Across a lifetime, I had wondered, puzzled, and shaken my head at how easily religious people pass along information that is not true. For years, it was the petitions passed around from church member to church member on a myriad of issues from an atheist trying to stop religious broadcasting or demonic symbols embedded in business logos.
Because I read and remember, I began making a file about these ongoing rumors, and would pull it out, make a copy of the truth, and find the person who had been duped was actually upset with me. That was my first clue something was tragically wrong.
For people who are supposed to value truth, practice truth telling, religious folks have little loyalty to what is true. Rather, it seems to me that religious folks often want snippets of information they find important to be true. And if they feel passionately about it, it must be true. It really is the ultimate idolatry. Against all facts, all truths, we decide what is truth and what we will do with it.
These day because conservative Christians have a deep antipathy toward the sitting President, I guess that makes it alright to pass along lies about his birth origins, his faith, and pretty much anything that can incite others to think badly of him.
I have noticed that when the facts come out, the swarm move on to another subject, never apologizing, never admitting they have slandered a national leader, never feeling badly about violating basic Biblical teaching about gossip, lies, and slander. Just move on, murmuring under one's breath.
Tragically, the full measure of who we really are is revealed when we move through uncertain times with folks we had rather not be our leaders moving us in directions we prefer not to go. More than that, despite the prevailing opinions to the contrary, people of deep religious faith can hold different, passionate viewpoints about economics, law, justice, immigration, money, and the place of government in the lives of people.
One does not need to agree with leadership. In America, one does not need to support candidates for leadership. However, we are commanded to pray for our leaders and people of faith should respect those who try to lead us. On, yea, and you really should speak truth and pass truth on. Anything less than--well, is a lie, but then you knew that.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Waiting
Curious thing about hospitals, one can always find people waiting.
Anna arrived early for her heart cath because, we can do that and should do that. People show up early for appointments out of respect, even if those for whom we wait can't get organized enough to see their appointments on time. Two hours later, she is taken back for the "stand you on your head till all your coins fall out" procedure. Not too bad if one has insurance which always includes our contribution to medical expenses for those who don't do their part, or pay their bills, or carry insurance.
Then we go to the procedure prep room. After that is done, assured it was going to be " a while" in hospital speak, I run off to find some lunch because it is going to be a long afternoon.
And after a quick lunch, I arrive back at the procedure room, and Anna is gone. Apparently "a while" is no longer as long as it used to be. She is bumped to the top of the list. I am reasonably sure it has nothing to do with any seriousness of her condition, more likely she had insurance and the cardiologist's boat payment was more assured than the other person waiting who may not have had insurance. So, I sit in the waiting room--waiting.
I have no deep concerns about how Anna will do because she is strong, vibrant, and does most everything to keep her heart healthy. She is a woman of faith and grace infused with the most incredible kind strength and courage.
The concern is what hereditary plays in this wonder mix of genes, environment, and lifestyle.
So I wait.
Anna arrived early for her heart cath because, we can do that and should do that. People show up early for appointments out of respect, even if those for whom we wait can't get organized enough to see their appointments on time. Two hours later, she is taken back for the "stand you on your head till all your coins fall out" procedure. Not too bad if one has insurance which always includes our contribution to medical expenses for those who don't do their part, or pay their bills, or carry insurance.
Then we go to the procedure prep room. After that is done, assured it was going to be " a while" in hospital speak, I run off to find some lunch because it is going to be a long afternoon.
And after a quick lunch, I arrive back at the procedure room, and Anna is gone. Apparently "a while" is no longer as long as it used to be. She is bumped to the top of the list. I am reasonably sure it has nothing to do with any seriousness of her condition, more likely she had insurance and the cardiologist's boat payment was more assured than the other person waiting who may not have had insurance. So, I sit in the waiting room--waiting.
I have no deep concerns about how Anna will do because she is strong, vibrant, and does most everything to keep her heart healthy. She is a woman of faith and grace infused with the most incredible kind strength and courage.
The concern is what hereditary plays in this wonder mix of genes, environment, and lifestyle.
So I wait.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Perry for President?
If America ever needed a well coiffured president, Governor Perry would certainly be at the front of the line of males who are considering a run for the office. Women generally have that feature nailed from the start.
I could certainly support any effort he made to not be the Governor of Texas. However, the list thus ends for why this would be a good decision for Texas and America.
