Tuesday, March 04, 2003

New court deals with mentally ill (Ohio)
Cincinnati Post story on Hamilton County's new mental health court - "With $865,000 from the mental health levy and another $300,000 over two years from the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, the courts are teaming up with mental health providers in an effort to try to keep those with mental health issues from being hauled into court repeatedly."  
  

300,000 Mentally Ill in US Prisons
Story originally published in The Guardian (UK) and reprinted at Common Dreams - "Nearly 300,000 mentally ill people are held in US prisons, often because there is nowhere else for them to go. So serious is the problem that one jail in Los Angeles has become in effect the biggest mental institution in the country. Senior police officers and mental health experts say that the situation is critical but there is a lack of political will to deal with it. Some of the mental patients spend many years in jail for minor offences..."