Thousands Of Mentally Ill Youth Warehoused In Juvenile Justice System
A truly discouraging piece in yesterday’s New York Times details the many, many problems surrounding tens of thousands of youths diagnosed with various mental illnesses and incarcerated in America’s “juvie” system, often because there is allegedly no better place to put them or treat them. I doubt that anyone with brain cells expects the kids to get better in such a situation and no matter where you stand on the meds/no-meds, diagnosed-well/overdiagnosed divide, this situation is gross and unacceptable. Some of the kids in the story, doped on antipsychotics, have been bounced around the juvie system since elementary school where they’ve encountered all sorts of fun:
“The investigators [in California] also recounted how staff members body slammed unruly juveniles, often breaking their bones.
“In May, a reporter toured the Los Angeles County Central Juvenile Hall with Eric Trupin, a consultant hired by the Department of Justice to monitor mental health services in California’s juvenile justice system. Dr. Trupin, a psychologist, said some detainees appeared to be held there for no reason other than that they were mentally ill and the county had no other institution capable of treating them.”
I don’t even know what to suggest to begin to address this problem, but something clearly must be done. This kind of classic warehousing should not be allowed to stand.
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