Did you ever stop to think why the United States has more people locked up in prison than any country in the world?
Today, I’d like to discuss an invisible crisis.
Chances are, this crisis affects you in some way. Chances are, about one in 4 people out there may have some form if it. Chances are, a far greater number actually know someone whose life is affected.
It’s responsible for much of our nation’s crime. It’s squandered immeasurable resources, both human and financial. It causes unfathomable heartache and immense suffering for tens of millions of people, not just those who are afflicted, but among family and friends forced to bear most of the heaviest burdens. Moreover, it’s peculiarly inhumane how it’s currently managed as public policy as well as how its perceived by society as a whole.
I’m talking about mental illness.
Allow me to present a few facts. These numbers aren’t fabricated. This isn’t selective statistical bias. They’re just some raw numbers I came across that bear noting, and thinking about.
Fifty years ago, there were 500,000 spaces available for patients at our nation’s mental health facilities across the United States. Today, there are only around 100,000. Do that math on that for a moment. Now, think about the consequences.
It gets worse. In recent years, overall federal and state funding for mental health treatment has actually gone down. That’s right, spending has declined. This is astonishing, given the pervasiveness of this problem in our society, and the nation’s inevitable population increase by the year.
So, where do these mentally ill people go? Where do they end up? Well, many end up in prisons. Or, they end up living out on the streets. Some fate, huh?
Consider the staggering rise in America’s prison population in recent decades. Did you ever stop to think why the United States has more people locked up in prison than any country in the world?
The nation’s prison population is now a whopping 2.4 million, a number that’s quadrupled since 1980. Aside from the fact we’ve been corporatizing the penal system in America and making it quite lucrative for private contractors to lock up as many people for as long a period of time — entirely at taxpayer expense, I might add — there’s far more to it than that.
But I digress. Why is the prison population skyrocketing, forcing some states to resort to granting early parolees for hardened criminals who have no business back out on the streets? Might this be because a great many of those people now hopelessly languishing in prison have the affliction of some kind of mental illness?
It’s simple. Mental illness treatment and funding go down. Crime goes up.
COVID has wreaked havoc in prisons these past two years, causing an even bigger spike in spending
If issues like crime and an appeal to common human decency aren’t enough to grab our attention and shake us from our collective stupor, then try this for size — the mind-boggling cost. Did that finally get your attention, my conservative friends? Consider what it costs each year to police, prosecute, and ultimately imprison millions of people. I don’t know this actual figure, but we can probably agree it’s obscene. And largely unnecessary.
Instead, what would happen if we were to treat these mentally ill people from the start, at the very moment of diagnosis? For free. I know, that’s called “socialism.” Shudder. Well, so be it. Then, let’s have more socialism. What would it cost to treat them all, entirely at taxpayer expense, if we were to do our best to make sure they have some manageable quality of care and the potential to lead normal lives, rather than dumping them onto the streets and locking them up in prisons when they do bad things? Anyone want to venture a wild guess as to which option would be more efficient — treating people from the very start, or letting the problem continue as is, out of some twisted adherence to downsizing government and letting people take care of themselves?
I think you know the right answer.
So, if human decency doesn’t command action, then how about your own streets and homes? Your own neighborhood. Your lives. Chances are, all your doors and windows are always locked. Chances are, you may even live inside a gated community entirely for reasons of personal security. Chances are, surveillance cameras are everywhere. Chances are, you have police patrolling the streets (and they still can’t keep up). Chances are, your local courts are clogged with criminal cases. Is this really how you want to live your life? Seriously? Terrified of strangers because one of them might be insane and pull out a knife?
What this means is — you’re a victim of the gross mismanagement of the mental health crisis, too. So, if you can’t be troubled and bothered by the mentally ill, then how about doing something for yourself?
Despite the evidence that we’re failing miserably, our criminal justice system remains a revolving door where sick people are treated like ping-pong balls. That’s because the mentally ill, including people locked up in prisons and living under bridges at this very moment don’t have powerful lobbying groups representing them or fighting for changes.
I’d also be remiss were I not to mention that most industrialized nations in the world don’t have this problem. The troubles commonly associated with mentally ill people committing massive numbers of crimes are substantially less. In other societies, these unfortunate people receive proper treatment and get the care they need. Over in Europe, you don’t see every busy intersection occupied by someone — often a person with a mental condition — holding up a cardboard sign and begging. You certainly don’t see millions of veterans put into this quandary. Only in America.
You tell me if we as a nation are treating our mentally ill people either efficiently, or with dignity. The answer is obvious and embarrassing. All you have to do is look at the numbers — of those locked away in prisons and living out on the streets. Numbers that will only get worse tomorrow and beyond.
I wonder. When will the day come when we will no longer accept failure? When will we decide that injustices won’t be tolerated on such a massive scale? When might the day be when we finally stand up to the corrupt powers that profit at the expense of so many?
Will it be today? Will it ever be? That decision is up to all of us.
Note: Read more about this national serious crisis here — As Mental Health Services Have Disappeared, The Prison Population Has Skyrocketed
