Group Blog

Introduction by Megan: When communities think about why someone goes to jail, most of the time the language used to respond is negative. The truth is, more than 1/3 of the amount of people in county jails are not in there because they are evil, but because they simply have no where else to go. Reality shows that the mentally ill are taking over jail cells. This stigma relating the mentally ill to those in jail corrupts them. Funding decreases, society grows angry, people lose everything. This stigma has placed the mentally ill in what seems to be a never ending cycle from homelessness to jail and back. The government will only go as far as the people want. To erase this cycle the true issues need to be put on the table of abandonment of a society who isn't capable to live a sustainable life on their own.
      - - - disabilities, stigma, jail, ethics, morals, media, government


Lauren Gantz: The media represents the mentally disabled in a severely negative fashion, forcing American's to give the mentally ill an unfair, negative stigma. News reporters constantly state that mental illness is the reason for tragic murders and crimes. And while this may be true in some cases, this representation creates a negative attitude towards all mentally disabled people, even those that may not be harmful. This vicious representation cycle started with the lack of treatment for the mentally ill. Because of this, crimes are committed and they are represented poorly within society.

Gabi Cohen: Homeless people are forced to go to jail for shelter and refuse but also because it is the only place where someone with mental disorders can get some treatment. Due to the stigma of mental illness there are very little organizations that give free mental health drugs and consultations. Jail is really the only place to go after many mental illness hospitals were shut down in the 70's. This caused a rise in homeless people because after the facilities were shutdown, the people had nowhere to go but also could not find jobs and couldn't afford a place to live.


I like what Gabi wrote about in the 70's when institutions were shut down and all of the people were released onto the streets. They were often homeless because they couldn't find jobs. I like both of these paragraphs. I think I would combined them though, and make it into one big first paragraph to describe the stigma that is brought upon mental illness in order to prove my further points.