Is This Really the Best We Can Do?

This is the view outside my hotel deck this afternoon in Half Moon Bay, CA. It's really beautiful. But it's not the view I was expecting.

I was expecting a grittier view as I visited for a few hours with my son Tim somewhere in downtown San Francisco's Mission Street area.

I travel a lot for my job as President and CEO of Mental Health America. When those trips bring me to northern California, I always try to build in some extra time so I can visit with Tim. Today was no exception.

I got up at 3:15 am to catch a 5:30 am flight out of Washington that got me to San Francisco by 11. I have something for work at 6, so I expected to have several hours with Tim.

But visiting with Tim takes planning in advance. Tim has schizophrenia. He has lived in San Francisco for the last decade. He has often been homeless, or in jail, or in treatment. Even when he has housing, he doesn't stay in one place very long, and he doesn't have a phone.

So I make my plans through the agency that serves Tim, and schedule everything far enough in advance that they can let Tim know I'm coming.

To be honest, having to plan this way can be a real pain in the neck - and I hate to impose on his extraordinarily patient caseworker to go out of his way for us. I do it because I love Tim and need to see that he's doing okay, and also because I really enjoy his company.

But, like too many other times I've come to visit, I didn't get to see Tim today. This time it's because he's in jail, and the jail doesn't allow visitors on Thursday afternoons - even if they've traveled 3000 miles to get here.

Tim got to jail this time the same way he typically gets to jail. He had been in jail, was sent to a program as a condition of his release, broke a rule in the program, had to discharge himself from it, and was re-arrested because that violated the conditions of his release. This all happened a few days ago.

Of course Tim should be accountable when he breaks the law. Mental illnesses aren't free passes to any and all bad behavior. But I fail to see how repeatedly locking up people with serious mental illnesses in custodial care institutions (called jails) for weeks or months at a time for status offenses serves any meaningful purpose.

It costs a lot of money. They don't get appropriate treatment. And they don't get better.

The bottom line is this. In 2019, this is still how we most frequently "treat" serious mental illnesses.

I get a nice view. Tim gets a jail cell. People are isolated. Family ties are broken. And no one recovers.

Is this really the best we can do?

Paul Gionfriddo is President and CEO of Mental Health America and can be reached at pgionfriddo@mentalhealthamerica.net.

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