EDITORIAL Mental illness is not a crime

Do you agree with the following statements?

Mental illness is not a crime.

People who suffer from mental illness are not criminals.

People who have not committed a crime should not be kept in prison and treated like criminals.

The families of people suffering from mental illness should not be subjected to the same invasive security procedures when visiting their loved ones as the families of convicted criminals.

A prison is not a therapeutic setting.

People who are suffering from mental illness deserve treatment and compassion, not punishment and isolation.

Men and women suffering from mental illness should be covered by the Patient’s Bill of Rights and not subjected to the rules regulating prisoners.

If you agree with the above statements we ask that you add your voices to those speaking against the practice of placing civilly committed individuals deemed to require secure placement in a unit called the Secure Psychiatric Unit in the New Hampshire State Prison for Men in Concord.

In a complaint to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Treatment Advocacy Center notes that New Hampshire is the only state in the nation that does not have any beds within a secure psychiatric hospital.

“The state of New Hampshire is systematically and intentionally violating the Constitution, as well as the civil rights and civil liberties of a very vulnerable population of its citizenry,” the Treatment Advocacy Center asserts in its federal complaint.

New Hampshire Rep. Renny Cushing, D-Hampton, has sponsored House Bill 1541, “An Act prohibiting placement of certain persons with a mental illness in the secure psychiatric unit, and authorizing the commissioner of the department of corrections to seek therapeutic alternatives.”

We strongly support this bill and urge its approval when it goes before the House Health and Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee on Oct. 21.

A subcommittee studying the bill voted not to support Cushing’s bill because they want to pass a broader bill that addresses numerous challenges facing the state’s delivery of mental health services.

While we agree there are other problems to be addressed, the state for decades has shown zero willingness to address them.

It finally made some improvements after being compelled by a federal lawsuit to do so.

Cushing’s narrowly defined bill addresses an emergency and shouldn’t be pushed aside while the state spends another decade talking about its larger mental health challenges while doing absolutely nothing.

The state has balked at addressing this issue because the solution, if it involves building a new facility or placing patients out of state, could be very expensive.

But New Hampshire cannot ignore the constitutionally protected civil rights of its citizens simply because it is cheaper to violate them than to obey the law.

We urge the state to pass the bill and then work hard to find a solution that respects the constitutional rights of patients in the most cost effective way possible.