Insane ★★★★★

Insane: America's Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness (Click Here To Buy)

★★★★★

Insane: America’s Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness by Alisa Roth is a non-fiction book about how people with mental health issues are treated in jails and prisons.

I read this an audiobook checked out from the library. You may have noticed that the last book I listened to, Bedlam, is very much in the same vein. This book was recommended by the author of that book.

Roth traces both the history of mental health treatment as well as the history of mass incarceration in this book looking specifically at where the two intertwine. The problem, as you could probably guess, is complicated. When institutions began to close due to poor conditions and treatment was transferred to communities with no design in place, individuals with severe mental illness were forced into the streets and by proxy ended up in jails and prisons for minor and severe offenses resulting from decompensation due to lack of treatment options. Jails and prisons have thus become the new institutions with none of the training or treatment. For example, half of the people in jails in Michigan have mental health disorders. Roth traces the history of Not Guilty Reason Insanity (NGRI), the faults of competency restoration treatment, suicide protocols, and detainment in various states while interlacing case studies of individual experiences.

Aside from just looking at the problem, Roth also looks at what's being done as well as what we can do moving forward. A few examples include training police and correctional officers in mental health such as with the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training, more mental health options besides punishment including jail diversion, mental health courts, and restoration centers; changing police mentality from warrior to guardian, etc. According to Roth, "We know how to lock up millions of people now we need to learn how to treat them." This book is chalked full of good information and I highly recommend it.

If you liked Insane, I also recommend While the City Slept by Eli Sanders, No One Cares About Crazy People by Ron Powers, Bedlam by Kenneth Paul Rosenberg, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey.

Happy reading -

Ms.Bjork