Heartbreak and Hope: Mental Health and Criminal Justice in America
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A recent New York University study found that more than 8.3 million adult Americans are battling some type of mental illness, many without access to the services that can help them. Of that number, nearly a quarter are more likely to have encounters with law enforcement, which has resulted in an estimated 2 million people with varying degrees of psychological illness being imprisoned, with even fewer resources for treatment.
In New York City, most of the mentally ill inmates from Rikers Island are treated at Bellevue Hospital, where psychiatrists are faced with the extra burden of patients dealing with criminality, incarceration, isolation, and stigma.
Dr. Elizabeth Ford is the chief of Psychiatry for Correctional Health Services for New York City's Health and Hospitals. She became a prison psychiatrist after moonlighting at Bellevue hospital to pay off student loans, and saw that the prison population was grossly underserved when it came to mental health assistance.
She's the author of "Sometimes Amazing Things Happen: Heartbreak and Hope on the Bellevue Hospital Psychiatric Prison Ward," a memoir of her experiences as a correctional psychiatrist. She joins The Takeaway to discuss her experience in Bellevue, and the state of mental healthcare in the U.S. criminal justice system.
