Description
I have three discussion responses listed below that are from a documentary called “the new asylums” i also added the link : https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/showsasylums/
- What struck me most about this documentary is the fact that I never realized how many people are actually in prison suffering from mental illness. The prison system does not differentiate between deviant or criminal behavior, insubordination is considered as such regardless of the mental state of the prisoner. Acting out in a hospital setting would be considered asymptomatic but in prison it is just a refusal to follow orders and those with mental illness are treated like those who do not suffer from a mental illness. It seems short term acute care only serves as a temporary fix after prisoners are stable when the prisoners are receiving services they are put back within the standard population of prisoners. More social services need to be implemented to treat the mentally ill. Setting up aftercare rehab centers could be a way to provide treatments to avoid individuals from returning to prison.
2 )Watching this video was very heartbreaking and concerning. It was heartbreaking because many of these inmates suffer from a mental health disorder and there are no resources for them other then jail. For someone like me, I work so I am provided with health insurance from my employer. If I need medication, I can simply go to the doctor and be provided with a prescription, it as simple as that. For the mentally ill, many of them can not work so they can not get health insurance which means they may not have a way of getting the medication they need. Also, since they can’t work, they can not provide for themselves which could be the reason why many of them are homeless.
I think there should be more mental illness hospitals available for the mentally ill, I think the government should pay for it. The government wants to spend 5 billion for building a wall, but why not use 2 million to build more hospitals. Also, I think there should be homeless shelters catered too the mentally ill because I don’t think its safe to put some mental ill patients with regular citizens. In these homeless shelters, they should try to reach out to the persons family member to see if the family member can provide a place for them to stay and to help assist them with their medication. I have volunteered at a homeless shelter, serving food to the homeless. I noticed that most of the men there were mentally ill, I didn’t sit and have a conversation with them but I observed their behavior and it was obvious that they suffered from some type of mental health disorder. They all seemed very happy to have some type of human interaction even if I was just serving them a plate of food. That experience thought me a lot. I wish there something that could be done to help these people because it seems like society is quick to push them to the side and forget about them.
- The public health setups need to devise ways of handling large populations of people with mental health issues (Leonard, 2010). They need to set up systems that address likely public health problems that come from overcrowding of jails and other amenities.
References
Leonard, A. (Director). (2010). The Story of Bottled Water[Motion Picture].Mingle, K. (Composer). (2015). Fountain Drinks. [K. Mingle, Performer, & K. Mingle, Conductor] https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/fountain-drinks/.Water for Riley. (2015). The Drinking Fountain on Riley Park. Retrieved June 9, 2019, from Water for Riley: http://www.waterforriley.org/2015/11/
