Inside a Mental Hospital – The Cook County Jail

India, 42, suffers from manic depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. She has spent almost all of her adult life in jails and prisons. John Gress for The New York Times
India, 42, suffers from manic depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. She has spent almost all of her adult life in jails and prisons. John Gress for The New York Times
“Have you ever been to jail before?” a Cook County Sheriff’s employee asked me as we began our journey into the jail.

“I’ve been in a correctional institution four times, but this is only my second time in a county jail!” I responded. I know you’re wondering…. no I wasn’t incarcerated!

By Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times

CHICAGO — THE largest mental health center in America is a huge compound here in Chicago, with thousands of people suffering from manias, psychoses and other disorders, all surrounded by high fences and barbed wire.

Just one thing: It’s a jail. The only way to get treatment is to be arrested.

Psychiatric disorders are the only kind of sickness that we as a society regularly respond to not with sympathy but with handcuffs and incarceration. And as more humane and cost-effective ways of treating mental illness have been cut back, we increasingly resort to the law-enforcement toolbox: jails and prisons…. Read More

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The Cook County sheriff, Thomas Dart, center, talks with inmates Russell, right, and Compton. Russell, 46, has been diagnosed with severe depression. John Gress for The New York Times
The Cook County sheriff, Thomas Dart, center, talks with inmates Russell, right, and Compton. Russell, 46, has been diagnosed with severe depression. John Gress for The New York Times

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The Cook County Jail has become a de facto mental health hospital, the county's sheriff says. John Gress for The New York Times
The Cook County Jail has become a de facto mental health hospital, the county’s sheriff says. John Gress for The New York Times

 

 

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