Peering through the chain link of a holding pen at the Cook County Jail, a man wrapped in a navy varsity jacket leans toward clinical social worker Elli Petacque Montgomery, his bulging eyes a clue that something’s not right.
“They say I got bipolar, that’s all,” he says.
“OK, are you taking your meds?” she asks.
“When I can get them,” he answers.
“I’m down here every day,” Montgomery says. “Every morning I hear this.”
The Chicago jail and many of its 3,300 counterparts across the country have become treatment centers of last resort for people with serious mental illnesses, most arrested for nonviolent crimes. And like other jails, it is awash in a tide of bookings and releases that make it particularly unsuited for the task.
U.S. jails, most of whose 731,000 inmates are trying to make bail or awaiting trial, hold roughly half as many inmates as prisons do. But last year, jails booked in 11.7 million people — 19 times the number of new prison inmates. The revolving door complicates the task of screening for mental illness, managing medications, providing care and ensuring inmate safety.
“Jails are churning people,” says Henry Steadman, a consultant to government agencies on how courts and correctional facilities deal with people with mental illnesses.
Nation's jails struggle as de facto mental health facilities
Last edited {1}
Attachments
Images (1)
Comments (0)