A prior Investigative Economics article detailed how moving the mentally ill out of large psychiatric institutions into outpatient care or smaller community health facilities—otherwise known as deinstitutionalization—is commonly associated with the rise in the prison population in the 1970s and 1980s, but the two trends can’t be confidently connected.
Good point. I have a relative in NY state who is long-term institutionalized, but is not even legally committed. To me it looks like the only people really turned away are those who are capable of being mentally/physically independent. Such people could do unskilled labor and afford shelter if enough unskilled labor and affordable shelter was available in this economy.
I'm not familiar with the exact standards for entry in the current remaining institutions or state hospitals, but I imagine it is rare to be able to self-commit without being on some kind of insurance/Medicare, and I imagine it would have to be premium insurance. Maybe some hospitals will allow people to walk in and self-commit over issues like "nervousness" if they have the room like it was in the 1950s and charge it to charity care.
I doubt anybody long-term institutionalized is working. Maybe there are a few.
Good point. I have a relative in NY state who is long-term institutionalized, but is not even legally committed. To me it looks like the only people really turned away are those who are capable of being mentally/physically independent. Such people could do unskilled labor and afford shelter if enough unskilled labor and affordable shelter was available in this economy.
I'm not familiar with the exact standards for entry in the current remaining institutions or state hospitals, but I imagine it is rare to be able to self-commit without being on some kind of insurance/Medicare, and I imagine it would have to be premium insurance. Maybe some hospitals will allow people to walk in and self-commit over issues like "nervousness" if they have the room like it was in the 1950s and charge it to charity care.
I doubt anybody long-term institutionalized is working. Maybe there are a few.