There are some pretty nice people who I have met on my harrowing journey through mental illness. Some already hold the position that having mental illness is not a crime nor is it a moral weakness. Then there are those who are not so nice, and it seems to stem from the possibility that they do not understand. Their position is that prisoners do not want to work – so I am told, that they already have an education – so I am also told. That is not what I saw during my time in the maximum-security facility. They do not want to hear it. Are they browbeating me? Do they belong to a supremacy group?
Old-school thought leaves the prisoner or the one with mental illness to fend for himself with loads of obstacles to overcome. We are a laughingstock. I remember an old priest to whom I gave a copy of my book. He never talked to me again. Where is the love of Jesus in that? People who need help most are the ones supported least. If the Church does not help, who will? But there is controversy in the Church about this matter. Paulists have a ministry in the prisons based upon Matthew’s gospel chapter 25, “When I was in prison you visited me.” It brings tears to my eyes. When I sent the president of the ministry – also a priest – a copy of my book, his response was essentially that I had hit the nail on the head, “recidivism is almost inevitable – the lack of education, financial opportunities, social support, and the general climate of prisoners – which leads us to release prisoners with virtually no chance to go in a different direction.”
There are lines that are drawn. This from a former CEO of a mental illness support organization regarding mass shooters, “Not all have schizophrenia and not all people who suffer from schizophrenia without treatment harm others, and many harm themselves or are killed by others. Most people with schizophrenia are arrested and incarcerated for minor incidents and deteriorate while incarcerated.”
So, what do we do? One practical problem for one with serious mental illness is that the Law forbids that we help him unless he asks. According to the psychiatrists that never happens, and so he is left to worsen until he finally kills someone and becomes an enemy of the State. The public then demands that the Law – not doctors – address the issue by throwing him into prison. This is useless.
This means that the Law must be changed by legislators.
A second practical problem is to bring new blood with training and experience with these new ideas that I am postulating into our judicial process. We currently have dinosaurs running the show. They treat the mentally ill like they are criminals – the criminalization of mental illness. This must stop, and the mentally ill should be treated by doctors, not by lawyers and judges.
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David Geiger is a licensed and retired professional electrical engineer who spent 7 years in psychiatric hospitals and over 40 years since 1979 in the courts as a result of his schizophrenia.