Bring back asylums - interesting perspectives

[Pablo]

To judge a society, you simply look at how it treats its weakest members.

To have a society fall you treat fakers the same as the weakest members.

 

[JeffKeryk]

As I've expressed in other threads, I'm not a high empathy individual (quite the opposite), I'd probably best describe myself as empathy challenged. But I am extremely technical and analytical and I understand cruelty and what we are doing is cruel. This is pandered under the guise of compassion by narcissists that want to appear to be noble and virtuous but are in fact destroying the very people they claim to be advocating for by not only allowing, but enabling their self-destruction.

Solution requires empathy and understanding (or even not understanding) coupled with a resolve to change. The resolve starts small, but grows. Growth is the gift.
We didn't get this way overnight and we will not change overnight.
The beauty is, you will meet many incredible people along the way. I was amazed before I was half way through.

 

[Vercingetorix]

If institutions were as profitable as developing drugs, there would be institutions on every corner like drug stores.

 

[Cheetah-kins]

I haven't read this entire thread but wanted to add my two cents to the discussion. I agree that letting mentally ill people live in society freely was a mistake, from day one. We sure haven't done society or the mentally ill any favors by doing this. Now our prisons and jails are filled with people who have reached their final destination - a place that is not equipped or funded to help them. They're unhappy and society bears the huge cost of incarceration and police resources. It's a sad situation with no easy solutions unfortunately - believing people who are very sick are gonna be able to medicate themselves and somehow survive in the world is a total fairytale fantasy, imo.

 

[ctechbob]

I haven't read this entire thread but wanted to add my two cents to the discussion. I agree that letting mentally ill people live in society freely was a mistake, from day one. We sure haven't done society or the mentally ill any favors by doing this. Now our prisons and jails are filled with people who have reached their final destination - a place that is not equipped or funded to help them. They're unhappy and society bears the huge cost of incarceration and police resources. It's a sad situation with no easy solutions unfortunately - believing people who are very sick are gonna be able to medicate themselves and somehow survive in the world is a total fairytale fantasy, imo.

It's actually even a bit worse than that.

I can think of several homeless/mentally challenged people that we deal with that fit the following.

Out on the streets acting crazy in one of our cities.

City cops pick them up on some minor city charge, instead of a state charge (I'll explain the important distinction below). Be that for 'stats' or for being seen to 'clean up the streets'

In their unmedicated state they come to jail and are usually hard to deal with, now putting my officers at risk every time we have to put hands on them.

Most of them will end up on their medications and aren't a problem from there on out. Problem is, being city charges, they're released fairly quickly, usually within a couple of weeks.

Back out on the streets after a few weeks and just barely through detox or to the point their medications take effect, in a couple of weeks, they offend again and the process repeats. That particular 'city' system isn't even set up to better the person in any way, but the towns/cities like to tell their citizens that they're doing a good job. After enough of these trips, they might be sentenced to a couple of months, but that is still without mandated mental treatments, although they generally will be detoxed by the time they get out.

Every single trip to jail is more time, more money, and more resources involved. Especially since they have to go through the whole health intake process every time, which involves being seen by the jail health people. Far more work than if the person was just in jail for the whole 6 months rather than 6 separate trips in and out.

---City vs State Charges---

Cities, can't, won't, or don't sentence people to rehab or some form of mental health treatment. They usually only impose a fine and some minor jail time and they're back out on the street. State courts have more power to mandate mental/drug treatment, or at least offer options to the people.

 

[K-Man]

Valid points. I like how the state of Montana has a verdict of "Guilty but insane" instead of "Not guilty by reason of insanity."

Lots of people in prison have characteristics of mentally illness but prison is still probably the most appropriate to keep them.

Montana and some other states did away with the "not guilty by reason of insanity" verdict after John Hinckley received that verdict for shooting President Reagan and others in 1981. Hinckley's case and outcome caused a big uproar. But he was in custody or under court control for decades; he didn't get released just after the verdict. He did not receive unconditional release until 2022, 40 years after his crimes.

A large proportion of prison inmates were on psychotropic drugs when I was a state correctional officer.

Some cop and detective dramas in the 1970s, rather stupidly, had portrayed defendants walking out of court a free person after that verdict. That was inaccurate (to say the least), but added fuel to the fire. Goes to show just how many people take TV shows far too seriously. The fear that a defendant could walk free after that verdict led a Virginia jury in 2016 to find a man guilty who had killed a state trooper, instead of not guilty by reason of insanity. The defendant had reportedly had serious mental issues. At least he's off the street, serving life without parole.