Perhaps we will all be better off when Governor Perry jumps on the bandwagon of those who won't run for president. When he gets on that wagon, he should sit next to "the Donald." The contrast would be interesting and a great photo op.
I could certainly support any effort he made to not be the Governor of Texas. However, the list thus ends for why this would be a good decision for Texas and America.
Perhaps we will all be better off when Governor Perry jumps on the bandwagon of those who won't run for president. When he gets on that wagon, he should sit next to "the Donald." The contrast would be interesting and a great photo op.
Treating the Mentally Ill in prison
So, how are the Mentally Ill treated in prison?
Basically, they are treated poorly. However, for some, this is better than their free world care because in the free world they get no care and can generally not afford any kind of care.
Why are the Mentally Ill treated poorly in prison? Perhaps it is because the unspoken model in prison is a skewed perception of the free world. In the free world, the Mentally Ill are treated poorly. MI folks are treated poorly because they are not easily understood. The simple descriptor "crazy" is a sloppy way of understanding and dismissing people who are different. Many MI folks are "different." What we presently understand about the organic basis of hallucinations and delusions tell us the MI see a different world, experience a different world, and feel differently about the world that is uniquely theirs. There is a great gulf fixed between the world of the MI and the world of those who are schizophrenic, or psychotic or profoundly unstable in mood.
The MI can be a little scary at times. The actively psychotic person can inspire a fear in us that is both sobering and wise. Being drawn in to the psychotic's experience can raise profound concerns in us about our perception and processing of reality which can raise momentary doubts about our own anchor holding in the face of challenging times. More than that, we tend to respond in fear to the experiences we do not understand but sense are anguishing to the person into whose world we have been drawn.
In the free world we have interesting ways of fleeing what makes us afraid. Moving away or moving "them" away. Both are isolating and except in very few instances can be experienced as abandonment.
So, in the prison setting, moving away and moving "them" away is very limited. In prison, MI offenders become the possession on the Mental Health Department. Largely, I think, security and administration don't feel a need to understand the MI because "they" are Mental Health's problem.
In some ways, the indigent MI have a "fair" existence in prison. Promised a dry bed, meals, clothes, psychiatric treatment, medications and monitoring is often above and beyond what they would get if left on their own to fend for themselves.
The downside of prison for the MI is they are often victimized by the "stronger." Their stuff is always at risk, their resources may be extorted and they may be used for sport. Additionally, unlike the free world, psychotropic meds may be the only sure supply of mind altering and mood altering fixes accessible to the non MI (which requires an exhausting kind of additional work from Mental Health providers because of the rewards of pretending to be MI). Offenders have found numerous ways to take legal medications and adapt them to act like the coke, marijuana, and other substances they used and sold in the world. Indigent MI may even find that "selling" their meds can give them a little "money" to spend. So some take a dose and sell a dose.
Finally, the MI become ensnared in a web that has up to an 80% recidivism rate. That means when they get out, it is rather difficult to stay out. The severely MI once sent to prison may stay in a cycle of returning and returning until they become "habitual."
When the governments of the US decided that institutionalize the MI was too extreme for most, they did not provide sufficient alternatives for those who needed services, structure, and supervision. So pt's moved from "state hospitals" to state prisons over time. For the taxpayer paying the bill, the people put at risk by their lack of supervision, and the prison alternative, this sad approach needs to be rethought.
While the MI are largely a benign group, most every law enforcement agency across the country has a least one death of an officer killed in the line of duty because of encountering a MI person who was not compliant with their treatment or a "never diagnosed" but should have been.
More and better choices would serve the public, the MI and the state better than what we currently provide.
Like the poor, the MI are going to be with us for a long time. It's about time we did a better job with their care.
Basically, they are treated poorly. However, for some, this is better than their free world care because in the free world they get no care and can generally not afford any kind of care.
Why are the Mentally Ill treated poorly in prison? Perhaps it is because the unspoken model in prison is a skewed perception of the free world. In the free world, the Mentally Ill are treated poorly. MI folks are treated poorly because they are not easily understood. The simple descriptor "crazy" is a sloppy way of understanding and dismissing people who are different. Many MI folks are "different." What we presently understand about the organic basis of hallucinations and delusions tell us the MI see a different world, experience a different world, and feel differently about the world that is uniquely theirs. There is a great gulf fixed between the world of the MI and the world of those who are schizophrenic, or psychotic or profoundly unstable in mood.
