On the recordApril 16, 2015
This morning, I am introducing the Comprehensive Justice and Mental Health Act. This bill is a bipartisan effort to make communities safer by improving access to mental health services for people in the criminal justice system. U.S. jails have effectively replaced in-patient mental health facilities as the largest institutional treatment providers for adults with mental illnesses. Each year, more than 2 million people with serious mental illnesses are booked into jails, as well as millions more coping with less serious mental illnesses that jails are nonetheless required to address. This is not right. Our jails are not mental health facilities. We can do better with the way we treat the mentally ill in the justice system, and we can do it while reducing costs and increasing public safety. At a recent TED Talks, comedian and mental health activist Ruby White asked: How come every other organ in your body can get sick and you get sympathy, except the brain? My bill will by no means solve the problem, but it is a step we can take to show some compassion, improve lives, and reduce recidivism by more appropriately responding to the mental health needs of those in the criminal justice system. I encourage each of my colleagues to cosponsor and join me in this effort. ____________________
