Jail: A mental hospital

In Chicago is the largest mental hospital in America. This huge compound helps thousands of people suffering from manias, psychoses and other disorders. It is not like other mental hospital, in fact it is surrounded by high fences and barbed wire because it is a jail. The only way to enter into this mental hospital is to be arrested.

Psychiatric Disorders Do Not Sympathy

Nearly all sicknesses known to man receive sympathy from the general public as well as the law, with psychiatric disorders as an exception. Many people suffering from psychiatric disorders will not get the care they need, rather they are handcuffed and thrown in jail. According to a 2006 Justice Department study, more than half of prisoners in the United States have a mental health problem. Mental illness have been criminalized in our society. While people are not incarcerated for their mental illness, they are because of their actions due to this sickness.

Treating The Sickness

According to a 2010 study by the National Sheriffs’ Association and the Treatment Advocacy Center, in America there are more than three times as many mentally ill people are housed in prisons and jails as in hospitals. Far to many people suffering from mental illness find themselves trapped behind bars without the treatment they need to get well. Rather than incarcerating these people due to their actions which resulted from their sickness it is important to turn to alternative solutions. Due to cut backs, more humane and cost-effective ways of treating mental illness have decreased. It is important as a society to understand this problem and demand a legal solution be made.