The MI can be a little scary at times. The actively psychotic person can inspire a fear in us that is both sobering and wise. Being drawn in to the psychotic's experience can raise profound concerns in us about our perception and processing of reality which can raise momentary doubts about our own anchor holding in the face of challenging times. More than that, we tend to respond in fear to the experiences we do not understand but sense are anguishing to the person into whose world we have been drawn.
In the free world we have interesting ways of fleeing what makes us afraid. Moving away or moving "them" away. Both are isolating and except in very few instances can be experienced as abandonment.
So, in the prison setting, moving away and moving "them" away is very limited. In prison, MI offenders become the possession on the Mental Health Department. Largely, I think, security and administration don't feel a need to understand the MI because "they" are Mental Health's problem.
In some ways, the indigent MI have a "fair" existence in prison. Promised a dry bed, meals, clothes, psychiatric treatment, medications and monitoring is often above and beyond what they would get if left on their own to fend for themselves.
The downside of prison for the MI is they are often victimized by the "stronger." Their stuff is always at risk, their resources may be extorted and they may be used for sport. Additionally, unlike the free world, psychotropic meds may be the only sure supply of mind altering and mood altering fixes accessible to the non MI (which requires an exhausting kind of additional work from Mental Health providers because of the rewards of pretending to be MI). Offenders have found numerous ways to take legal medications and adapt them to act like the coke, marijuana, and other substances they used and sold in the world. Indigent MI may even find that "selling" their meds can give them a little "money" to spend. So some take a dose and sell a dose.
Finally, the MI become ensnared in a web that has up to an 80% recidivism rate. That means when they get out, it is rather difficult to stay out. The severely MI once sent to prison may stay in a cycle of returning and returning until they become "habitual."
When the governments of the US decided that institutionalize the MI was too extreme for most, they did not provide sufficient alternatives for those who needed services, structure, and supervision. So pt's moved from "state hospitals" to state prisons over time. For the taxpayer paying the bill, the people put at risk by their lack of supervision, and the prison alternative, this sad approach needs to be rethought.
While the MI are largely a benign group, most every law enforcement agency across the country has a least one death of an officer killed in the line of duty because of encountering a MI person who was not compliant with their treatment or a "never diagnosed" but should have been.
More and better choices would serve the public, the MI and the state better than what we currently provide.
Like the poor, the MI are going to be with us for a long time. It's about time we did a better job with their care.
Prisons and the American way of Justice
Perhaps, in my judgement, the most serious issue with prisons are the deep connections they intrinsically have with a deeply flawed system of justice.
In America, justice is flawed because it is slow, blindly punitive and deeply, perhaps, tragically strangled and perverted by money.
Go waste your day with a jury summons. Jury duty gives you a snapshot of what is wrong with justice in America, legislation in America and American government.
The goal of jury summons is not to find a jury but to find the right jury. Of course the right jury means different things to a prosecutor or a defense attorney. Therein starts the compromise that ends with some kind of decision that somewhat addresses the charges that have been brought. The notion that a jury of my peers could render a verdict has long been relegated to the garbage heap. "A peer" can mean so many things, until it takes 60 people showing up to find 6 or 12 who will "do."
Are we all so clueless?
Are we all so stupid? Does it really take 30-60 people have their lives confiscated for an indefinite period of time to find 12 who are good enough? Really, lawyers have spent way too much time in their own company becoming convinced that everyone is as stupid and soul less and them and their colleagues. So, the case has to be "pre-tried" to see if anyone will not do. It is no wonder prison has so many innocent people. The American way of justice is a matter of "charges, procedure, technicalities, and competent representation. By the time the accused is finally brought to trial, the crime, the victim, the social consequences hardly matter at all. By the time "justice" has run its course, punishment is light years from the crime.
In my personal opinion, the problem with the death penalty is not a problem with the penalty. It is a problem with the years it takes to finally get the execution of the sentence. And, quite frankly, we have the lawyers and the courts to thank for that.
