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(June 2, 2015) Ohio Governor John Kasich recently expressed outrage at the number of people with mental illness in prison, calling it “a disgrace” (“John Kasich: Number of mentally ill in prison is 'a disgrace',” Buzzfeed News, Jun. 2).

“We have 10,000 people in our prisons with mental illness,” Gov. Kasich said, speaking at a luncheon last week.

“Now I don’t know how many of you know people who struggle with these illnesses, but if you’ve got a problem with schizophrenia you find yourself in a prison? It’s a disgrace in this country,” he continued.

Kasich’s administration has taken steps to address this issue. The Governor released a budget earlier this year designed to encourage judges to put first-time, nonviolent offenders in community programs instead of prison. Kasich also signed a bill clarifying the right of judges to order outpatient treatments for adults with mental illness.

Governor Kasich is right; the way we treat people with mental illness is indeed a national disgrace.

Prisons and jails have become America’s de facto mental asylums. According to Treatment Advocacy Center data, there are now ten times as many individuals with serious mental illness behind bars than in state psychiatric hospitals.

Read the Treatment Advocacy Center report on “The Treatment of Persons with Mental Illness in Prisons and Jails” to learn more.

(Photo: Michael Vadon/Flickr)

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