The problem is that you can't keep them confined indefinitely without a continuing series of court findings that they are still dangerous. Even when confined, the authorities are bound to keep working towards releasing them. The holding facilities basically just melted away over time. The case which started it was O'Connor v. Donaldson in 1975. Here's the Wiki on it...
I think it was open to some degree until sometime in the mid-90s, although the population had shrunk greatly, because of the legal reasons I mentioned above. I think most of the last were just old people with no place to go. In my kind of practice, having clients ending up with dementia is quite common. Most of my clients are rather well off. However, the cost is so high for 24/7, I've seen more than one exhaust their assets entirely and then have to go on Medicaid. It came out in the reporting on the incident mentioned above in the facility in OXR that the state was paying $330 per day per child. By contrast, Alabama pays somewhere in the neighborhood of $45 per day per inmate in adult prisons...
Still open, but moved to a new location a few years ago. I never worked at the new location but had at the old one. I’m thankful I never had to go to the criminal psych facility. Bryce was dangerous enough at times.
To be clear, I don’t think anyone wants to confine them indefinitely; but there is a dire need for inpatient facilities where they can be stabilized and discharged to home.
In the absence of a red flag law, that's far easier to say than to accomplish. I see it around here frequently...
Yeah, we don’t have the facilities to admit for run of the mill suicidal ideation. It’s a huge problem.
We have a law. Here is a link to the Mobile County Probate Court explanation. Pay attention to #5. In most cases, the "hold" only lasts for 72 hours, without a court order. My nephew has worked in the psych ward of Huntsville Hospital for over 35 years, so I get insight from that side, as well as the legal...
I’m seriously surprised my wife hasn’t turned to alcohol with all the things she hears as a counselor. She talks sometimes about it in generic, clinical terms to me (not mentioning names, etc.) and I’m shocked, even after being married to her over a decade now. She’s been at this going on twenty years at this point in one form or another, and I know she’s seen a lot of burnout with her fellow counselors over the years. Much of that burnout is in the low paying state jobs (which she’s done her fair share of over the years). Mental health is a criminally underfunded and under appreciated part of whole health care. She’s in private practice now and has a pretty decent hourly rate, and has people willing to pay it. Her Georgia office is located in the Roswell area, and her Florida office in the northern `burbs of Orlando (she officially started with a group in Florida yesterday) so those are areas where people CAN afford her rate. Sadly, though, for the others IF they can seek and afford mental health care, they unfortunately get the burned out, desensitized, low wage counselors who are one client away from calling it quits.
www.theatlantic.com
This is also true for addicts. It still blows my mind that addicts are jailed for being addicts. This is especially true when one takes into account the cost of treatment vs. the cost of incarceration. Not to mention humane vs. inhumane.SIAP
Locking People Up Is No Way to Treat Mental Illness
If we stopped using prisons to warehouse psychiatric patients, we could heal people and save tax dollars.
But doing so would stop the cash flow to the criminal justice system.
www.bamapolitics.com
www.theguardian.com
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www.actionnews5.com