There are some folks the "state" has a vested interest in executing. These are criminals who have done horrific crimes and disfigured innocent families for generations. The only reason their carnage is not more widespread is because the offender was caught or did not achieve the opportunity and power to do more evil. It is inhumane for a just society to allow them to continue to live and continue to live among us. Yet, 15 years of waiting for a sentence to be carried out is both unbelievable and incredibly foolish and frankly cruel and usual punishment for the victim's family. The only reason why many DR offenders do not rise to the level of evil of a Hitler is because they lack opportunity not evil.
The American "way" of justice is deeply flawed. Until we "reform" justice in America, expecting different outcomes from our prisons is frankly silly.
In America, justice is flawed because it is slow, blindly punitive and deeply, perhaps, tragically strangled and perverted by money.
Go waste your day with a jury summons. Jury duty gives you a snapshot of what is wrong with justice in America, legislation in America and American government.
The goal of jury summons is not to find a jury but to find the right jury. Of course the right jury means different things to a prosecutor or a defense attorney. Therein starts the compromise that ends with some kind of decision that somewhat addresses the charges that have been brought. The notion that a jury of my peers could render a verdict has long been relegated to the garbage heap. "A peer" can mean so many things, until it takes 60 people showing up to find 6 or 12 who will "do."
Are we all so clueless?
Are we all so stupid? Does it really take 30-60 people have their lives confiscated for an indefinite period of time to find 12 who are good enough? Really, lawyers have spent way too much time in their own company becoming convinced that everyone is as stupid and soul less and them and their colleagues. So, the case has to be "pre-tried" to see if anyone will not do. It is no wonder prison has so many innocent people. The American way of justice is a matter of "charges, procedure, technicalities, and competent representation. By the time the accused is finally brought to trial, the crime, the victim, the social consequences hardly matter at all. By the time "justice" has run its course, punishment is light years from the crime.
In my personal opinion, the problem with the death penalty is not a problem with the penalty. It is a problem with the years it takes to finally get the execution of the sentence. And, quite frankly, we have the lawyers and the courts to thank for that.
There are some folks the "state" has a vested interest in executing. These are criminals who have done horrific crimes and disfigured innocent families for generations. The only reason their carnage is not more widespread is because the offender was caught or did not achieve the opportunity and power to do more evil. It is inhumane for a just society to allow them to continue to live and continue to live among us. Yet, 15 years of waiting for a sentence to be carried out is both unbelievable and incredibly foolish and frankly cruel and usual punishment for the victim's family. The only reason why many DR offenders do not rise to the level of evil of a Hitler is because they lack opportunity not evil.
The American "way" of justice is deeply flawed. Until we "reform" justice in America, expecting different outcomes from our prisons is frankly silly.
The awkward question about the meaning of prisons in America
There is an awkward question about prisons in America that is not generally discussed in polite society. By polite society, I mean those people who should be discussing the question and holding themselves accountable for answers and solutions.
Just exactly what are prisons supposed to do? I have heard several rather evasive answers whenever that question is squeezed out in a conversation like flatulence in a stuffy room. There is sniffing, looking around, awkward silence, and descent into gibberish.
The rationale for spending $38,000+ per offender per year is generally "well, we need to keep the public safe." Separating offenders from their criminal friends and families (sometimes the lines blur between which is which) and society at large is supposed to do this.
It doesn't! And it doesn't for several reasons. Criminal friends and family still have contact with the offender. Prison does not become an isolation ward for the dangerous to protect the public, but more often that not operates as the main offices of "Crime Inc." Prisons are organized and deeply influenced by the offenders housed within, rather than by prison officials, guards, and administrators.
And perhaps the most important reason this does not work, prisons act as a toxic spill that creeps and seeps into everything that surrounds them and touches them. Employees of prisons, in fact, all law enforcement personnel are all badly influenced by continual contact with offenders. It affects the way they think, the way they consider others, their world view, their values, their morals, their marriages, their parenting, and their very souls. And through these contacts and associations, the free world is profoundly impacted. The offender may not be physically present, but his influence is felt in big and small ways.
Just exactly what are prisons supposed to do? I have heard several rather evasive answers whenever that question is squeezed out in a conversation like flatulence in a stuffy room. There is sniffing, looking around, awkward silence, and descent into gibberish.
The rationale for spending $38,000+ per offender per year is generally "well, we need to keep the public safe." Separating offenders from their criminal friends and families (sometimes the lines blur between which is which) and society at large is supposed to do this.
