Witch Hunting

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported on 9/7/08 that the cost of health care for people in jail (the article focused on Henn.Co, but included references to other Minnesota jails experiencing similar problems) is way up, driven by the demand for mental health care. The head nurse says the "mental health system is breaking down."

"IS breaking down"? Doesn't that imply that the health care system has been working and is only recently beginning to not work? The health care system has been broken down.

• Hospital capacity has been shrinking by 10% every year since 1980
• Shelters have been turned into psych wards
• According to Minneapolis Police Chief Olson, 40% of their calls were related to some sort of mental illness but hospitals are full so the only place for them to go is to jail.

Does that sound like a broken down system? It has not worked.

Most cops, though well-intentioned, have had only a few hours of sensitivity training, but they aren't mental health professionals and can't dispense meds - the only tool they have is to haul the preson to jail. This doesn't solve anyone's problems, least of all the person suffering from mental illness.

I would like to think that our society has progressed since the days of witch hunts but from the looks of it, we really haven't.