Insane

America's Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness

By: Alisa Roth

Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert

An urgent expose of the mental health crisis in our courts, jails, and prisons.

America has made mental illness a crime. Jails in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago each house more people with mental illnesses than any hospital. As many as half of all people in America's jails and prisons have a psychiatric disorder. One in four fatal police shootings involves a person with such disorders.

In this revelatory book, journalist Alisa Roth goes deep inside the criminal justice system to tell how and why it has become a warehouse where inmates are denied proper treatment, abused, and punished in ways that make them sicker. Through intimate stories of people in the system and those trying to fix it, Roth reveals the hidden forces behind this crisis and suggests how a fairer and more humane approach might look. Insane is a galvanizing wake-up call for criminal justice reformers and anyone concerned about the plight of our most vulnerable.

©2018 Alisa Roth (P)2018 Tantor

Interesting, but Oversimplistic

I don't think anyone would dispute that there is a mental health crisis in the United States. When the majority of psychiatric institutions were shut down, the intent was to mainstream. While that is a great concept, the support simply wasn't (and isn't) there for people who would previously have been residents of these facilities, nor the families who love and want to help them succeed. This book clearly points out that the result is shift from a medical model to a criminal model wherein many people who need psychiatric care are now becoming part of the criminal justice system, often being institutionalized anyway. We need to do better, but there are no simple solutions and there is not a one size fits all for all geographic areas or even for people who experience mental illness. I think the author tends to be fairly far "left" in her views of how people with mental illness who commit very brutal crimes are treated. (The rationale is in the epilogue, which explains her personal experience.) It does need to be considered if these individuals pose an ongoing threat to others. Very few people with mental illness are violent. For those who are, it is extremely complex. Even if their medications are effective, what happens if they do not take their medications, which is can easily occur? That has to be considered. This book is thought provoking and hopefully will inspire more people to understand and seek solutions.

Groundhog Days of Repetitive Dumbass

America, the dutiful dumbasses. We cannot solve social problems because we are a regressive and retributive people. Everyone must feel the pain of our empathy lacking nature.

Eye-opening

I am really interested in criminal justice as a concerned citizen who works with youths. I have always understood that there is a correlation between mental health and our imprisoned population, but I was not really sure of the actual relationship between mental health care and criminal justice; this book did a great job of explaining how that relationship looks from region to region and the complexity of the issue of this relationship. I wouldn't say that I "enjoyed" this book because of the heaviness of it's content, but I feel more connected and concerned to these issues.

One of the Most Important Books Today

I loved this book, halfway through listening to it I ordered a copy for my father, who is a Vietnam war veteran with schizophrenia and PTSD, and who also spent time in the prison system. This book was hard to listen to at times because of how dark the content is, and because it hits close to home. One story mentioned was nearly identical to what had happened to my brother, who also suffered from mental illness and was fatally shot during an episode. I had no idea this had happened as commonly, and that it had happened again two county's over from where my brother was killed. Many accounts in this book also mirror anecdotes from my father's experiences in prison. My father has been reading this book almost one chapter at a time, and usually calls me afterwards to vent and discuss. He's told me it has validated his struggles from both being caught up in the system himself, and also losing his son. This book is very powerful and informative of the prison system across the United states, as well as possible ways to fix it. If you read anything this year, you have to read this.

Phenomenal Expose

Loved the fact this author pulled no punches about how the mentally I'll are treated. Also loved the narrator.

Good book

Interesting book, would not say it's ground breaking, but makes some good points. Only issue I've had, is that it's read to academically. Although it is understanding for the type of the book this is, sometimes it was difficult for my mind not to wander.

The most important read for judges and juries.

I’ll spoil the ending for you. We do not know how to solve mental illness or absolutely put an end to criminal activity at this time. However we do know systematically how poorly we are dealing with the realities that we face. That our criminal justice system not only exacerbates illnesses, it creates mental illness in both the inmates and the correctional service providers. What hadn’t happened yet when this book was published is a pandemic. Today anyone who cares to look, can see that millions of people are taking to the streets and doing together exactly what individuals do in order to be considered bi-polar. The DSM might be adjusted to rename bipolar disorder to simply “woke” and our government can simply hand out more money and pills, as our government is known to do. What would be better is if we start building infrastructure and planning for a more equitable way for society to exist without gamification in some system of illness that eliminates us like a satanic game of musical chairs. The children are our future and they deserve better.

Eye Opener to Reality

No matter which side your opinion flows this book is a much needed eye opener for everyone, and a recommended read for any individual involved in our criminal justice system!

Mental Health: Informational Read

I would recommend this book!

There are a lot of statistics and facts in this book. It can get boring at times. It took me about a month of listening to it off and on to finish it. But I really enjoyed it! I work in psych hospitals and I see the mental health system failing people on a daily basis! It’s fascinating to hear about the incarceration system side of mental health. So many heart breaking stories!

need to read

honestly just how raw this book felt was inspiring, tragic, and informative! I'm grateful to have her access to a book like this