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    elaine layaboutTaylor Berman
    3/19/14 12:33pm

    Murdough's criminal record included 11 misdemeanor convictions for trespassing, drinking in public and minor drug charges

    given all the resources that were expended to punish this man for suffering from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia — not to mention the pending wrongful death suit — couldn't we just have taken care of him, or at least have invested in studying how to best care for the mentally ill? letting our mentally ill brothers and sisters live in the gutter and locking them up when they get out of hand, in addition to being cruel, is just not working

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      Peterpieperelaine layabout
      3/19/14 12:40pm

      "not working" is a fucking understatement. we are callously abandoning and throwing them away in prisons where not only do they not get treatment, their subjected to unhygienic and unsafe squalor that may kill them! it's truly shameful.

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      elaine layaboutPeterpieper
      3/19/14 12:56pm

      alas, prison squalor is the least of these folks' problems ... they are often preyed upon by other inmates, and the treatments that are psychologically damaging for non mentally ill inmates, such as solitary confinement, can send the mentally ill over the edge

      fortunately, here in chicago, cook county sheriff tom dart has made it one of his missions to keep the mentally ill out of jail ... he has instituted a program to divert them to community mental health facilities ... unfortunately, those facilities are woefully inadequate, so on any given day, cook county jail houses 2,000 mentally ill inmates, making it the largest mental "health" facility in the nation

      here's a depressingly informative article on the subject: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/02/09/opi…

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    kumfinemyyTaylor Berman
    3/19/14 12:19pm

    I see the City implemented a new homeless outreach program. I bet the trespassing charge was sleeping in a park or something.

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      StaceyKBkumfinemyy
      3/19/14 12:26pm

      My knowledge of the New York justice system comes exclusively from Law and Order so keep that in mind here. Isn't Rikers like a big time prison? Like Angola or Sing Sing? Why would someone on a trespassing charge get sent there?

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      StaceyKBkumfinemyy
      3/19/14 12:28pm

      No wait. That's the county jail right? Why don't I just Google this shit?

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    StaceyKBTaylor Berman
    3/19/14 12:22pm

    What the fuck? Why would any prisoner be allowed to open and close a vent that has the potential to bake him to death? What am I missing here? There has to be more to this story.

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      Hannibal the CannibalStaceyKB
      3/19/14 12:30pm

      What am I missing here?

      Blatant incompetence and stupidity.

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      Patcher PupHannibal the Cannibal
      3/19/14 12:38pm

      Don't forget complete and utter disregard for human life.

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    Schrödinger's DadTaylor Berman
    3/19/14 12:23pm

    Having spent time in jail before, I can tell you that it is a sad reflection upon America what we do to the mentally ill in this country. I was in there with a cat whose crime was breaking into cars to stay warm in the winter. He was basically retarded. His sentence was worst than most, as weakness is not a virtue in jail. He rarely got to eat, his commissary money was spent on other people, he had no shoes, and was just in there as prey to the to the populous.

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      burlivesleftnutSchrödinger's Dad
      3/19/14 12:34pm

      All cats are mildly retarded.

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      Schrödinger's Dadburlivesleftnut
      3/19/14 12:39pm

      And should be in jail. I'm old, and use old people language.

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    benjaminalloverTaylor Berman
    3/19/14 12:28pm

    We treat people with chronic mental illness worse than we treat animals in our society. Poverty and jail; what other illness lands an innocent person in jail? My heart breaks.

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      dwaynewillholdyoutightTaylor Berman
      3/19/14 12:16pm

      Healthier than fried.

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        PipeSmokingGaldwaynewillholdyoutight
        3/19/14 12:23pm

        I must be going to hell because this made me laugh even though I tried not to.

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        dwaynewillholdyoutightPipeSmokingGal
        3/19/14 12:24pm

        See you there!

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      mrpickles123Taylor Berman
      3/19/14 12:19pm

      And the lawyers' race to find his relatives starts...NOW!

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        Queen of Bithyniamrpickles123
        3/19/14 12:23pm

        I hope they succeed.

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      SimulatedSnowmanTaylor Berman
      3/19/14 12:28pm

      No Johnathan Swift references? Okay then.

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        Uncle ChigurhSimulatedSnowman
        3/19/14 7:52pm

        I'm far too modest for such a proposal.

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      Greg of L.A.Taylor Berman
      3/19/14 12:32pm

      The NYPD...Baking a difference

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        ZaleyaKaneTaylor Berman
        3/20/14 1:26am

        America's mental health system plays out like a kind of dystopian nightmare. Imagine if we shot people who broke their leg. That would be absurd. But jailing someone for being born with an illness is de de rigueur.

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