Prisons: The New Asylum for Youth
By Guest Contributor Leticia Miranda, originally published at RaceWire
A New York Times article reports that more and more courts are ordering mentally ill youth to jail as community mental health programs are facing bigger cuts and thinning resources.
“We’re seeing more and more mentally ill kids who couldn’t find community programs that were intensive enough to treat them,” said Joseph Penn, a child psychiatrist at the Texas Youth Commission. “Jails and juvenile justice facilities are the new asylums.”
Some judges say they’ll get the help they need in prison. However several lawsuits and federal civil rights investigations in Indiana, Maryland, Ohio and Texas say these prisons neglect and abuse incarcerated youth, a majority of which are youth of color, with mental illnesses, sometimes body slamming them and breaking their bones. While across the country, many of them are over prescribed with drugs sometimes just to help them sleep. But there seems to be little other recourse for some families.
From the article:
According to a Government Accountability Office report, in 2001, families relinquished custody of 9,000 children to juvenile justice systems so they could receive mental health services.Donald has been in and out of mental health programs since he attacked a schoolteacher at age 5. As he grew older, he became more violent until he was eventually committed to the Department of Youth Services.
“I’ve begged D.Y.S. to get him into a mental facility where they’re trained to deal with people like him,” said his grandmother, who asked not to be identified because of the stigma of having a grandson who is mentally ill. “I don’t think a lockup situation is where he should be, although I don’t think he should be on the street either.”
I’m not an expert on prisons or a psychiatrist, but a prison system that thinks about mental illness as a crime is most definitely not any path towards mental health and personal healing.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Fiqah wrote:
Heartbreaking. The prison industrial complex already literally feeds on the souls of non-violent offenders – most the of them people of color. Now we have at-risk youth with mental health concerns being funnelled in. My God.
I just sent a check to a non-profit I support that is working towards the abolishment of the PIC. Money’s beyond tight, so I’ve cut waaaaaay back on supporting my charities…but then I read stuff like this, and I realize that this kinda support is absolutely necessary.
Posted 13 Aug 2009 at 11:45 am ¶
Joy wrote:
This is a huge problem. Juveniles with disabilities (including mental illness) are over represented and over referred to the juvenile justice system. It really is sad. School systems don’t have the money, don’t know how, or just don’t want to (or all 3) deal with these students and find them the placements they need.
Even when these kids go to prison facilities, they are still required by law to recieve special education and related services. I’m almost positive that isn’t really happening. Especially if they’re drugged half the time.
Posted 13 Aug 2009 at 12:04 pm ¶
atlasien wrote:
I just saw a really depressing Frontline documentary that was on much the same topic… what happens to older mentally ill people.
Prison, get released, relapse, go to prison, get released, relapse, get to halfway house where they’re starting to put their life back together, leave halfway house because they’re supposed to be living independently, relapse, go to prison, repeat, repeat, repeat.
One of the saddest parts was an interview with a man with paranoid schizophrenia plus other stuff who was just about to be released from the mental hospital because he was “stabilized on medication” and no longer violent. Everyone at the hospital said they expected him to relapse almost immediately, but because of funding constraints, there was nothing they could do. They just hoped he didn’t kill anyone when he relapsed. The interviewer asked the man, “what’s your plan for remembering to take your medication once you’re released?” He tried to answer but couldn’t…. he just stared off into the distance and babbled. He was released, and then back in jail for assault a week later.
The people in the documentary were all estranged from their families.
And maybe that wouldn’t be the case if they had more support when they’re younger… some alternative besides ignoring the problem or locking them in jail. There need to be a lot more assisted living facilities, and also a realization that independent living is simply not possible for everyone.
Posted 13 Aug 2009 at 12:25 pm ¶
Jaleesa wrote:
As someone who was in the mental health system as a teenager, being on a psych ward isn’t much of a step above being in prison anyway. You really don’t have many rights on a ward, and no one has to treat you like you’re human.
It doesn’t surprise me that the System is optioning these teenagers to prison to make up for budget cuts, but it still very appalling to me. You get stigma slammed on you enough for being mentally ill. I can’t imagine the extra stigma these kids will face being considered criminals as well. Disgusting.
Posted 13 Aug 2009 at 1:53 pm ¶
RCHOUDH wrote:
This reminds me of how mentally ill immigrant detainees are kept in prison pretty much until they get deported.
Posted 13 Aug 2009 at 5:42 pm ¶
Courtney wrote:
“If you don’t want to go to jail, don’t break the law.” Some people will keep repeating that until the end of time, but I think the NYT article helps to peel back another layer on the obscured function of the modern prison.
It hearkens back to a little story told by Foucault, called Madness and Civilization. The events are also eerily reminiscent of our infamous “Ugly Laws.” All of it is part of a well-worn tradition– the push to transform privileged environments into lands of make-believe. We are tempted to gather up the “happy things” for our pretty neighborhood. As an afterthought, the icky “bad things” are tossed across the tracks, or into a big, gray box somewhere. Don’t make the Jones patriarch repeat himself: There will be no Community Center for People Who are Not Us going up anywhere near his estate. However, the offending “People” must be tucked neatly away. Far away.
I’m continually surprised by the beauty that comes from Othered communities, in spite of it all. Why shut that away? I admire Majora Carter’s Green the Ghetto project, and everyone who has refused to be Othered by the bureaucratic machines made up of Mr. Jones clones.
Posted 14 Aug 2009 at 7:48 am ¶
g531 wrote:
This is incredibly disheartening and begs much to be considered, especially considering current discussions on health care and how they’re classed, raced, and also the ageist implications of the discussion. Food for thought, indeed, about the limitations of the justice system as well as the health care system. Assisted living facilities are important, true, but how to get one started and on whose terms, considering the bias within laws and policy themselves?
Posted 14 Aug 2009 at 6:45 pm ¶