Has anyone watched on "60 minutes" the story of the mentally

[question everything]

challenged prisoner dying of dehydration?

I know that in the 60s or 70s many mental patients were "set free" only to be homeless or to commit petty crimes and ended up in prison.

They do not belong in prisons. They do not belong in the streets and they do not deserve a life of "one flew over the Cuckoo's nest."

I hope that the next President will have someone in HHS paying attention to the problem of mental illness. Not just to talk about it but to actually do something about it.

[hlthe2b]

1. Hard to pick among the horrifying aspects of that story...

But Lord a mighty, that woman Director of Corrections was a frightening witch--smiling when asked about whether their measures might amount to torture.... I'm betting there will be tremendous blowback after this interview--as well there should. Good God what can we do to stop this monstrous behavior and attitudes towards human life?

[kurth]

5. Jennifer Granholm ought to fire her

[nedbal]

8. A STRONG SECOND TO THAT,

[DKRC]

10. I pointed out her struggling not to smile at inappropriate times to my daughter!

She really needs to be removed from her position. She could hardly keep a smirk off her face at the comment - "they don't come to you dying of starvation and thirst...".
:scared::scared::scared:
Creepifying.

[midnight]

2. There is a better way. It involves getting the gready guts

to give some resources to the part of the population.

[MaggieSwanson]

3. That was a horrifying report.

The video of that young man collapsing - the apathy that he was met with in the "correctional" facility, the chaining to the bed and other indignities - it was brutal to watch.

I hope that by airing the program, 60 minutes helps the issue gain some visibility. Mental illness in our prisons is a topic that makes people want to avert their eyes and change the subject.

I think our Congress ought to address it.

[TheMadMonk]

11. Yeah right! Fat chance of anything happening any time soon.

There are naff all votes amongst those who most desperately need services. And providing those services would absolutely require directing a whole shitload of cash away from special interest sectors where votes can be bought.

[question everything]

17. Unless you can scare those special interests

with close encounter with mentally ill people who are on the streets, who manage to stay out of jail.

[SoCalDemGrrl]

4. Shocking!!

[BlueJazz]

6. It was..well...just SO Depressing....I think we should cheer up and ...

...Have Fun!!

[NJCher]

7. all I could think of

Is we have become the old Soviet Union.



Cher

[rebel with a cause]

9. Let me put this in too many words like I always do

1)I remember when the mental hospitals closed, I was living in NYC and the streets became crowded with mentally ill homeless people almost overnight.

2)this boy's crime (?) did not warrant a prison term in the first place

3) our prisons have become big business since being privatized and people that should never be sent there (including the mentally ill, drug users, and many other first time/non-violent offenders) are being used as human capital for that big business.

4) Prison guards need to be somewhat callous and skeptical when dealing with dangerous criminals, that is why this is not an environment for those who are not dangerous or criminals.

5) there should always be medical, psychiatric, and counseling staff on hand to deal with prisoners who have problems such as this. Especially for those who refuse food and water. (Or who cut out their eyes and organs. ugh!)

6) Accountability should always be necessary for these prisons to continue receiving funding from the government.

7) So many other things to be considered that it would take us all night to list them.

[question everything]

18. Is there anyone in the top leadership - of either party

who even cares about the mentally ill? I know that Tipper Gore did, and, I think, Iowa's Harkin.

Yes, the war in Iraq is important, but have we made it too easy for our leaders to ignore other issues?

Perhaps Edwards can incorporate this issue into his "two Americas."

[WinkyDink]

12. One word: REAGAN., "While California's governor, Reagan began shutting down hospital wards

but offered the mentally ill no shelter but the streets. He repeated this disconnect as President, a move that led to the present cycle of homelessness in America. By the end of the Reagan Administration, 94,000 Americans remained locked up in state hospitals."
http://www.furiousseasons.com/archives/2006/06/tac_on_crack.html

[loyalsister]

13. Deinstitutionalization

was actually demanded by disabled citizens.
The Olmstead ruling referred to in the blog was a woman demanding a right to live outside of an institution.

I am not a fan of Reagan's, but the problem here is not the presense of disabled people outside of institutions, it is the lack of funding for services and supports to empower them so that they can make that situation work.

(01-Jan-1977) When Carter's administration took office, the Health, Education, and Welfare Department immediately began revising and watering down the regulations, with no input from the disability community.

(05-Apr-1977) A group of disabled people takes over the San Francisco offices of the Health, Education, and Welfare Department to protest Secretary Joseph Califano's refusal to sign meaningful regulations for Section 504. No one expected to live there for almost a month, but they did. The action became the longest sit-in of a federal building to date. The historic demonstrations were successful and the 504 regulations were finally signed.

(04-May-1977) The Section 504 regulations were issued.

It was these regulations that set off the wave of deinstitutionalization.

[Jonathan50]

14. A comment on our civilization.

The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881),

[Doondoo]

15. I saw it. That was totally messed up.

[Vinca]

16. That was the most horrifying story. They're torturing prisoners

to death and there's no other way to put it. The whole lot of them should be fired and prosecuted and the families of those poor souls should own the state of Michigan. It's hard to believe stuff like that goes on, but it starts with George W. Bush and the tone he's set for the country: torture is just a 7 letter word - no big deal.