Insane: America's Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness

by Alisa Roth

Even the very legitimate caution with which the deputies approach the cells adds to the sense that these people are something other than human, creatures to be feared.

“We are using police tactics and police weapons and calling it a use of force. It’s not different than if I went out and tackled a guy who just robbed a liquor store. We’re applying those same policies for a guy who is so mentally ill he’s going to die if I don’t get him to a mental hospital right now.”

training programs often emphasize the worst-case scenarios, the “ways the situation could go bad or… the ways the person could hurt you.” It “teaches officers that the relationship that they have with the community is confrontational and adversarial. They are at risk, and they must take proactive steps to limit the