It doesn't! And it doesn't for several reasons. Criminal friends and family still have contact with the offender. Prison does not become an isolation ward for the dangerous to protect the public, but more often that not operates as the main offices of "Crime Inc." Prisons are organized and deeply influenced by the offenders housed within, rather than by prison officials, guards, and administrators.
And perhaps the most important reason this does not work, prisons act as a toxic spill that creeps and seeps into everything that surrounds them and touches them. Employees of prisons, in fact, all law enforcement personnel are all badly influenced by continual contact with offenders. It affects the way they think, the way they consider others, their world view, their values, their morals, their marriages, their parenting, and their very souls. And through these contacts and associations, the free world is profoundly impacted. The offender may not be physically present, but his influence is felt in big and small ways.
The awkward question about the meaning of prisons in America part III
So, if the isolation rationale is not totally what it appears, if rehabilitation is not happening, perhaps we can feel better about the notion our rather expensive prisons are "punishing" offenders for the wrong they have done.
Obviously, you have never visited in a prison. Talking heads decry the luxurious life of the offender incarcerated in Texas, but again, such folks largely speak from ignorance. I am sure there are folks in Texas whose lives of grinding poverty would find prison a step up.
Most would not. Space is cramped, cell mates are almost always undesirables (this is prison not the Hilton), food is available but much more than that description might be disrespectful to other things that are described as "food." Clothes supplied by the system( which is only what you are allowed to wear) seem to been purchased worn out but that's alright because offender areas in most prisons are without air conditioning and more often than not are hot and stuffy.
More troublesome than all this is the surrender of freedom that comes when one is incarcerated. It is one of the great ironies of life that people who don't want to have people telling them what to do end up in prisons where folks are always--telling them what to do. You can only be where you are told to be. You can only shower when you are told to shower. You can only watch TV when you are told to watch TV and you share that TV with 40 other people, the biggest of which determines what the channel is set on. You are told when you can eat and what you can eat and what you can possess and where you can walk and when you can visit your family and when they can visit you and if and when you get to get out of your cell and out of prison.
Although such an environment may begin to sound a little like "punishment," in order for that to work, it is necessary for an offender to grasp the idea they are guilty of something. Although there are over 150,000 offenders in Texas prisons, a guilty person is hard to find. They either didn't do what they are accused of, or they didn't do it like the courts said they did it, or there were mitigating circumstances that leaves them innocent in their own minds. And what would those circumstances be: well the person they killed was warned to quit messing with them; or they were just defending themselves or their stuff, or the other person(s) that were helping them got away, or the person they robbed/assaulted/killed was a worthless piece of s***.
So there we have it: innocent people locked away in "god forsaken" prisons being disrespected and denied their rights.
In the absence of genuine feeling of guilt, there is little chance for remorse, and less chance for change. In fact, for many, prison become a school where the goal is to learn how to do the same thing and not get caught.
Right!
Obviously, you have never visited in a prison. Talking heads decry the luxurious life of the offender incarcerated in Texas, but again, such folks largely speak from ignorance. I am sure there are folks in Texas whose lives of grinding poverty would find prison a step up.
Most would not. Space is cramped, cell mates are almost always undesirables (this is prison not the Hilton), food is available but much more than that description might be disrespectful to other things that are described as "food." Clothes supplied by the system( which is only what you are allowed to wear) seem to been purchased worn out but that's alright because offender areas in most prisons are without air conditioning and more often than not are hot and stuffy.
More troublesome than all this is the surrender of freedom that comes when one is incarcerated. It is one of the great ironies of life that people who don't want to have people telling them what to do end up in prisons where folks are always--telling them what to do. You can only be where you are told to be. You can only shower when you are told to shower. You can only watch TV when you are told to watch TV and you share that TV with 40 other people, the biggest of which determines what the channel is set on. You are told when you can eat and what you can eat and what you can possess and where you can walk and when you can visit your family and when they can visit you and if and when you get to get out of your cell and out of prison.
Although such an environment may begin to sound a little like "punishment," in order for that to work, it is necessary for an offender to grasp the idea they are guilty of something. Although there are over 150,000 offenders in Texas prisons, a guilty person is hard to find. They either didn't do what they are accused of, or they didn't do it like the courts said they did it, or there were mitigating circumstances that leaves them innocent in their own minds. And what would those circumstances be: well the person they killed was warned to quit messing with them; or they were just defending themselves or their stuff, or the other person(s) that were helping them got away, or the person they robbed/assaulted/killed was a worthless piece of s***.
