Tomorrow night, Frontline will re-air
"The Released" --a brief look at the dangerous intersection of our expanding criminal justice system and our undervalued, underfunded public mental health infrastructure. Each year, thousands of people with serious mental illness cycle from the community to prison and back. When they get out of prison (with a few dollars and a couple of weeks' worth of medication) there is rarely a meaningful support network or a way to access necessary medical care.
We have been concerned for a number of years about the plight of prisoners with serious mental illness in our state's jails and prisons. It was one of the reasons
we supported legislation last year to prohibit the use of long-term isolation against prisoners with serious mental illness (which is a fight we continue to wage). But, it is important to realize that most people in prison (including people with serious mental illness) will someday be out of prison, and they will need assistance and medical care if they are going to remain out of prison.
Too often, the criminal justice system becomes the default public treatment center for people with mental illness, but jails are not hospitals and prison guards are not doctors. This is one of the most important human rights issues of our time, and it requires us all to be informed and involved if it is going to be solved.