Thread by @JoshuaBHoe

Thread:

Today I attended the second meeting of the @GovWhitmer task force on Jails and Pretrial Incarceration...I had one big takeaway...

#cjreform @safeandjustmi

@GovWhitmer @safeandjustmi In a room filled with activists, prosecutors, law enforcement officers, formerly incarcerated people, legislators, and like half of the @ACLUofMichigan we all agreed that MENTAL HEALTH CARE IN OUR JAILS is in CRISIS and NEEDS attention...needs attention badly @safeandjustmi

@GovWhitmer @safeandjustmi @ACLUofMichigan Too often, we talk about ONLY diversion, but even with the best system of diversion, some folks will end up stuck in the mental health block in the jail, and for those of us who have been there, that is NOT okay, not one person disagreed @safeandjustmi

@GovWhitmer @safeandjustmi @ACLUofMichigan I have told this story many times, but I met people in jail who had spent over a YEAR in solitary on the mental wing as a form of "TREATMENT"...take a few seconds to think about that...as treatment @safeandjustmi

@GovWhitmer @safeandjustmi @ACLUofMichigan After I finished testifying, a young woman got up and told the story of her brother, an Iraq veteran, who went to jail and was put in mental health solitary for his "Protection"

The whole room gasped as she read his words about how he was treated...

@GovWhitmer @safeandjustmi @ACLUofMichigan ....but I was not surprised at all, because - from experience - I knew every single word of what she shared was 100% true....of all the things I have seen, this made me the MOST ashamed to be a citizen, to know that things like this are done on our name @safeandjustmi

@GovWhitmer @safeandjustmi @ACLUofMichigan Now, if we REALLY want to deal with this problem we have to come to grips with ONE really important fact...absent new taxes, there is NO WAY counties, especially small counties, can afford to deal with this better. Lack of resources is a critical barrier @safeandjustmi

@GovWhitmer @safeandjustmi @ACLUofMichigan This says something TERRIBLE about us as a society that we allow people struggling with mental health to be thrown into black holes and pretend that is okay...we have to fix this, not just in Michigan, but throughout the United States @safeandjustmi

@GovWhitmer @safeandjustmi @ACLUofMichigan We can do better, we must do better, it is time for us to do BETTER!!!!

FIN