Sheriff names psychologist to head Cook County Jail

[mopinko]

Source: wgn tv

CHICAGO — Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has picked a clinical psychologist to serve as head of the Cook County Jail.

Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia will become executive director of the jail later this month.

Tapia joined the sheriff’s office in 2013 and has been overseeing mental health strategy.

Dart says 25%-35% of the inmates suffer from mental illness and the percentage has grown in recent years as the number of mental health facilities has fallen.

Read more: http://wgntv.com/2015/05/19/sheriff-names-psychologist-to-head-cook-county-jail/

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posting this to show what it means to have real dems in control. cook county government is truly progressive these days.
tom dart is a good man in a nasty job. he does everything he can to make the jail more humane.
down ticket races are where the rubber meets the road.

[mucifer]

1. Dart is very popular. I wish he had run for mayor.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

2. "So how do you feel about being in jail?"

[mopinko]

4. ftr, he has also pushed hard for the decriminalization of pot.

and for justice for those who are in jail because they are poor.
he really works to find ways to respect the humanity of those in his charge. he never turns away people who have good ideas, and can help him make life better while people are there.
he has expanded educational opportunities, and career assistance and training.
he has ever brought gardening and chicken keeping to the jail.

folks here might remember that he refused to do foreclosure evictions when it became clear that banks were forging documents.

like i said, sucky job, but a good man. doing it the way most of us here think it should be done.

[etherealtruth]

21. Jails and prisons have an inordinate amount of people suffering from serious mental illness

i know your response was 'tongue in cheek" ... but the issue of mental illness in these populations is very serious and this was an extraordinary move.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

23. A superb move.

Many sheriffs I know are happily surprised, especially those who toil at 26th and Cal.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. I heard Dart interviewed earlier, and...

what he basically said was that while jail is not the place for the mentally ill, as long as they're there he'll do the best he can for them.

And our shame is that that's about the best this country can do.

[jtuck004]

5. "that's about the best this country can do." < The best we -choose- to do. Because kitchens

with granite counters are so much more important. Apparently.

[Psephos]

6. Couldn't we have both?

I don't see the linkage.

I have Formica, btw.

[jtuck004]

7. Ok, I'll work on feeding everyone. You can work on decorating their kitchens. If they have one. n/t

[Psephos]

9. I don't decorate kitchens.

I can say that my work has a direct and lasting impact on the health and happiness of a lot of people.

I still don't understand where you get the idea we must trade countertops for taking care of those in need. Doesn't seem zero-sum to me.

[jtuck004]

10. I gave you a suggestion. Take it, or don't, waste another's time. n/t

[Psephos]

14. "Shut up, he explained." :) n/t

[phil89]

29. He's talking about

priorities. Not hard to understand.

[Psephos]

33. What's hard to understand...

...is how anyone could think we can't have multiple priorities.

You know, just as everyone already has in Real Life(tm).

[47of74]

8. They need to clone Tom Dart

And make these clones sheriff in a lot more places, such as one Maricopa County in Arizona.

[mopinko]

11. works for me.

cook county is a great place to live.

[cbayer]

12. Brilliant! I hope she can create a program that sets the standard for

facilities across the country.

[mopinko]

13. i suspect she will. when it comes to touting our accomplishments

we are still the windy city.

[libdem4life]

15. That situation, Post-Reagan, says it all. There's one more Big Reason to let the ME do its own thing

and begin to replace our Empire of the Globe with another WPA for Americans. That is what we need. Many mental patients did not start out that way. And most families can only support them to a certain point...if at all.

But only a Democratic Socialist can or would start that process, because it's expanding the "government reach" for social/worker/middle-low class benefit. (I want to say caste, because that's really what is happening...we just put it into nifty percentages.)

[Sgt Preston]

16. Not necessarily a good thing.

After watching the Frontline show on the role of professional psychologists in developing CIA sponsored torture techniques, I am not entirely sure that it's always a good idea to involve psychologists in controlling prisoners.

Watch it here:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/secrets-politics-and-torture/

[mopinko]

17. its not about controlling them.

it about getting them out and keeping them out of jail.

the thing about the county jail is that you never know how long someone it going to be there. some sit for years as their legal cases drag on, and some come and go in a day.
but the county recognizes their "frequent flyers" and focuses on them as much as possible. but since they are often there a short time, it is really hard to help them. they might get a months worth of meds when they check out. but there is often no follow up once they are released.

this is really what dart is trying to do. get them integrated into other county services to help them straighten their lives out.

[Sgt Preston]

18. That's controlling them.

"Straightening out their lives" is controlling them

[mopinko]

19. that's just absurd.

keeping them out of jail is controlling their lives?
mmmmkay.

[Sgt Preston]

20. What is "absurd" about it?

Conditioning prisoners to conform to society's norms is controlling their lives. So is shooting a laser into the amygdala of a prison "volunteer" to zap out violent tendencies, as the psychs have done for years at Vacaville. CA. It may be socially useful, but it is nevertheless a form of social control.

You are welcome to disagree, but you need to give a reason. Just calling something "absurd" doesn't refute it.

[mopinko]

27. treating mental illness is not "conditioning to conform"

it's giving people back control of their lives. and again, this is not about controlling them in jail. it is about getting them out and keeping them out. many mentally ill end up in jail because they dont have a support system, and they dont have proper medical care for anything, much less mental illness.
and it is the same folks, over and over. they call them frequent flyers. stopping that cycle is what this is about.

cook county has made great strides in getting more and better health care to the poor here. they started their own hmo through the aca, a year early through a waiver. for the first time in memory cook county hospital had more insured patients than uninsured.

just what is it you think mental illness is?

[madokie]

22. Sounds like Dart would be good anywhere he is

http://www.cookcountysheriff.org/sheriffs_bio/sheriff_bio.html

Good people are good people and this man is a good man
it lifts my spirits to read about him, thanks Mo'

[ChairmanAgnostic]

24. Arapio's replacement? Be still my heart.

[madokie]

25. What a contrast between those two

Man o man

[ChairmanAgnostic]

26. No kidding. I think it has to do with too much sun.

[madokie]

30. Some people are just born

Assholes, some aren't. We know which one is which too

[mopinko]

28. we have a lot of awesome folks running cook county.

the days when the pres of the cook county board woke up one morning and decided cook county hospital wasnt going to do abortions any more are loooooong gone and dead.

it is so good to be blue.

eta, patiently waiting for his kids to grow up so he can run for higher office.

[madokie]

31. Yes he would be good in our congress

Hell, even in the oval office.
For the most part we Dems have a lot of good people in our Party. Sure there's a bad apple here and there but they're far between in comparisons to the 'CONs.

[mopinko]

32. no joke. and i think the worst of them

are in areas that are purple at best. i think you wind up riding a tiger in that situation.