State Prison

The New State Hospital for the Mentally ill Offenders

By David Spooner

I would like to start this article by saying, citizens of the State of California what is wrong with you? How can people be so cold and heartless to condemn the mentally ill to outlandish prison sentences? Instead, why not reopen the state hospital and treat the mentally ill instead of warehousing them? Stop subjecting them to cruel and unusual treatment by prison guards and other prison staff.

It’s a known fact that there are more mentally ill inmates in the state’s prisons than in the state hospitals. Does this make the citizens safer to lock them up and throw the key away? NO WAY!

Mental illness runs rampant in the USA and it gets no better. Take a trip to any skid row and watch the mentally ill who are homeless and desperate. You will find them digging through garbage cans because they are hungry, sleeping in the streets with a newspaper for a blanket and a cardboard box for a roof. They are cold, miserable and sick. They keep getting more ill until finally they become psychotic. Then they get arrested and put in jail. There, less than desirable psychiatric professionals deem them fit to stand trial.

Many prisoners are schizophrenics or have other severe disorders. Instead of a hospital they’re sent to prison where they are taken advantage of. Most are doing life for acts they had no control over, some have brain damage or worse.

Few in law enforcement are trained to understand mental illness. They only see the crime. Some psychosis is temporary, brought on by stress. Without treatment this type of illness can be extremely dangerous. But the courts seldom recognize that mental illness is not always constant, but can be sporadic as well. This is frequently not taken into consideration.

You do not have to be considered crazy or insane to have an insane moment when you lose touch with reality and are no longer responsible for your actions at the time of the crime. This is called temporary insanity or diminished capacity. It can happen to anyone including you or your parents, children, friends or neighbors. Does mental illness make you a bad person? NO! Mental illness is simply an illness no different then any other medical problem. It is merely an illness that affects the mind through chemical imbalances.

Mental illness can appear to come out of nowhere and cause great devastation. Mental illness cannot be swept under the carpet, even if the carpet is the Department of Corrections.

For example, a woman can commit murder due to postpartum depression. Does this make her a criminal? Certainly not! It makes her mentally ill. She should be treated in a hospital not in the prison psych unit.

Open the state hospitals again. Save sick people by building more state hospitals. Don’t incarcerate them for being mentally ill. One day you could be facing the penal crisis. Are you crazy? No? Are you sure? I didn’t think so either until someone lost their life and so did I.

What can you do about this? Write your legislator and demand that the plea of temporary insanity and diminished capacity be re-implemented!

The State of California has put thousands of mentally ill in prison for being sick. Please help stop the insanity! Send the mentally ill to the state hospitals where we belong. Don’t make the mentally ill rot in prison any longer. It is not justice to put sick people away; it is a crime against humanity!

Open your hearts; stop listening to the political BS. Politicians have no knowledge of mental illness. They will tell you anything to get you to vote for them.

Not everyone in prison is mentally ill. Some are pure evil and deserve to be in prison, but not the mentally ill. Sure, some will get past the doctor who evaluates them. It’s easy time they think. Do not think of it like this. The few who beat the system do not make it long in mental hospitals. Most psychiatric professionals are not stupid and can pick a person who is playing the role after some observation and that is when they are weeded out so the ones who need the treatment receive it.

Change must come! We cannot afford to let politicians play games with out lives. Don’t say it cannot happen to you. It can! If you don’t believe me write to the American Psychiatric Association or any advocacy group for the mentally ill. Educate yourself! The next mentally ill person to go to prison could be a loved one or even you. Think about it. Demand a vote. It’s time to stop this political insanity.

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