My Letter to the Editor

One more thing...I recently wrote a Letter to the Editor to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in response to an article that touched my heart. The letter was published in the newspaper on Christmas Day. Well, my Google search (see the previous post) also showed me that a woman wrote a letter in response to my letter and hers was published as well. Pretty cool! Both letters are below: My letter is on top and hers is on the bottom.

MENTAL ILLNESS
Prison not a solution
LINK
Have prisons become the asylum of last resort for those with mental illness? The Dec. 19 article "Woman who killed baby gets 5 years" saddened me. According to the article, Arkisha Johnson is a suicidal woman who suffers from bipolar disorder and attempted suicide after drowning her 5-month-old son. She's only 30 years old, yet she has attempted suicide numerous times and has had 30 contacts with the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex since she was 12. Her mental health issues were so severe that the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare ordered caseworkers not to leave her alone with her son unless she was taking all of her prescribed medications.

Despite her mental health issues, now she will sit in prison for five years, where corrections officers will be responsible for her mental health and safety. It's as if prisons have become the asylum of last resort for those with mental illness, and that is very unfortunate. The reality is that Wisconsin prisons are understaffed, underfunded and have a dangerously dysfunctional health care system.

A recent study by the American Civil Liberties Union found that women at Wisconsin's Taycheedah Correctional Institution suffer medical neglect and receive worse mental health care than men. Furthermore, the ACLU said the lapses in mental health care occur against the backdrop of a prison system that has a suicide rate twice the national average.

I lost a loved one to suicide in 2007, and that is why my heart goes out to Johnson - and yours should, too. I pray that she receives the mental health services she so desperately needs while she is in prison. But the odds are clearly stacked against her.

Nepherterra Estrada
Milwaukee

---------------------------------------------------------------------------


MENTAL ILLNESS
Society needs to do a better job of helping
LINK

This is in response to the Dec. 25 letter by Nepherterra Estrada, "Prison not a solution" about mental illness. I agree with all she said. Why can't we build more special facilities to house those with mental illness who have committed crimes?
Now, they are all thrown in together with little or no treatment. The jails are overcrowded, and we need more housing for inmates. Why not build more institutions for people with mental illness? Illness is the operative word here. These people are ill. Most would have not committed the offenses had they been in their right minds. Too many people ignore the needs of those with mental illness while going out of their way to treat those with physical illness.
It's just not right. We're not in the dark ages anymore. We need decent treatment facilities for people with mental illness, not like the "snake pits" of yesterday.
Please, let's work on it, people in power. We need a leader to get the ball rolling

Maureen Quin
Greendale