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To the Point

Imprisoning our mentally ill?

American jails and prisons have become hospitals for the mentally ill. A murderer doing 20 years at New York’s Sing Sing prison works with schizophrenics serving 24 months for misdemeanors.

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By Warren Olney • Jun 21, 2018 • 42m Listen

All over America, hospitals for treatment of the mentally ill have been shut down. Tens of thousands with disorders like depression and schizophrenia are being housed in jails and prisons. Mental illness has effectively been criminalized in the United States. But, the justice system is waking up. Incarceration makes mental illness much worse, rather than better; imprisoning sick people costs more taxpayer money than humane, more effective solutions.

  • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

    Warren Olney

    former KCRW broadcaster

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    Andrea Brody

    Senior Producer, KCRW's Life Examined and To the Point podcast

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    John J. Lennon

    Contributing writer, Marshall Project; contributing editor, Esquire; adviser, Prison Journalism Project

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    Alisa Roth

    Author of “Insane: America's Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness”

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    Tom Dart

    Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois

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