News: Juvenile detention centers, jails, hospitals fail New Yorkers

Did You Know: Re-arrest for people with a mental illness is higher than for ex-inmates generally.
Read more about restoring benefits and re-establishing life in a community: LIFELINES: Linking to Federal Benefits for People Exiting Corrections published by the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law....
Full Story | Topics: community programs, jails, prisons | Comments (0)

News: Al Jazeera reports criminalization of mental illness in US
Al Jazeera's investigative English speaking program, Fault Line, has created a two-part video series about how people with a mental illness are treated in the United States. . .
Full Story | Topics: human rights, jails, mental illness, prisons, reform | Comments (0)

News: Loathsome prison conditions for mentally ill

Did You Know: More than half of all prisoners in the United States have a mental illness.
Read more from the opening statement of Sen. Dick Durbin at the (Sept. 15, 2009) Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Hearings, "Human Rights at Home: Mental Illness in U.S. Prisons and Jails."...
Full Story | Topics: human rights, jails, prisons | Comments (0)

News: Deaths from suicide and substance use during arrest

Consider This: State budget fixes
. . .some will hurt more than others
Full Story | Topics: community programs, depression, hospitals, jails, medication, mental health, politics, states, suicide | Comments (0)

From Our Readers: Threats to rehab in Kansas City, Mo., jails
Anne Lesser, Interim Director of the Homeless Services Coalition of Greater Kansas City, writes: Like every city, Kansas City, Missouri, is suffering from budget short falls. Among the solutions the Kansas City City Council is considering to save $1 million is regionalizing the municipal jail (MCI), known for its innovative programs for mentally ill inmates. The City Council's previous plan was privatization which was squelched almost a year ago. The threat is if regionalization fails, privatization returns. As someone who...
Full Story | Topics: jails, treatment programs | Comments (2)

News: Drug treatment to reduce crime recidivism
The criminal justice system has five gateways for helping offenders with an addictive disorder get treatment. Informed by neuroscience and the biology of addiction and treatment, authors of an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) urge they become opportunities for interventions. Research has shown that chronic drug use alters the brain's circuitry which affects behavior. Treatment upon returning to the community is a key to reducing recidivism, say these authors who are part of the National...
Full Story | Topics: addiction, community programs, courts, jails, prisons | Comments (1)

News: Re-entry programs needed after jail
Finding a better way to work with mentally ill people leaving jail and prison needs to be addressed, said Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) during a meeting at the Brookings Institution discussing re-entry programs. He also called attention to the failure to distinguish between crime and illness: "It's not a crime to be mentally ill. It's not a crime to be addicted to drugs. It is a crime to live by violence and to extort money from people who are trying...
Full Story | Topics: community programs, housing, jails, prisons | Comments (0)

News: Los Angeles jails house patients
National Public Radio visited the Los Angeles County jail, also known as the Twin Towers, where 1,400 mentally ill inmates are incarcerated for offenses ranging from trespassing or false identity to murder. The eight-minute broadcast described conditions reminiscent of 19th century asylums where restraints including chained or naked prisoners....
Full Story | Topics: jails, reform | Comments (0)