Regarding Western State Hospital and the ward that houses mental health patients "straight from jail" according to one staff I spoke with, they are enormously understaffed, and when the code goes off on that ward floor, it removes staff from other floors, leaving them with at times (I witnessed this countless times) only one staff person left for an entire ward floor of 35-40 people.
The staff were often injured and many times were absent for days and come back with stitches to the forehead, etc. There are no substitute staff in place. If the floor is short staffed they make do.
I find this unacceptable also, and have no answers.
What I do know, is the staff is dedicated, work hard, and for as little as 9 bucks an hour.
One woman staff told me the women were afraid when the calls come from the ward with the ex-jail inmates, due to basic physical power the men were taller, stronger, and some of the women staff were petite in size and weight and had no way to help the situation except with words, trying to talk them down.
One female nurse who was new to the job was injured during the time my daughter was in Western, and she never returned to work.
It is such an enormous crisis, that I am glad to see this entry here, because besides mental health care and hospital beds lacking in availability, etc, people don't realize there are jailed mentally ill people suffering an undignified and terrifying existance.

Well, kudos to Sue Rahr for remaining as ignorant about mental illness in 2006 as she was in 2004.

What goes around, comes around. Sue, will find her way, one day.
Angie, stand tall.
I sound like an idiot with this stuff, but Angie, what you are doing now is more important than your old job.
It does not feel better, that way, it feels like shit, but, in a few years, you will be regarded as a kick ass advocate.
Trust me.
Take care,
Stephany

As an ex-con of the Florida system, I have seen the abuse that general population prisoner deal with everyday. But the mentally ill inmates are at such greater risk. The Officers are not trained to deal with the needs of these inmates and therefore simple lock them up and file disciplinary reports on them. Solitary confinement only makes them have greater problems. This does nothing to help that inmate nor does it get them help. Also there is a major problem with the other inmates that abuse the mentally ill. This is a prison and as such is a “high crime area” in which to live. Yes there are those who try to look out for those who can’t do for themselves. But the officers will then prey upon both groups because they know if reported, who will believe a “Bug” which is what the mentally ill are called in prison. Jeb Bush like every other politician that uses the “Get on tough on crime”, as did his successor Charlie Crist did, as a stepping stone to get elected. After that the mentally ill, old and infirmed are just so much fodder for the breach. And no one seems to care anymore. I have cases that I have witnessed personally. But no one wants to know about what really goes on inside the fences of a Florida Prison.

Thanks for this. I want to learn more about prisons and had a chance last week when Texas Department of Criminal Justice had to defend their agency and I covered the six hour hearing and was worried I'd fall apart.

Incarceration is an emotional quagmire for me, prisons have always been a part of my life, I grew up with them, everyone in my family (except me) has done hard time, I've got relatives born in prison and seen one die there and I just sort of avoid the whole issue, since I am mad at these relatives for fucking up lives, including mine. But I feel sorry for them. But I'm still mad, etc.

Now I am ready to follow the issues and need direction in what to think since my own opinions are so emotionally informed, and I was nervous about attending this criminal justice advisory commission, but it was coherent and I managed to handle it.

Mental health was, if not front and center, a big part of the dialogue. The upshot is 108 million dollars next fiscal year for mental health treatment and rehab, which they have yet to define. These are incremental steps in the land of Old Sparky, but the TX legislature is beginning to see a problem with the fact its prison system is the state's defacto mental institution, it's a start.

This is an emotional issue for me as well. My Dad died when I was 8, a heavy hard ass drinker and who knows what landed him in jail, but that is when I heard "psychotic" talk for the first time , when I was young and visited him there.
I find it hard to separate emotions from what needs to be done: that has been an enormous thing for me in my advocacy, yet also a tremendous force to be able to tap into,in order to make changes in this world. My family tree is something I had to embrace, hate, release, and embrace again, to move things forward.
kudos to any one of us who shove the shit aside and move forward, for the better.

I was so afraid that I would have to go to Western State one of these days, but now I'm not because I discovered Haldol. I was so afraid that I was going to do bad stuff to people and stuff, but now I know that I can just take Haldol and I'll never have to worry again! When I first got to Overlake a couple weeks ago, I was trying to do blank to people, but then they gave me Haldol and all of those feelings dissapated into thin air! It's really rather cool. So I would reccommend that if any of you have scizophrenia and are trying to blank people, just take Haldol and everything will be great!