NAMI-National has recently released a well-written publication entitled “CIT in Action.”  It provides useful information on ways for families to interface with the criminal justice system when their loved ones with severe and untreated mental illness are incarcerated.

The question begging to be asked is, why are people with severe mental illnesses incarcerated?  Why do families need to know how to deal with a criminal justice system not designed to handle the needs of those with severe illnesses (of any kind)?  Why do we accept, as a given, that our loved ones may end up  incarcerated when they are too ill to know they are sick and stop taking their life-sustaining medication?

NAMI acknowledges that “[g]etting caught up in the criminal justice system can be a highly traumatic experience for people living with serious mental illnesses and family members trying to help them.”  That “….many people can’t get adequate treatment in their communities……and in response to this need….NAMI [has] worked to develop resources that help their members better understand and navigate the criminal justice system.” 

It is most unfortunate that family members of people with severe illnesses need to know how to navigate the criminal justice system.  Do not accept the inevitability of incarceration.  Demand better access to treatment in your communities.  Assisted outpatient treatment is the law in 43 states.  Let’s get it fully and effectively implemented so that incarceration, in lieu of treatment, can become a part of our barbaric past.