Bring Back Insane Assylums As Soon As Possible

There are a lot of sick people out there. A lot. Just today the following headlines have appeared on the Fox News website.

Details Emerge in WVa Torture Case

Girl, 6, Hanged to Death Was Sexually Assaulted

Woman Attacked With Sword in Argument Over Puppy

That is just the tip of the iceberg. Sick and brutal crimes happen every day with increasing frequency. Our problem as a nation is that the criminal justice system can only punish these people after they commit crimes. Some crimes reflect a condition of addiction, others represent a cry for help. Many times, even the most brutal acts occur after the offender has repeatedly told people that they were sick and needed help.

Thirty years ago mental health advocates succeeded in transforming America's mental care system. Decades ago the mentally ill were sent to long term care hospitals such as those in Weston and Spencer. Often times care was below standards and treatment was spotty. On the other hand a large number of people received some kind of medical attention and were off the streets.

Advocates opened up the hospitals on the assumption that better medication and part time facilities could treat the mentally ill better. States more than willingly unloaded themselves of the burden of maintaining hospitals. Instead of leading to a better life for the mentally ill, these changes made their lives more hellish.

Sure states no longer maintain as many costly hospitals, but too many of the mentally ill wind up in jail. They know what they did was wrong so they do not qualify as criminally insane. Yet they are mentally ill according to the definitions of psychologists. We have seen an explosion of jail construction to house these people.

Not only do we incarcerate more mentally ill, we also see more of them simply wandering the streets. They lack a firm grasp on how to live a normal life, so their only option lies in wandering from shelter to shelter or living in a box. All too often many turn to lives of drug addiction and/or violence.

The mental health experiment has failed miserably. We must work to rebuild state hospitals so that we can get addicts, psychopaths, pedophiles, and other people dangerous to themselves or others off the streets and into facilities where they at least have a chance to change. This is not a foot in the door to socialized medicine, it only returns to an earlier mode of dealing with a major problem in society. Enough is enough. Get mentally ill people off the streets before they can rape children or murder for drug money.