You still have to look at the legal decisions that drove this. Why maintain a bunch of mental hospitals if they can't hold anyone more than 72 hours? These days it is easier to keep someone in jail without due process than it is to keep them in a hospital. There are more people in jail waiting trial than there are convicted prisoners.
I'm certainly in favor of cost savings, but I think this one was a false economy.
Cindy Hamilton
Apparently they could, since there were long-term patients in those mental hospitals.
Cindy Hamilton
Since the late 70s they need due process to commit someone unless they are willing to go on their own. That is not as easy to do as it was in the 60s. A lot will depend on state law but it is never easy. You can get them locked up for "observation" but that only lasts a few days in most states. Courts are not quick to do that unless it is diversion from a criminal proceeding. (Hinkley sort of thing)
That statement is vague enough that, while it's obviously BS, it's not worth challenging.
Google says that statement is complete BS. As of 2020, there are about a half million people being held in custody, awaiting trial, while the general (post-trial, convicted) prison population is nearly 2 million. As usual, you have things bass ackwards.
We have a huge problem in this country, though. We lock up a much larger percentage of our population, for a much longer period of time, than nearly any other developed country in the world. Unfortunately, no one seems too interested in looking at that.
"Jail" isn't prison. Two totally different institutions. Google failed you. If you are convicted and sentenced top over a year you go to prison (usually a state operation, maybe federal). If you are sentenced to less than a year you usually end up doing your time in the same county or city jail you were in awaiting trial. Since your time served awaiting trial is generally considered time served on your year (or less) even the convicted may do more time awaiting trial than they spent after conviction. A lot of sentences are just "Time Served". AKA "Yes you are guilty but you have suffered enough... until next time". OTOH it might just be "Sorry, we can't make our case, you can go".
I said
A lot of people in city/county jails are just nuts. Substance abusers, psychotics and all manner of other mental disorders committing quality of life crimes and all they can do is lock them up. Now cities are not even doing that. I haven't seen any massive increase in mental health resources in those cities that decriminalized "little crimes". They can't afford it.
Addressing prisons. I will say the drug war is not only stupid, it seems to be racist. I am not sure about right now but traditionally the majority of federal prisoners are there for drugs. The states aren't much better. Ending that war would go a long way toward reducing prison population.
I know. I misspoke. I meant to differentiate between the population awaiting trial versus the population incarcerated after being convicted, regardless of where they're being housed. With that in mind, your claim is still very wrong, as I pointed out.
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