New Book Explores Troubling Treatment of Mental Illness in Jails

In her new book, “Insane: America’s Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness,” journalist Alisa Roth explores the incarceration of mentally ill individuals in the United States. She exposes a world in which correctional officers are substituted for mental health professionals without adequate training, and are left to manage a widespread mental health crisis in prisons and jails. Roth estimates that as many as half of all inmates suffer from a psychiatric condition. While some correctional institutions refused her requests to enter their facilities to investigate, others allowed her to see firsthand what was happening in their facilities. As a result, Roth is able to share some especially poignant stories about the inadequacy of psychiatric treatment in correctional institutions. Learn more here.