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Members of the Cook County Sheriff's Department walk out of the Cook County Jail Tuesday in February 2006 in Chicago.
Chicago’s Cook County Jail, a harsh holding cell stuffed with up to 11,000 prisoners at any given time, is about to become even more crowded, according to The Chicago News Cooperative.
Tom Dart, The Cook County Sheriff, told The Chicago News Cooperative on Monday that of those 11,000 prisoners, about 2,000 have some form of serious mental illness. But he fears the situation could get much worse: Chicago has plans to shutter half of its 12 city-run mental health centers by the end of April in a bid to save $2 million, and that could leave many mentally ill patients without the treatment they need.
“It will definitely have a negative impact on jail populations,” Dart told The Chicago News Cooperative. “It will have direct consequences for us in my general jail population and some of the problems I have here, because a lot of the people with these issues act out more, as you would expect, so that’s a direct consequence.”
Without resources to treat them, those with mental health issues are more likely to have run-ins with the police, reported The Chicago News Cooperative.
Related: For mentally ill inmates, care behind bars can be lacking
“It’s going to increase the number of calls they get,” Amy Watson, associate professor at the Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois, Chicago, said of the Chicago Police Department, “because it is the only place left to call.”
It costs about $143 per day to house a typical detainee at Cook County Jail, the media organization reported. To house a detainee with mental health issues costs two to three times as much, the sheriff said.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News
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Take a look at Michigan if you want to see the results of closing the mental hospitals.
This is what happens when there is a need to make cuts. Between the economic downturn and real estate values dropping, local taxes have fallen. Then, the state also cuts what they give back to the local communities and they are in a no win situation.
Eventually, many states will be like California, where a 30 day sentence is in reality a 30 hour sentence, one year is one week, 30 years is 30 months, and all the criminals walk free on the streets. Those who want lower taxes won't complain until the results of the continued cuts effects them. When the schools close because no one wants to teach and the next generation is incapable of doing the jobs so the companies owned by the 1% have to close, only then will they realize the consequences of their policies. Since those results will take 50 years to happen, they don't care, they'll be dead by then.
the Sheriff is totally RIGHT..expect tons of social problems, when tons of mentally-ill people are creating problems..okay, MORE CONTROL, that mentality is just as STUPID..in the process of All of this, many innocent/ normal people get treated like; the mentally-ill..facing; suicide by cop, brutal treatment and forced as a felon for simple misdemeanors..CRAZY, I'd say; JUST CRAZY !!!......
This is the thing that the Teapublicans just can't get their head around. All this "frivolous" spending has a purpose, and it's to prevent an even bigger cost to society later on. Investing in maintaining bridges now will save us having to pay far more to build new ones when they collapse. The same happens with mental health.
Isn't their idea to privatize everything? Just gotta make money for someone instead of doing it the cheapest way? It is so sad since each patient treated saves not only the individual, but several others in the family or community from expensive problems.
As long as the 1% isn't inconvenienced in their gated communities.
I watched "The Crazies" last night. It's too bad to think we can find no other assistance for these folks. If they are nuts; they are probably also jobless and homeless. Can't we at least put pill vending machines on the corners? "A spoonful of sugar helps the Fanapt go down, the Fanapt go down, the Fanapt go down."
Toasty McGrath - You are clearly uneducated about the situation this topic is talking about, your comments proved your own ignorance. Just so you know, Chicago & Cook County are one of the last places you'll find a "Teapublican" as you call them. I'm going to list out everyone of power in Illinois and you tell me where you see the "Teapublicans" having influence.
Governor: Pat Quinn (Democrat) - States Attorney: Lisa Madigan (Democrat) - Secretary of State: Jesse White (Democrat) - Illinois Speaker of the House: Michael Madigan (Democrat & father of States Attorney) - Cook County Board President: Toni Preckwinkle (Democrat) - Cook County Sheriff: Tom Dart (Democrat) - Chicago Mayor: Rahm Emanuel (Democrat & former Chief of Staff of Obama) - 50 Elected Chicago Alderman (All 50 are Democrats)
So, after looking at the above list, where do you see any "Teapulicans" making these cuts? Which Republican elected official in Cook County or Chicago has the ability to make these cuts? None, because their isn't an elected Republican in Illinois in any position to make these cuts. See, the so called "frivolous" spending you are talking about is being cut by Democrats, not Republicans. So please educate yourself on this topic before you criticize and make yourself look stupid. If anyone ever wonders why Illinois is in such disarray, please look at the list above and look for the one commonality.
Also want to add the the title of the article is wrong. Chicago doesn't have a Sheriff. The head of the Chicago Police Department is called superintendent and that post is currently filled by Garry McCarthy. Tom Dart is the Sheriff of Cook County.
Way to get it wrong again MSNBC...Did you purposely give this article a misleading title or is the editor as ignorant to the article as Toasty McGrath? Maybe you just hired the same editor that got let go from ESPN.
Liberals are just as much responsible for this, or more, than the "Teapublicans". This is the legacy of the anti-institutionalism of the 80's and 90's. One Flew Over the Cuckoos's Nest advocated that we set them free, so we did.
Awsome movie. The Joker on the loose, yeah......
Very well, Irish:
Bad democrats. Bad.
I believe that Cook County jail is one of the largest providers of mental health services in Illinois. And it's only going to get worse.
