Here is the article I'm basing this blog on: http://huff.to/1rlh7vY. As I've said before, mental illness can result in death. I've experienced that as I worked with mentally ill people professionally. When it happens, it is sobering. I think that my desire to advocate is directly connected to my awareness that death is a frequent consequence when someone lives with mental illness. Lives are lost. This article was a serious reminder for me. It isn't just suicide that kills. Here is the story: a schizophrenic individual died in prison while in solitary confinement. From thirst. An untreated schizophrenic. Schizophrenia has to be one of the most frightening and debilitating at the more severe end of the continuum of mental illnesses. Can you imagine what it might be like to hear voices? Or to see things that no one else can see? I've spoken about a client who saw snakes coming out of her TV. I remember that client calling me for help. I remember the paranoia of another client who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. This kind of illness is so amazingly life-altering.
So, we have a mentally ill inmate in prison. An unmedicated schizophrenic most likely unable to behave appropriately. Given little food and water. And after he 'abuses' the plumbing, there are further restrictions. He literally ends up dying due to the lack of water. Can you imagine? Is this what passes for treatment in this country? In what universe is this humane? Now, apart from the dance that prison officials might do to justify this horror...here is my question. What do we stand for in this country? This seems no less horrific than the behaviors we condemn in "Islamic Jihadists". Cruelty is cruelty.
If you look at our track record in dealing with mental illness, we have a history of dealing with mental illness with inhumanity. The reality is that we've burned the mentally ill at the stake. Remembering Maxine, I'm grateful that she never became involved in the criminal justice system. And that the community didn't choose to punish her for her illness. She was severely and chronically mentally ill. But she was my Mom. A human being. As was the person who died as a result of mistreatment in our prison system. As you go about your life, remember this inmate. And think about the painful and frightening death he experienced. Get real about what this means. We aren't as evolved as we claim.
So, we have a mentally ill inmate in prison. An unmedicated schizophrenic most likely unable to behave appropriately. Given little food and water. And after he 'abuses' the plumbing, there are further restrictions. He literally ends up dying due to the lack of water. Can you imagine? Is this what passes for treatment in this country? In what universe is this humane? Now, apart from the dance that prison officials might do to justify this horror...here is my question. What do we stand for in this country? This seems no less horrific than the behaviors we condemn in "Islamic Jihadists". Cruelty is cruelty.
If you look at our track record in dealing with mental illness, we have a history of dealing with mental illness with inhumanity. The reality is that we've burned the mentally ill at the stake. Remembering Maxine, I'm grateful that she never became involved in the criminal justice system. And that the community didn't choose to punish her for her illness. She was severely and chronically mentally ill. But she was my Mom. A human being. As was the person who died as a result of mistreatment in our prison system. As you go about your life, remember this inmate. And think about the painful and frightening death he experienced. Get real about what this means. We aren't as evolved as we claim.
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