So there we have it: innocent people locked away in "god forsaken" prisons being disrespected and denied their rights.
In the absence of genuine feeling of guilt, there is little chance for remorse, and less chance for change. In fact, for many, prison become a school where the goal is to learn how to do the same thing and not get caught.
Right!
The awkward question about the meaning of prisons in America part II
Prisons in America are perceived by some as being opportunities of rehabilitation.
Nothing could be further from the truth. In Texas, most of the money spend on offenders is for their room and board and security. A modicum of money is spent on any kind of efforts at rehabilitation. The Windham school is a modest effort thrown at the huge issue of offenders' inability to read, write, and be educated. Medical and Mental Health Services are managed care driven contracts that offer nurse driven medical essential services and mental health symptom management by scarce psychiatric providers and Master level unlicensed clinicians. Additionally, in the Mental Health field, much of the prison behavior is driven by what is understood to be personality disordered individuals that Master level clinicians are marginally exposed to, and through out the field is regarded as "untreatable." In the incarcerated setting, making head way with a personality disordered individual is nothing short of a miracle. And sadly, whatever progress is made with one, 10 more arrive on the chain bus on given unit on any given week.
What this translates into is a large population of offenders who have nothing better to do the larger part of their day except hone their already substantial abilities to think wrong, feel wrong, and do wrong. Grandma was right in this regard, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop." I would add, "idle minds, idle hearts, and idle spirits." Efforts in TDC to rehabilitate anyone regarding any self defeating habit are under available, understaffed, underfunded, perhaps worse of all largely ineffective.
The way Texas has chosen to deal with this program is to create a stealth institution (TDCJ) whose presence is only noted at budget time and when an offender escapes. The rest of the time, citizens are encouraged to refocus their attention on the next court case or on issues of more substance like the Rangers or the Astros.
Nothing could be further from the truth. In Texas, most of the money spend on offenders is for their room and board and security. A modicum of money is spent on any kind of efforts at rehabilitation. The Windham school is a modest effort thrown at the huge issue of offenders' inability to read, write, and be educated. Medical and Mental Health Services are managed care driven contracts that offer nurse driven medical essential services and mental health symptom management by scarce psychiatric providers and Master level unlicensed clinicians. Additionally, in the Mental Health field, much of the prison behavior is driven by what is understood to be personality disordered individuals that Master level clinicians are marginally exposed to, and through out the field is regarded as "untreatable." In the incarcerated setting, making head way with a personality disordered individual is nothing short of a miracle. And sadly, whatever progress is made with one, 10 more arrive on the chain bus on given unit on any given week.
What this translates into is a large population of offenders who have nothing better to do the larger part of their day except hone their already substantial abilities to think wrong, feel wrong, and do wrong. Grandma was right in this regard, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop." I would add, "idle minds, idle hearts, and idle spirits." Efforts in TDC to rehabilitate anyone regarding any self defeating habit are under available, understaffed, underfunded, perhaps worse of all largely ineffective.
The way Texas has chosen to deal with this program is to create a stealth institution (TDCJ) whose presence is only noted at budget time and when an offender escapes. The rest of the time, citizens are encouraged to refocus their attention on the next court case or on issues of more substance like the Rangers or the Astros.
The Mentally Ill In Prison
In the free world(life outside a prison) Mental Illness is a label and term that is generally applied very specifically and narrowly. Lots of folks who battle depression, anxiety, attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity disorder, would never think of themselves as Mentally Ill and are not really labelled or described in that way. In the free world, Mental Illness as both a label and a category are reserved for schizophrenia, psychosis, extreme bipolars, and the mentally retarded.
However, in prison, Mental Illness and the treatment of Mental Illness is the domain of psychiatry and Mental Health Departments. The label and the category are broad. In fact, when offenders are screened for Mental Illness, we look at present behaviors and past history. What are we looking for? If a person has a free world history of treatment by psychiatrist or an inpatient stay at the Mental Hospital, if the person has ever attempted suicide, or has ever reported taking a medication that is designated as a psychotropic medication, or has seen a counselor for any reason; been diagnosed as a child with any number of issues such a Attention Deficit Disorder or Hyperactive disorder, or is Mentally retarded or Borderline Mental Functioning. We also screen for all the above list of situations, diagnoses, services while in the prison system. So, Mental Illness is broad, very broad.
