After the 24-year-old’s arrest, a judge ordered him to a state psychiatric hospital to get help. But like an increasing number of the mentally ill, he sat in jail for months as he waited for a bed to open.
The death of a D.C.-area man while in police custody in June sheds light on two important problems facing America: police brutality and the mass incarceration of the mentally ill.
Samuel Shields, who died while in the custody of the Prince George's County Correctional Center. WASHINGTON --- On June 17, 2014 Samuel Shields, a jovial and charismatic reggae musician from Jamaica, boarded a bus in Washington, D.C. on his way to Addison Road Metro Station, located just over the state border in Capitol
More California counties are turning attention to an 11-year-old law allowing judges to order involuntary outpatient treatment for people with severe mental illness.
LOS ANGELES -- At a public meeting on Feb. 25, the Alameda County, Calif., Board of Supervisors wrestled with a decision that could have a major impact not only on the mentally ill in their jurisdiction but also those across the state.
Before the five
