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Jails Struggle with Role as Makeshift Asylums

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posted on Jul, 14 2014 @ 05:39 AM
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Mental health care in the united states is a joke.

You see them all the time, typically homeless, walking around no help given unless they do something that catches the cops attention.

Then, usually it's a stint in jail and back out on the street. Wash rinse repeat.

Granted the asylum often was just a place for these poor individuals to be brutalized. But is jail any better? No care, no treatment, just a place for these people to go when they go off their meds.

I know a man I'll call "Flip", he has an obviously serious disorder, if he isn't squinting at the sky in a serious religious debate with an unseen opponent, he surrounds himself with several books which he will pick up and flip through. His favorite being a bible which because if the thin pages flips faster. He's usually harmless, unless his books are disturbed, then unfortunately he becomes irate, and combative. He's been put in jail multiple times for these episodes.

Isn't there a better solution? Should our society re-examine the idea of an asylum for these individuals like Flip? Or is that a door we don't want to open again?



posted on Jul, 14 2014 @ 06:36 AM
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After being arrested on a misdemeanor charge following a family dispute last year, Jose Bautista was unable to post $250 bail and ended up in a jail cell on Rikers Island.

A few days later, he tore his underwear, looped it around his neck and tried to hang himself from the cell’s highest bar. Four correction officers rushed in and cut him down. But instead of notifying medical personnel, they handcuffed Mr. Bautista, forced him to lie face down on the cell floor and began punching him with such force, according to New York City investigators, that he suffered a perforated bowel and needed emergency surgery.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.


mobile.nytimes.com...

Further reading, this is not an easy subject. Is there a solution?



posted on Jul, 14 2014 @ 06:58 AM
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This so sad and not a solution. These people need treatment for their disorders, not prison!!!!!



posted on Jul, 14 2014 @ 07:17 AM
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a reply to: HauntWok

I've gotten to know quite a few folks similar to flip. It is very sad that jail and not care are given to these very wonderful people. It is difficult not to say that its ok the lack of care they receive, but it is difficult to care for people in a healthy way who are further out of the 'norm'. Often times any kind of restriction on them like societal norms causes disruption and they act out.

But thats within our very broken system. Is there a better way? Yes but it is in communities where everyone is known and can cooperatively care for the broken. Where everyone knows not to touch Flip's books.

Call me idealistic, but for me the only answer to these questions is Commune-i-ties. No hierarchy needed. One day people will remember that we are all one, and we won't have to worry about government funding for___________.

Love One Another



posted on Jul, 14 2014 @ 09:43 AM
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It's a sad reality. What can we do about it, though?



posted on Jul, 14 2014 @ 10:26 AM
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a reply to: AfterInfinity

I honestly don't know. Is there a solution? These people aren't really criminals, they slip through the cracks in the system.

Flip isn't dangerous unless you disturb his books. He just has an illness. There are others, they have a wide range of problems, with no one that really cares enough to be their advocate.



posted on Jul, 14 2014 @ 11:31 AM
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originally posted by: HauntWok
a reply to: AfterInfinity

I honestly don't know. Is there a solution? These people aren't really criminals, they slip through the cracks in the system.

Flip isn't dangerous unless you disturb his books. He just has an illness. There are others, they have a wide range of problems, with no one that really cares enough to be their advocate.


There's really nothing we can do without a serious overhaul, the kind of overhaul the government has always been reluctant to make without the entirety of our nation screaming for blood.



posted on Jul, 14 2014 @ 11:42 AM
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a reply to: AfterInfinity

It's almost hard to blame them really. Asylums were pretty awful back in the day.

An overhaul is needed, obviously, these people need help not jail.

But the current model of drugging then releasing them just to live on the street doesn't work either.
edit on 14-7-2014 by HauntWok because: (no reason given)



posted on Jul, 14 2014 @ 01:12 PM
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a reply to: AfterInfinity

L.O.A.

Love One Another

This is the Kingdom of God



posted on Jul, 29 2014 @ 12:46 PM
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originally posted by: zardust
a reply to: AfterInfinity

L.O.A.

Love One Another

This is the Kingdom of God


And that response is exactly how the TPTB keep power and wield it mercilessly. It's Fool's Gold. It's a grand idea that will never be realized.

I agree with you in part, it has it's place. Love is powerful and important, in fact most people don't even know true love. But the current iteration of society is corrupted beyond belief. Love and LOA truly are Fool's Gold at this point. I don't say this to be mean, I say this as a realist.



posted on Jul, 29 2014 @ 12:58 PM
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There's no solution.

Current revolving door criminal treatment obviously isnt working.
The institutions of old obviously werent working.
God forbid anybody suggest facilities or hospitals in any fashion today or they'll be shouted down as "asylums."

So on the streets they go.

Maybe if enough people grow up and can have an adult conversation about proper modern campus style "institutions" they could get some help.

Until then, they're on the streets. Or you could let one or two into your house.



posted on Jul, 29 2014 @ 01:13 PM
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originally posted by: HauntWok
Mental health care in the united states is a joke.

You see them all the time, typically homeless, walking around no help given unless they do something that catches the cops attention.

Then, usually it's a stint in jail and back out on the street. Wash rinse repeat.


Couldn't you say the same thing about drug addiction in the US as well?



posted on Jul, 29 2014 @ 01:18 PM
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Not only America. That's happening in Canada too. They have no place to put them so they ship them to prison. Prisons are not trained to help these people. Absolutely unqualified. I could tell you some extremely saddening stories.



posted on Jul, 29 2014 @ 08:51 PM
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originally posted by: WCmutant

originally posted by: zardust
a reply to: AfterInfinity

L.O.A.

Love One Another

This is the Kingdom of God


And that response is exactly how the TPTB keep power and wield it mercilessly. It's Fool's Gold. It's a grand idea that will never be realized.

I agree with you in part, it has it's place. Love is powerful and important, in fact most people don't even know true love. But the current iteration of society is corrupted beyond belief. Love and LOA truly are Fool's Gold at this point. I don't say this to be mean, I say this as a realist.


I agree this is not a (current) realistic view. But that won't stop me from striving toward it. You are right that most people have no clue what real love is. And that is the problem.

It is foolish to the current viewpoint of humanity, but I would disagree that my view is what keeps TPTB in power, but it is your view that we cannot win through love. I believe it is the only way. What other choice do we have? Everyone everywhere is about to erupt. People are at the breaking point. What do we do, dive headlong into the dystopic future??

Nay. The vast majority of people long for real love. They have no clue what its about, and when they get a dose its like waking the dead.

Shalom



posted on Jul, 29 2014 @ 09:04 PM
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The courts send them to us all the time. We do have mental health units and we do have many programs designed to help and treat them but eventually they are released. Without support outside prison walls they quickly decompensate and end up with us again. It's extremely frustrating. Some would be okay if there were something like half-way houses, group homes or something that provided structure and treatment but without that......well here we go again.







 
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