What is challenging to learn and experience is in Texas, the largest providers of Mental Health services are not medically trained personnel or clinically trained counselors or psychotherapists or psychologists, but police officers, jailors, and correctional officers.
And generally, this large group of folks, in both the free world and prison are largely not interested in identifying or understanding Mental Illnesses. So, the keepers and the daily minders of the ill basically have no interest in their illness.
Sad irony that more often that not ends in tragedy.
However, in prison, Mental Illness and the treatment of Mental Illness is the domain of psychiatry and Mental Health Departments. The label and the category are broad. In fact, when offenders are screened for Mental Illness, we look at present behaviors and past history. What are we looking for? If a person has a free world history of treatment by psychiatrist or an inpatient stay at the Mental Hospital, if the person has ever attempted suicide, or has ever reported taking a medication that is designated as a psychotropic medication, or has seen a counselor for any reason; been diagnosed as a child with any number of issues such a Attention Deficit Disorder or Hyperactive disorder, or is Mentally retarded or Borderline Mental Functioning. We also screen for all the above list of situations, diagnoses, services while in the prison system. So, Mental Illness is broad, very broad.
What is challenging to learn and experience is in Texas, the largest providers of Mental Health services are not medically trained personnel or clinically trained counselors or psychotherapists or psychologists, but police officers, jailors, and correctional officers.
And generally, this large group of folks, in both the free world and prison are largely not interested in identifying or understanding Mental Illnesses. So, the keepers and the daily minders of the ill basically have no interest in their illness.
Sad irony that more often that not ends in tragedy.
Survival
When one is sentenced to prison, the most important issue with no close rivals is survival: physical; emotional; spiritual; and perhaps at the bottom of the list--intellectual. I would put intellectual at the bottom of the list because prison is really not a great place to learn much that is helpful, and as the recidivism rates show what offenders do learn only makes them more prone to commit more crimes.
Physical survival may surprise some, but one only as to think about who gets sent to prison. At our place, we have a mix of offenders from folks who have moderately serious drug offenses to serial killers on Death Row. Many of our population are not professional thugs or killers, but they have been sentenced and housed with professional thugs, gang bangers and killers. Add to that mix sex offenders some of whom are predators, and men who have trouble with anger, aggressiveness, and personality disorders best described as believing they are the only one living on the planet and they are entitled. "Entitled to what?" You ask. Well just fill in the blank. More food, better food, first in line, not kept waiting, and the list goes on and one.
Since everything in prison tends to devolve into either a tattoo needle or a shank (weapon), it is easy to see why survival can be the paramount issue. This is especially true if one is small of stature, effeminate, scared, serious mentally ill or not associated with someone bigger and badder.
When one talks of physical safety, it is all about not getting injured/and or killed for any number of reasons: you don't belong to a gang, don't belong to the other gang, won't allow yourself to be extorted for soup, favors, or various and sundry items, or are perceived as being a snitch. You might be taking some medication that others would like to take instead. Or, you have something of extreme value someone else wants like a cheap fan or writing paper.
What is not valuable in prison is a human life. Curios to me that is because so many of the offenders are in prison because they did some crime against a person or persons. It is sort of like being sent to the one place where no one really gives any thought to you--because in the free world, you did not think of others. If it sounds like a snap shot of hell, it is!
Physical survival may surprise some, but one only as to think about who gets sent to prison. At our place, we have a mix of offenders from folks who have moderately serious drug offenses to serial killers on Death Row. Many of our population are not professional thugs or killers, but they have been sentenced and housed with professional thugs, gang bangers and killers. Add to that mix sex offenders some of whom are predators, and men who have trouble with anger, aggressiveness, and personality disorders best described as believing they are the only one living on the planet and they are entitled. "Entitled to what?" You ask. Well just fill in the blank. More food, better food, first in line, not kept waiting, and the list goes on and one.
Since everything in prison tends to devolve into either a tattoo needle or a shank (weapon), it is easy to see why survival can be the paramount issue. This is especially true if one is small of stature, effeminate, scared, serious mentally ill or not associated with someone bigger and badder.
