As the healthcare debate rages in the US, the fate of the hundreds of thousands of mentally ill people in American jails and prisons has been absent from the agenda
Published On 25 Mar 201025 Mar 2010
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Some advocacy groups estimate that about 80 per cent of the homeless suffer from mental illness
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Incidents across the country in which police officers have shot and killed mentally ill have forced law enforcement officials in Houston, Texas to re-think their approach
Houstons Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) unit partners police officers with mental health clinicians who attempt to allow distressed mentally ill to recover in hospitals rather than in prison
A homeless man shows his prescription medicines in Houston, Texas
Long-term state facilities have all disappeared, and fewer than 40,000 Americans reside in psychiatric hospitals
With jails being the new asylums, 1.25 million mentally ill people are serving time in US prisons instead of being treated in hospitals
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Each year, 130,000 inmates pass through Harris County jail in Houston and the prisons authorities recently made significant changes to improve conditions for the mentally ill
The prisons are not really set up to manage the mental illness
Josh Rushing interviews inmate Andre Bonier in the Harris County jail who has been diagnosed as schizophrenic and mentally retarded, and is in Harris County jail for the 31st time
One inmate on suicide watch in Harris County jail
The Texas prison system has more than 150,000 inmates and 112 units across the state
At the Luther Unit two psychiatric staff are responsible for more than 1,300 inmates
Producer Jeremy Young sits behind the cage while setting up an interview shot in the Luther Unit in Novasota, Texas
Charlie Brink is serving a seven year sentence for drug charges and says that he only sees a doctor once every six months
Sign outside of the Luther Unit, Navasota, Texas
Volunteer Bill Kleiber, a former inmate with bipolar disorder, leads families of inmates in prayer outside of the Huntsville Unit
He trains volunteers to be the first point of contact for newly-released prisoners as they prepare to step out into the world
Despite the ongoing healthcare discussion, when it comes to treatment for the mentally ill, it is clear that the status quo is both potentially dangerous and inhumane
