Padded Jail Cell for person
with mental illness
There has been a lot of talk recently about plans to close the County Behavior Health Center. However, no one seems to be talking about where to place persons with mental illnesses before they are ready for community based care.
Hospitals are required to provide hospital care for persons with major medical conditions, like accidents, serious heart diseases, cancer, even when a person is unconscious. This is not true for people with certain brain diseases. Private hospital usually require insurance or at least consent of the person with the illnesses, even when the person is unable, like the unconscious person in a car accident, to give consent.
In the 80’s there was a similar move from health mental health care facilities to community programs. The result was a serious increase in homeless persons and person with mental illnesses in jails and prisons.
All serious illnesses should require hospitalization of persons who are a danger to themselves or others. Now our jails, streets and prisons are overcrowded with persons with mental illnesses. These facilities only make the illnesses worse. Many persons need hospitalization before community based programs will work.
Where will we take persons with mental illnesses? I asked this question today to a friend who has been committed to the Behavior Health System many times against her will. She did not know the answer but simply said the Behavior Health Center saved her life. Let’s build better hospitals for people with these brain diseases before we build bigger jails, more prisons and homeless shelters.
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