When one talks of physical safety, it is all about not getting injured/and or killed for any number of reasons: you don't belong to a gang, don't belong to the other gang, won't allow yourself to be extorted for soup, favors, or various and sundry items, or are perceived as being a snitch. You might be taking some medication that others would like to take instead. Or, you have something of extreme value someone else wants like a cheap fan or writing paper.
What is not valuable in prison is a human life. Curios to me that is because so many of the offenders are in prison because they did some crime against a person or persons. It is sort of like being sent to the one place where no one really gives any thought to you--because in the free world, you did not think of others. If it sounds like a snap shot of hell, it is!
Sunday, May 22, 2011
The Texas way of Mental Health Care for the poor
If you are poor, live in Texas and have schizophrenia, your best chance at care will be in prison. Go figure the logic of this. If one is able to be treated with the generics out there, prescribed by a competent psychiatrist, the taxpayer costs could rise to $5,000. a year max. However, if one takes the Texas approach, we pay $38,000-40,000 a year to keep an offender behind bars, and we throw in psychiatric care and meds--for free?
The ruptured rapture
Yesterday, at 6:00 pm, it was all supposed to be over. An old, dithering duffer whose should have known better but didn't, predicted the Rapture would take place. For reasons that always escape me, people listened, and of course the news media took note, and off we go for a short lived ride that ultimately ends with some foolish disappointed person having a faith meltdown on camera.
Such predictions have always seemed to me to be "prophets behaving badly." Foolishly, they keep doing it and religious people keep believing the silly pronouncements, never mind that Jesus said that no one knows. Apparently, "no one" is the only thing up for interpretation.
So here we are, the day after the end of time. Hum, what a curious time to be!
Such predictions have always seemed to me to be "prophets behaving badly." Foolishly, they keep doing it and religious people keep believing the silly pronouncements, never mind that Jesus said that no one knows. Apparently, "no one" is the only thing up for interpretation.
So here we are, the day after the end of time. Hum, what a curious time to be!
Back Again after a two year absence
It has been about 2 years and 2 months since I last posted to this blog.
In that period of time:
My family moved into a new home at a time when property sales and purchases were at an all time low. My mother-in-law had continued her health and mental health free fall, now residing in a Nursing home with good days and bad days. Good days mean happy delusions and bad days are rather traumatic delusions.
The national economy appears to have ended it's rapid descent while the blaming continues at almost shrill levels.
Big American banks and American auto makers are back to business as usual with an amnesia that can be breathtaking.
Texas has gone from riches to rags while the sitting governor is well--still sitting and telling us that Texas is the "envy" of the country.
Natural disasters have run the gamut from volcano eruptions, earthquakes,tsunamis, and the tornadoes, flooding, and these have happened pretty much all over the world. Sadly, one can choose a particular kind of disaster to donate to and whatever one gives will not be enough.
I continued to be challenged in my new work of overseeing the mental health care of offenders at a maximum security prison. My work is such that my favorite slogan for the week was something I ran across on the internet, "I have run away to join a different circus."
And I discovered Ian Rankin, a Scottish mystery writer whose plots surpass Christi in complexity and darkness.
Writing has always been good therapy for me, and these days, given all that has happened world-wide the last two years, a little therapy can't hurt anyone--too much
In that period of time:
My family moved into a new home at a time when property sales and purchases were at an all time low. My mother-in-law had continued her health and mental health free fall, now residing in a Nursing home with good days and bad days. Good days mean happy delusions and bad days are rather traumatic delusions.
The national economy appears to have ended it's rapid descent while the blaming continues at almost shrill levels.
Big American banks and American auto makers are back to business as usual with an amnesia that can be breathtaking.
Texas has gone from riches to rags while the sitting governor is well--still sitting and telling us that Texas is the "envy" of the country.
Natural disasters have run the gamut from volcano eruptions, earthquakes,tsunamis, and the tornadoes, flooding, and these have happened pretty much all over the world. Sadly, one can choose a particular kind of disaster to donate to and whatever one gives will not be enough.
I continued to be challenged in my new work of overseeing the mental health care of offenders at a maximum security prison. My work is such that my favorite slogan for the week was something I ran across on the internet, "I have run away to join a different circus."
And I discovered Ian Rankin, a Scottish mystery writer whose plots surpass Christi in complexity and darkness.
Writing has always been good therapy for me, and these days, given all that has happened world-wide the last two years, a little therapy can't hurt anyone--too much
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