The Human Resources Center
of Edgar and Clark Counties
The Human Resources Center
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“HOW
COULD WE?!” Kenneth Polky, Executive Director
I
wasn’t much of a history buff during my “early years.” But my interest
changed as I grew older and began to reflect on some of the monumental events
that had taken place during my lifetime—Rosa Parks, Sputnik, the Cuban missile
crisis, the Kennedy and King assassinations, the moon landings, Viet Nam,
Watergate, hostages in Iran, collapse of the Berlin Wall, the Gulf War, and 9/11
all come to mind. Some of these
memorable events induce feelings of shame, anger and worry while others stir up
feelings of pride and hope. But, one often overlooked “event” is still
having serious ramifications for millions of Americans—begging the question:
“How could we?!” How
could we allow our most severely mentally ill and developmentally disabled
citizens to be warehoused in mental hospitals and asylums in the 1950’s, and
with the dawn of the 21st
century, placed back on the streets without adequate supports and resources for
proper care and survival?! According
to Census Bureau statistics, America’s once stable federal and state prison
populations skyrocketed as mental hospitals and state institutions downsized or
closed. In 2005, after almost 50
years of so-called “deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill” the United
States incarcerated 2.2 million people with another 4.1 million on probation and
784,000 on parole. This translates
into one in every 32 American adults either being locked up or under legal
supervision. Today,
there are three times as many persons with mental illness in U.S. prisons as are
in mental health hospitals. 65% of
the inmates across the country reportedly have mental health issues, forcing our
prisons and jails to play the role of ill-equipped “mental health
providers.” Prisons and jails were
never designed for and are not now able to accommodate the unique needs of the
mentally ill. Prisoners who break
rules because of their illnesses must be dealt with—but such behaviors as
self-mutilation and attempted suicide
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