More Mental Health facilities need to be built as opposed to jails - what are your thoughs?

For the recod, jails and prisons are devoting more and more resources to provide services to those with mental health issues.
Fact: mental health crisis is skyrocketing.
Opinion: mental health deficit among inmates has been slow to be recognized, is now being acknowledged and has overwhelmed the system.

A maximum security facility that I worked at in the 90s has now been reserved for mostly mental health and other health related inmate commits.
 
Nathan said:
For the recod, jails and prisons are devoting more and more resources to provide services to those with mental health issues.
Fact: mental health crisis is skyrocketing.
Opinion: mental health deficit among inmates has been slow to be recognized, is now being acknowledged and has overwhelmed the system.

A maximum security facility that I worked at in the 90s has now been reserved for mostly mental health and other health related inmate commits.
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That's good to know. But there needs to be more mental health facilities. When you are in jail/prison - you are still locked up and very few recognize and have mental health services.. jmo. I know a few people that was in jail/prison with MH issues.
 
I suppose it depends on whether you want to punish people or repair people.

IMO incarceration is inappropriate for all but the most violent or deviant offenders.

The focus for the majority of criminals should be rehabilitation, education, and coping skills/impulse control that will allow a person to be a productive part of society.

Mental health care and emotional support should be a part of that rehabilitation process.
 
As a Certified Psychiatric Nurse, I used to work at a "mental facility", which is now closed. It was not the hell hole of the 1930s and 40s, that you see on TV. The patients were there because they needed to be there. Their diagnoses would not let them function, on the outside, without significant harm to themselves, and others. It was a cynical, cost cutting idea that they could function in a group home. Most of my pts. landed in jail. It's a hell of a lot cheaper to keep a psych pt, in jail, than in a hospital In jail, you don't have to worry about "patient's rights", maintaining "hospital standards", nor even providing therapies and treatments. You throw them in a cage, maybe give them meds, but you forget about them.
 
Ladybj said:
That's good to know. But there needs to be more mental health facilities. When you are in jail/prison - you are still locked up and very few recognize and have mental health services.. jmo. I know a few people that was in jail/prison with MH issues.
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Well I agree, but back in the '80s it was apparently seen as 'too expensive', so the powers that be pushed the notion that the whole mental health system was an infringement on individual's constitutional freedoms. Incarceration was the only avenue left for dealing with mentally ill.
 
Nathan said:
Well I agree, but back in the '80s it was apparently seen as 'too expensive', so the powers that be pushed the notion that the whole mental health system was an infringement on individual's constitutional freedoms. Incarceration was the only avenue left for dealing with mentally ill.
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And that's when the homeless problem started escalating exponentially, compounded by the number of middle class people who lost their homes due to economy issues. (Including credit traps, addiction to buying the 'latest' everything. i was a single Mom most of the 80's, older sister would pass on the magazines she bought to me. The Women's mags were full of articles about how to 'tighten' your belt in terms of rampant consumerism and get thru the tough times. Had to laugh--- that was how i, & probably millions of others were already living.)

Clearly they weren't figuring in the costs of reducing MH facilities in terms of impact on society. Even some people who have schizoid breaks in late teens or early 20s can with treatment recover and never have another break. But jail--likely to get stuck in that mode.
 
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"He's Crazy!"
A statement that does not condemn or exonerate, merely explains why he is in a jail cell-which is no explanation at all.
 
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When I was a younger, there were facilities..."insane asylums"...that always seemed to be quite full of "patients". Somewhere along the line, it became politically incorrect to label people as such, and most of those facilities closed. The number of people needing mental health treatment continues to climb, but they either wind up in jail, or homeless on the streets. This does not bode well for a civilized society.
 
Agree with OP however it is also true that a few mentally ill criminals are so dangerous to the rest of society that they ought be locked up permanently unless they can genuinely prove they've changed. It is also true that some that abuse drugs, commit property crimes to support their habits, and repeatedly go through mental health services to little effect ought to somehow be separated from the rest of us as long as they continue to choose so.
 
That's all we need... a mental health industrial complex! More opportunity for corporate profits! There would be so much corruption in these mental health facilities, it wouldn't be funny. Remember when they used to call them "funny farms?"

They could accomplish the same thing by using part of the prison system to treat the mentally ill, just like they (the government) could create a branch of the police department to deal with the mentally ill.

The problem with psychology is, it's not an exact science. You can't (yet) look at a medical scan and diagnose a mental patient based on scientific research. It's all too subjective.
 
The unbuildable gulch behind my work place has homeless people living in it when it's not full of water and they are also next door on a vacant lot. I heard a man ranting, shouting and cursing. Co-workers stated it went on for days. I don't know if someone called (there are houses across the gulch) or he moved on. He was clearly in a psychotic state. No one can care for themselves like that. He needed inpatient. If he wanted it or not.

So many variables from the schizophrenics to the severe personality disorders who can't hold a job. I don't know what the solution is. My town has a big homeless population and it's on the evening news a lot. Also I've heard people talk about living in the homeless shelter.
 
Nathan said:
Well I agree, but back in the '80s it was apparently seen as 'too expensive', so the powers that be pushed the notion that the whole mental health system was an infringement on individual's constitutional freedoms. Incarceration was the only avenue left for dealing with mentally ill.
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Now that NFL players are speaking about their Mental Health issues it will get more attention...I hope so.
 
Aunt Bea said:
I suppose it depends on whether you want to punish people or repair people.

IMO incarceration is inappropriate for all but the most violent or deviant offenders.

The focus for the majority of criminals should be rehabilitation, education, and coping skills/impulse control that will allow a person to be a productive part of society.

Mental health care and emotional support should be a part of that rehabilitation process.
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Yes very true Bea. It takes a compassionate person to see that.
 
David777 said:
Agree with OP however it is also true that a few mentally ill criminals are so dangerous to the rest of society that they ought be locked up permanently unless they can genuinely prove they've changed. It is also true that some that abuse drugs, commit property crimes to support their habits, and repeatedly go through mental health services to little effect ought to somehow be separated from the rest of us as long as they continue to choose so.
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I agree. For those, it may be a lost cause. It's like you have an illness and you go to the doctor and have all sorts of test. They tell you there is nothing we can do. Not sure if that is a good example because I feel there is ALWAYS a way and no one is a lost cause.
 
Remy said:
The unbuildable gulch behind my work place has homeless people living in it when it's not full of water and they are also next door on a vacant lot. I heard a man ranting, shouting and cursing. Co-workers stated it went on for days. I don't know if someone called (there are houses across the gulch) or he moved on. He was clearly in a psychotic state. No one can care for themselves like that. He needed inpatient. If he wanted it or not.

So many variables from the schizophrenics to the severe personality disorders who can't hold a job. I don't know what the solution is. My town has a big homeless population and it's on the evening news a lot. Also I've heard people talk about living in the homeless shelter.
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Maybe communes are the answer. A lot of homeless people simply can't afford a place to live. They work some menial job, but it's not enough to pay rent on an apartment, so they're forced to sleep in their vehicles. I see campers parked in the Walmart parking lot every time I go there that might have people living in them. There are some people living in an SUV near the park down the road. People like that could benefit from communal living where they could perform some tasks around the commune to pay for their housing and then work their jobs until they can afford an apartment, or they could get a degree or learn marketable skills while living at the commune and have a career or trade.

Then there are the people who have serious mental illness that prevents them from holding down a job. Many of them could still contribute to the commune — perhaps not in a traditional 9 to 5 sense, but in other ways that could have therapeutic value and help them overcome their issues. Surely it would be healthier than living on the streets.
 

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