ill individuals, despite the fact that the officials did not sign up to do this job; are not trained to do it; face severe legal restrictions in their ability to provide treatment for such individuals; and yet are held responsible when things go wrong, as they inevitably do under such circumstances," the study said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/15/prisons-mental-heath_n_5152099.html?utm_hp_ref=crime

[agbdf]

1. This is an outrage

The mentally ill in our society are one of the most voiceless and therefore most abused groups. Do to overcrowding in state mental facilities they are often stabilized on medications then quickly released without any further follow up. Prisons are not the appropriate place for the vast majority of those who suffer from mental illness. We need to spend the money needed to effectively treat these people and not store them in prisons and other similar facilities.

[Cali_Democrat]

2. Well said. nt

[agbdf]

3. Hi and thank you!

Thank you for your comment. I believe, one day, after we fix the problem, we will look back in shame with regard to our abusive treatment of the mentally ill.