The AP (7/18, Elliott, Riccardi) reported, “Experts say prisons are ill-equipped to treat the growing number of inmates with mental illnesses.” Unfortunately, “the incarceration of mentally ill inmates in jails and prisons has been a persistent national problem since the widespread closure of mental hospitals in the 1970s.” No “local community care system to handle the newly released” people with mental illnesses ever “materialized, and now they often end up behind bars.” While “the Constitution entitles them to basic medical treatment, said Dr. Renee Binder, president of the American Psychiatric Association…it’s often hard to meet that standard.” The AP added, “The APA and other groups are pushing for more programs to keep the mentally ill out of prison initially – be those special courts or local treatment.”
Related Links:
— “Holmes will join many other mentally ill inmates in prison,” Dan Elliot and Nicholas Riccardi, Associated Press, July 17, 2015.