will autistic people be thrown in jail too?

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According to this article, police lock up mental patients because they claim there are no beds in mental hospitals.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/me ... ce-4760125

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/te ... es-4718197

I dont believe in all of UK, there's no room for them. I think the cops dont bother to call mental hospitals and just throw them in jail.

years ago, a neighbor in a building I used to live went nuts and started burning the bible on his oven and throwing burning pieces of paper in the wastbasket, setting off the fire alarm. the neighbors said he was never violent and was going to college. two cops arrived and said they'll just throw him out of the building, in Chicago mid-winter, didnt even tell him to put his coat on. They were going to let him freeze to death.

another neighbor asked them to take the man to a nearby mental hospital, and one of the cops yawned and turned his back. his partner said, "We're not social workers. not our job." But my neighbor argued, and the cops reluctantly agreed to take him to the mental hospital.

will autistic people be next, or has that already happened?

social services have a list of mental hospitals and will call dozens of places if they had to. do you think the cops should be required to call social services/red cross and let them place people with mental problems who didnt break the law BEFORE they cage them?

knowing how most of America is yes...

I've spoken online to one Autistic man from England who experienced this, although that was thirty years ago...

It must've been terrible for him. I think if it were me, it would leave a scar, and I'd want revenge. Aspies don't forgive or forget. I feel so sorry for this man who suffered through no fault of his own. I'd throw the cops in jail in a heartbeat over this.

I don't know about the state of mental health care in the U.K., but here in the U.S. it is abysmal.
There are very few in-patient facilities. The government shut all of theirs in the 1980s, so the only ones left are privately owned. As a result, there isn't enough space and they are extremely expensive. Health insurance almost NEVER covers treatment. Also, no one can be treated without their consent unless they are an immediate danger, which is very difficult to prove.
I would say that most mentally ill people in America are either in prison or are homeless.
Or they kill themselves after murdering a bunch of people.

Those who cant be treated without their consent cant be locked up without their consent, I'd assume...
Those who can be proven to be an immediate danger and therefore can be locked up, can be treated without their consent in a hospital, I think.

There are shelters that will take them if they're homeless. I was in the US in 1990, and the two cops took this guy to a mental hospital, and he couldnt possibly have paid for it. It was a building in a poverty neighborhood, horrible poverty. There are houses for people with mental problems too. Someone told me about them in the 90s, in US.

And in jail, they dont get treated at all, and their mental problems can get worse for being locked up. If you weren't crazy before, you'll be crazy now. This can cause mental problems for everyone.

I'd understand it if the cops called social services/red cross and handed those people over to them, and the social workers called every place in the state on their list, and they were all filled up. But I have a deep suspicion the cops simply throw them in prison because it's easier, without taking a minute to just pick up the phone.

I've seen how the cops refuse to help people in poverty neighborhood who are threatened, a woman who was terrified of her abusive boyfriend etc. I've seen it on several occasions, and it's not just in the US, but more worldwide. They dont like to work too hard and always look for the easy way out. That's the reason why those people end up in prison, not because there's no place for them.

And even let's say there isn't, if a person isn't dangerous to himself or others, they can give him a key to the cell and let him walk around freely in the building and yard whenever he wants, seeing that he's not there to be punished. This can be done easily in a white collar jail with non-violent offender who wouldnt hurt the mental patient, or if the other inmates are dangerous, then during the times they're locked up, which is probably most of the day anyway. Then there shouldnt be any safety issue.

What I'm trying to say is there are other ways to solve this problem, and yes, the cops do have a choice. At least don't say there're not beds for them before letting social services handle it and see if they succeed.

They take them to the psych ward of a normal hospital, then release them onto the street after 72 hours.
In some cases, they don't even take the person home. Ambulances are known to drive poor people to a bad neighborhood and force them out onto the street.
Ever heard of a "GOMER"? It means "Get Out of My Emergency Room" and is used by doctors to refer to people who can't pay.
Yep, that's America. Get sick at your own risk.

poor people are treated like dirt sometimes. I went to cook county hospital in Chicago, which is a free hospital for those who cant afford, an allergic reaction to some foods, nothing serious. however, the receptionist barks at people just asking questions like what's your name, and then bark commands like a commander in the military when saying to fill a form. there was a man in a wheelchair, and a nurse kept yelling at him over and over again. and you wait eight hours, even if you're in pain.

and there was a man who kept jumping and trying to touch the ceiling, obviously with mental problems. and the security guard told him, "Goofy, get out of here."

If you spook the sheep, you will end up in jail. That's pretty much the case in the developed world.

I guess in the rest of the world, if you spook the sheep, they kill you.

So don't mess up in public.

Yes, my cousin was thrown into jail three times and each time it was because. The last time he was in jail for two years before a mental hospital had a vacancy for him. The other times, there weren't vacancies. This was in America.
That last arrest was caused by the fact that they found contraband in his car... that had been stolen several days before.

Did the cops call social services/mental institutions before they threw him in prison, or did they just throw him in jail first and made the call later?

I have a feeling if they called social services, your cousin would never have been jailed. Once in jail, they can say they have no vacancies. But it doesn't seem like social services would be called, and then hand him back to the police saying they have no vacancies. sounds like an excuse to me.

And if his car was stolen, then the contraband belongs to the thief, and the cops know it. Just looking for an excuse to lock up someone who obviously cant defend himself, an easy target. just like bullies in school.

Because they threw him in prison for something that obviously wasnt his fault with a lame excuse, then I believe the 'no vacancies' was also an excuse. In the whole state they couldnt find him a vacancy? how you know they're telling the truth, that they even tried? Maybe he wasn't in jail for two years untill a mental institution had a vacancy for him, maybe he was in jail for two years before the police bothered to contact a mental institution, or social services.

And in jail, was he locked up? If he was in jail just because they didnt have a place for him, then they should've given him a key to his own cell and allow him to walk freely in the building and yard, otherwise it seems like punishement to me... unless he was dangerous to himself or others. And if he could look after himself well enough to leave the prison permisis while telling someone in charge where he's going and when he'll be back, then they should've just let him take walks outside, or take a bus to town whenever he wanted, if he could cross the road carefully and all that.

But I bet that wasn't the case, am I wrong?

They didn't call at all. His lawyer called. The police wouldn't let him go even then, so the suited the police and the court ordered for him to be taken to the mental hospital. The process took more than a year.

His car got stolen and taken across state borders and abandoned a month later.

The police claimed that the thieves wouldn't have left the contraband in the car. (Or maybe they're hands were full carrying off his guitar and recording equipment (Maybe $5000) to bother over a $5 bong.)

That's about all I know about the details of the case.