TV news refuses to admit or even to say that education, mentoring, housing, and drug rehabilitation bring the crime rate ‘way down though to places like John Jay College of Criminal Justice – their Institute of Justice and Opportunity – this is their bread and butter. It works. I wrote an article years ago saying that the breadwinner is usually the one put in jail leaving his family to suffer. The reason is that he is the one without a job and must turn to crime to support his family. When I visited the Bergen County Jail (NJ), I was told there are programs there: English and drug rehab. What happens with reform is that these guys do not finish their classes, and they are put back out on the streets again with no job skills, so they turn to crime again to support themselves. The hard decision is that they should stay in jail until their classes are finished. As a note, some people are opposed to bail reform because they make their money selling bail bonds. The news does not tell you that, either.
From Linda Stalters, Founder and former President and CEO of SARDAA (now S&PAA), “One of the most important issues is appropriate comprehensive treatment and placement for individuals with serious neuro-psychiatric brain illness (i.e., schizophrenia, bipolar I, psychosis). Without comprehensive treatment, they will continue to suffer, and the community will miss the opportunity for a citizen to contribute to the community in a meaningful way instead of costing the community in tragic ways.”
To read more articles, access David Geiger’s blog at www.davidegeiger.com
Read Goodreads reviews of In the Matter of Edwin Potter at www.davidegeiger.com
IMOEP YouTube and other videos at www.davidegeiger.com/videos
IMOEP is available at Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, and www.davidegeiger.com
“Particularly painful for me was reading what usually happens to mentally ill people at the hands of police when called for assistance and what happens to them when imprisoned. Our society has not come to grips with this disorder at all. Also, of note - it would cost society so much less in tax dollars to care for the mentally ill in hospitals than to keep them imprisoned. Costs about $50K a year per inmate in prisons. Frequently those needing treatment cannot be admitted to hospitals without their consent - but throwing them behind bars without treatment is what society does - and would anyone consent to that?”
-Madeleine Liu, 5/5 stars on Goodreads
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. He began writing about mental illness and criminal justice reform in May 1998. He writes about his illness in his book In the Matter of Edwin Potter as well as those who have the illness and are caught up in the criminal legal system.