GOD CAN MAKE A WAY OUT OF NO WAY
Nonprofit Organization
A Support Group for Parents with Incarcerated Adult Children
Our acronym is M.I.S.S. but we do not exclude incarcerated daughters.
"Where there is no vision…the people perish."
Prisons have become de faco mental healtth facilities. The lack of social simulation is harmful regardless of the inmate’s mental status, and studies have shown that isolation can have psychological implications. The mentally disabled are extremely vulnerable to this type of punishment. It can actually exacerbate their already fragile mental condition; they should not be dehumanized because of their illness. They are human beings! How did this country reverse back to the barbaric abuses and neglects that were once denounced? It was those neglectful practices, such as isolation, that partially lead to the outcry for de-institutionalization. We feel that solitary confinement constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment," which is prohibited in the eighth amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
In addition when the mentally ill are released from prison they do not have adequate housing. Thus, they wander the streets, break into abandoned buildings for shelter, are taken advantage of, and use illegal drugs to self-medicate. Finding housing is always difficult for ex-offenders, but the challenge is even more acute for the mentally ill. "For the severely mentally ill, there is virtually no facility designed for long-term inpatient care," says Sherri Sullivan, director of Bridgeview Manor, the only residential treatment center in Ohio that accepts the indigent mentally ill. If they exist, they exist as a group home, and most group homes don't offer treatment."
* 79% of surveyed participants were denied housing because of their conviction history.
* Inmates spend 22 to 24 hours alone in cells.
* The U.S. has more people in solitary confinement than any other country.
* The federal government is the single largest user of private for profit prisons.
If you have a loved-one incarcerated you are not alone. Feel free to join our group.
While he was happy to have visited the prisoners on April 17, he wished he had been able to perform a foot-washing ritual for the Church's celebration of Holy Thursday.
"He regretted he could not wash the feet of the prisoners," said the doctor.
"'This time I couldn't do it' was the last thing he said to me."
-Pope Frances
“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” — Nelson Mandela
Behind Bars, Mentally Ill Inmates Are Often Punished for Their Symptoms
Click the following to read the article: NPR
Minnesota Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell takes a tour with the media of Stillwater Correctional Facility in January of 2019. Should people with mental illness be in prison?
