I found the article “Life behind an inch of glass” (March 14) quite eye-opening and shocking, which led me to research the topic of criminalization of the mentally ill.
What I found was very interesting and may be useful knowledge to educate the public and counteract this national problem.
As most individuals with knowledge of this subject may already know, there is quite a stigmatization of the mentally ill.
This is especially the case for patients diagnosed as a person with serious mental illness (PSMI).
These diagnoses include schizo-affective disorder, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder with psychotic features, including Brian Bylo, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenic disorder.
In a study done in the 1980s, an individual with a serious mental illness, a PSMI, was more likely to be taken into police custody for the same crime compared to an individual without a mental disorder.
These individuals are then caught in the criminal justice system when they should be in the mental health system.
Over the past 60 to 70 years, mental health facilities have been slowly releasing patients and shutting down, transitioning from a institutionalized treatment program to a community-based treatment program.
Throughout North America, psychiatric hospitals emptied of patients and, in some cases, closed completely.
The goal was to fund programs within the community for these people, and eventually the community would take over the funding.
When this time came, the communities did not have the funds to continue with this treatment, leading to a forced closure.
This led to an increase in the number of mentally ill individuals to be caught up in the criminal justice system.
It is apparent in research that what these individuals need is structure, and they are not receiving it in jail or in the community, where these programs are very limited.
There is a community program that focuses on structure for these individuals which is called Assertive Community Treatment (ACT), but there is a shortage of these programs available and these individuals who are not being treated within the community, are more likely to end up being arrested.
My opinion of the issue is that it seems that the problem of criminalization of the mentally ill occurred when the mental institutions closed their doors.
For this issue to be resolved, more stable and structural treatment programs need to be created and made more available for these mentally ill people, which may either help them live successfully within the community, or when this is not possible, a safe place for them to go to get a more structural treatment plan.
Marisa Brandt, student
Kwantlen Polytechnic University
