This holiday season as the world, and especially the U.S., reels in shock and horror over the Connecticut School murders, much emotional and mental outcry against guns is in the forefront. In 1996, there was a shooting at a primary school in Scotland. Sixteen children ages 5-6 were killed along with one teacher. The following year the UK banned the private ownership of all cartridge ammunition handguns, regardless of caliber. There have been no school shootings since.
But I pose that guns are only part of the symptom and not the cause. In all cases of school shootings in America, every one of the shooters has been on mind altering drugs for some kind of mental illness. Please read that sentence again. The families of these shooters must live in a conflicted state of fear and tension when a family member has to rely on drug formulas to re-balance a distorted view of life. These families often times reach out for help to a system that doesn’t have the answers. Here is a quote from a mother who lives with a son who has mental illness. It was posted in the Huffington Post written by Liza Long.
“When I asked my son’s social worker about my options, he said that the only thing I could do was to get him charged with a crime. “If he’s back in the system, they’ll create a paper trail,” he said. “That’s the only way you’re ever going to get anything done. No one will pay attention to you unless you’ve got charges.”
It seems like the United States is using prison as the solution of choice for mentally ill people. According to Human Rights Watch, the number of mentally ill inmates in U.S. prisons quadrupled from 2000 to 2006, and it continues to rise — in fact, the rate of inmate mental illness is five times greater (56 percent) than in the non-incarcerated population.
I don’t believe my son belongs in jail. The chaotic environment exacerbates his sensitivity to sensory stimuli and doesn’t deal with the underlying pathology. But it seems like the United States is using prison as the solution of choice for mentally ill people. According to Human Rights Watch, the number of mentally ill inmates in U.S. prisons quadrupled from 2000 to 2006, and it continues to rise — in fact, the rate of inmate mental illness is five times greater (56 percent) than in the non-incarcerated population.
With state-run treatment centers and hospitals shuttered, prison is now the last resort for the mentally ill — Rikers Island, the LA County Jail and Cook County Jail in Illinois housed the nation’s largest treatment centers in 2011.
No one wants to send a 13-year old genius who loves Harry Potter and his snuggle animal collection to jail. But our society, with its stigma on mental illness and its broken healthcare system, does not provide us with other options. Then another tortured soul shoots up a fast food restaurant. A mall. A kindergarten classroom. And we wring our hands and say, “Something must be done.”
I agree that something must be done. It’s time for a meaningful, nation-wide conversation about mental health. That’s the only way our nation can ever truly heal.
God help me. God help my son. God help us all.”