Mental health cuts is money in the pockets of the police department, its like job security, more overtime than they can work and the need for additional police officers. I see this as a win, win for Chicago police the more officers the more management they need, what a business and the citizens are paying the price. Maybe Chicago can get its own secret police department like NYC. P.S. don't forget the "get out of jail free cards for your family and friends".
evrey year lawyers and politicians make more laws in order to jail more people!
we could always reduce the prison population by increasing the expedience of the execution process and include the option for any violent crime like "attempted" murders. I'm sure there are women that would agree that rape should be a capital crime also. That will help reduce the strain on prisons.
It would reduce the populations, but it wouldn't save any money. The death penalty is far more expensive than life in prison.
In California, for example, a 2008 report showed that the $137 million annual cost of maintaining the criminal justice system would drop to just $11.5 million annually if the death sentence were abolished.
Most of that money goes to the automatic appeals process
Move all the nuts in with Rahm.
think it's crowded now? wait until the g-8 summit in chicago in may.
Nothing new here, as a nation and a people we've steadily turned our backs on the mentally ill since the 80's. Throw away people with nowhere else to go but the streets or jail.
It was done to "set them free". This is the legacy of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
You could cut the jail population by half, by simply erasing idiotic laws. Dope laws, for example.
Prohibition has proved to be a failure, so why do it again? Because 80% of us can not learn from past mistakes. Sad but true.
Ouch that hurts! Ouch that hurts! Ouch that hurts! Ouch that hurts! Ouch that hurts, ad-infinitum.
Good suggestions.
and deport the ones that are non US citizens. They account for nearly 50% of the inmate population?
Think about it, more than 1 out of 100.
See what I'm saying, we're too stupid to learn from our mistakes, otherwise; I would stop trying to reach you.
So which costs us more as a society, paying for mental health care (and getting productive members of society), or paying to house prisoners (who produce nothing)?
I agree. And both major political parties have had a role in shutting down the training schools for mentally retarded people and shutting down the mental institutions. This is the legacy of the "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". In the name of freeing the insane and the inadequate, we have established a system that abuses them. I am not suggesting that we should go back to what we did before, but housing these people in our prisons is not the humane answer.
hmmm, lets ship them to Mexico.
US biggest product is fruits and nuts. Export them to mexaco.
I wouldn't even categorize as export, because we'll have to pay tariffs on exports. Lets just give them a one way bus ticket, while we are at it, lets ship all the idiot people too.
There is an epidemic of mental illness in this country.
When you have career politicians at the beck and call of the health care industries, you know that those that have NO voice are going to be the first ones hit.
It's SHAMEFUL! VOTE THEM OUT!
We are judged as society in how we care for those least among us. At the rate we are going history will NOT judge us kindly at all.
Hmmm, depends on who writes the history books in a couple hundred years.
And they get re-written every few years anyway. Kinda reminds me of Orwell's "1984"
IL and CA----- Has anyone ever stopped to wonder why?
I hear you, read my post above. #2.4 - Wed Feb 22, 2012 11:27 AM EST
Making welfare recipients take a drug test is going to drive the criminal population through the roof. But hey i am all for it.
What the HELL does this comment have to do with this article?
Yeah, and the jails are letting go of NON violent felons, By brother (DAVID LAKOMY) who will steal the shirt off your back and empty you bank account while doing it served just 1 year of an 18 year sentence !!! And guess what...hes out doing it again and Hes on parole but no one can find him or cares to stop him for over 3 years NOW !!! Illinois Dept of corrections is a FREAKIN JOKE !!
The prisons are overcrowded b/c of these stupid drug laws. Prisons have become cash cows. These "admins" have no problem with the additional head count b/c each prisoner = $$.
End prohibition and stop creating criminals.
If that nut case that shot Rep. Giffords had gotten the help he needed, the shooting would not have happened. Lives would have been saved. Health costs for the survivors would not have been needed. The cost of jailing him would not be needed. By "saving a penny" in mental health care, the public has paid a terrible and avoidable cost.
I couldn't agree with you more. Our mental health system is a sham. We ignore the problem and then wonder why people that have talked about doing violence, people that we are afraid of then act on their irrational thoughts. These are preventable tragedies. These people need help and there is nothing out there. The psychiatrist have been sold out to Pharma - here just take this pill and you'll be fine.... when they need to be in a locked secure facilty getting therapy and medication. But we closed down those facilities because we were sold a bunch of BS that the meds would take care of it, we didn't need them anymore. So now the mentally ill are homeless or held in prisons where they get no help and its just a revolving door costing this county an enormous amount of money and the loss of many lives due to violence against themselves and others. They are the people no one wants to talk about and a problem no one wants to address.
we didn't have mental health until we had drugs to give them...and then a whole new industry sprouted. And once 'psychology' was developed into mainstream thought 150 years ago, people have become even more unhealthy and sickly of mind, body and spirit. What else is mental illness? The Germans came up with this thought form/structure and we as people have bought into it. When a soul is not free to be as it should be, there will always be angst, and illness depending on the severity of restriction of tappings one's own creativity and spirit. So they developed DRUGS for everything!!!! This is WRONG!!! Their UNnatural will NEVER be better than natural - what GOD gave us!!!
Ship them all up to Rockford, Ill to join the homeless when you took down the housing systems in the inner city in 2000. Rockford, look at massive destruction set loose on cow-town usa and know this is what can and will happen to your community as this system continues to implode.
Mental illnesses can take many forms, just as physical illnesses do. Mental illnesses are still feared and misunderstood by many people, but the fear will disappear as people learn more about them. If you, or someone you know, has a mental illness and is in the prison system please join us To bring public awareness and attention to the plight of non-violent, mentally ill offenders imprisoned in our state and federal penal institutions due to lack of mental health alternatives in our communities. at: