Don't Get Arrested Or Become Mentally Ill "Carceral America"

[icenine]

http://theweek.com/articles/540725/h...-investigation

[bobabode]

Sickening.

[donquixote99]

Among the aspects of our society that are crying out for reform.

[icenine]

I thought the per capita rates of jail incarceration in the USA compared to some other countries was shocking.

[Boreas]

"A huge fraction of those people end up in jails or prisons. More than 40 percent of people with a serious mental illness have been arrested at some point. A 2006 study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that 64 percent of jail inmates have some kind of mental illness. Roughly 20 percent have a serious mental illness, like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression. That makes almost 150,000 such people in jail, more than four times as many as in state hospitals."

Man, this is one fucked up country!

[merrylander]

^^^Glad you said it and not me.

[bobabode]

Originally Posted by merrylander

^^^Glad you said it and not me.

Why?

Rob, you're a better American than most native born, no offense intended.

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by bobabode

Why?

Rob, you're a better American than most native born, no offense intended.

Perhaps but despite being a sanforized citizen with all the rights and responsibilities that entails my suggestions often go over like the proverbial balloon.

[Ike Bana]

Our health care system is almost as fucked-up as our criminal justice system.

BTW - it all depends on what the psychotropic medication is. One cannot kill oneself with today's SSRI/SNRI anti-depressant medications. It's why they're so effective and miraculous. (The same holds true for the newer atypical-antipsychotic meds like Abilify, Zyprexa, Risperdol, Serquel.) With the old tricyclic anti-depressants if you take a week or two worth and they can't pump your stomach in time, you're dead. I read a report one time of a guy who took his whole month's supply of Prozac at one time. He woke up the next morning with a headache. So taking somebody's anti-depressants away is bullshit.

If somebody is a diabetic or has a heart condition that requires medication, they get their meds every day. It's just more bullshit treatment of people with mental health disorders.

[icenine]

I remember the 60 Minutes episode that said that hospitals do not get insurance money to reserve rooms for mentally ill patients, so that once an acute attack of a mental disorder is over the patient is released....without the necessary hospitilization. Downside is that once they are at home they can become 5150s all over again and kill a family member, which has happened.