Lawyers: Mentally ill need services, not prison
by Michelle Tuccitto Sullo
mtuccitto@nhregister.com
@nhrinvestigate on Twitter
Criminal defendants with mental illness who commit minor crimes are too often ending up behind bars, according to defense attorneys, who say there aren’t enough mental health services or in-patient beds available for them.
Supervisory Assistant Public Defender Bevin Salmon, who works at Superior Court on Elm Street in New Haven, where less serious criminal cases are handled, said it is frustrating to see his mentally ill clients incarcerated because there aren’t enough treatment spots for them.
“I’ve been doing this for about 13 years, and it has been a constant problem,” Salmon said. “Having more treatment options in the community is a good thing, instead of warehousing them in jail.”
Please see the remainder of the article published in West Hartford News at
http://www.westhartfordnews.com/articles/2015/05/01/news/doc55412c9311be7393399282.txt
Comment by MaryLovesJustice awaiting approval (slightly modified): Thank you for agreeing that mentally ill persons deserve treatment, not prisons and jails. Too many are tortured and killed (during lunacy arrests or behind bars) because they have a common, treatable health disability. Serious mental illness is a chronic condition like congestive heart failure or kidney disease, but society treats mental illness like a crime. In addition to decriminalizing mental illness immediately, America should compensate mentally ill people who have been damaged by the 14th century way that they were treated and also compensate families whose loved ones with mental illness and/or drug addictions were killed during lunacy arrests or behind bars after being denied treatment unless and until they proved, usually through violence, to be a danger to self and/or others. People in the community who were harmed or robbed by untreated mentally ill and addicted people should also be compensated. Compensation to persons who have been negatively impacted by discrimination against Americans with mental disabilities will be addressed in International Court in "AIMI vs. USA" as explained a thttp://AIMI-HumanRights.com
Denying treatment to sick Americans while bombing in other countries, purportedly for human rights, is ludicrous. Frankly, I think this is happening because our lawmakers, Justice Department personnel, judges, prosecutors, forensic lab technicians, law enforcement supervisors and officers, and others who serve the public in criminal justice are also prison investors, and the mentally ill comprise 1.25 million of the 2.3 million prisoners in America. To switch from punishment to treatment for mental illness would negatively impact decision makers' stock portfolios for those investing in private jails and prisons and vending companies that service them. Even probation has been privatized. Therefore, denying treatment, which leaves our communities less secure, increases crimes and opportunities to imprison sick people. Taxpayers save nothing and are more at risk by criminalizing mental illness, but it is a matter of who benefits financially: psychiatrists and social workers and psychologists and hospitals and clinics vs. private prisons and jails and probation companies plus the many companies that service same as well as companies that use prison laborers (at slave wages - little to nothing), which negatively impacts opportunities for employment for "free" Americans.
In a nutshell, I feel that the entire nation is doing what two Pennsylvania judges were indicted on RICO Act racketeering charges (and sentenced to prison) for doing. The judges reportedly withheld funds needed to upkeep public juvenile correctional facilities and channeled children into their co-conspirators' private jails for a huge profit (whether or not the children deserved incarceration). Incarceration had disastrous results for the children and their families. Prison investors in government positions withhold funds that are needed to have more mental hospitals, clinics, and drug treatment programs in order to channel mentally ill persons and drug addicts into prisons for the same reason that motivated the Pennsylvania judges who were incarcerated. If the nation is really serious about eliminating mass incarceration, the first step would be to demand that public officials who own prison stocks must divest themselves (and their spouses and children) of the stocks or resign. For public officials, especially lawmakers, judges, prosecutors, etc. to own prison stock is a conflict of interest, in my opinion. Thank you for your opinion on this matter. See the results of criminalizing mental illness in "Dog Justice for Mentally Ill" blog athttp://DogJusticeforMentallyIl... >>> Blessings.
As you read some of the articles in this blog, you will see individual cases where families are shattered as their vulnerable relatives are killed or become killers or suffer for decades in prisons (often in solitary confinement torture) for reason of untreated mental illness. Therefore, you are right to share this article and support AIMI vs. USA for those who have already suffered great wrongs and support improvements in the number of mental hospitals, community clinics, drug treatment programs, and assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) programs that offer subsistence assistance and mandated treatment for people with serious mental illness who exit jails and prisons or mental hospitals. AOT programs significantly reduce recidivism. Other needed changes include crisis intervention team (CIT) training for police officers and corrections officers and sensitivity training for the general public. All of these are included in H.R.3717, which is a bill before Congress now. The costs of these changes would be offset within a short time by the reduction in prison and jail costs and brutality and wrongful death lawsuits. It is time for America to come out of the Middle Ages regarding how this nation responds to serious mental illness.
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Thank you for giving Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill.
It would be illegal to keep a dog in a tight space 23 hours a day and gas or Taser him for barking. It would be illegal to put a dog in deadly restraint for control. That happens to mentally ill people routinely in the nation's correctional facilities. What happened to Larry Neal? Why are we still asking that question after nearly 12 years? Cover-ups regarding the wrongful deaths of mentally challenged inmates and free people in the USA are common and vile.
Mentally Ill People Deserve Dog Justice!
Mentally Ill Americans Need Dog Justice. Treat mental illness medically, not legally. Support the H.R. 3717 "Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act." The U.S. congressional bill provides for crisis intervention team (CIT) training for police and corrections officers, assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) programs (subsistence assistance plus mandated treatment) to stop recidivism, resumption of Medicaid insurance for certain facilities, and other needed changes. Support "AIMI vs. USA" to compensate mentally ill people and their families for health discrimination.
