Originally Posted by jawbone
I'll give y'all my 2 cents on the article since I probably have a little more insight than most. When I got my Masters degree one of my professors, a very good one, was also a Federal Court Referee, which is the term they used. When federal courts received complaints on jails in Alabama he was the one they assigned to look into it and report to them. This was the early 2000s. I know one of the jails that he worked on A LOT was Walker County. This was well before Smith's time in office so the problems were major well before he got there and it sounds like he has acknowledged them and tried to make changes for the better. I also know that county jails are dependent on County gov'ts for funding and like most, Walker County doesn't want to provide the needed funding. Jails are always down the list of County Gov't priorities. Another thing, like some on here have mentioned, there is basically no state mental health help available for those in need of it. We can thank our state Republicans for this. As they began to take power over state gov't they have eroded funding for mental health. They closed Bryce Hospital and I think the one in south Alabama is closed too. Bottom line is Alabama has almost no state mental health system. If the state would fix this it would solve an untold amount of the crime problems. I don't like this article because it is placing blame on the Sheriff for issues that he doesn't have the resources given to him to fix.

This is not liberal mumbo jumbo. These are facts coming from a person who is generally conservative but has garnered these viewpoints from education and even more importantly, I have lived it through my career.

Spot on from what I understand however I still throw Obama in the mix cause he wanted the red pill blue pill solution. I’d have to go back to federal funding and look but I’m not gonna. I lived thru his admin and like many, mental health generally goes on the back burner with funding. There’s new issues now and I’m not gonna say anything about that either.

If I recall correctly Bryce was supposed to be replaced and it never was. Other institutions were closed and those institutionalized were turned out in the street for local services were to take care of. Instead sheriffs offices and PD were overwhelmed basically. Those that are criminally mental ill need to be incarcerated, not being cared for with day services or locked up in a jail cell without proper care.

Back long ago in Jr High our teacher inn9th grade social studies took us to Bryce and Partlow. We also went to a women’s prison in Tennessee. We saw the pics of the institutionalized during the 40-70s when there really was no care. Experiments were done, especially electrical shock therapy. Many of those atrocities led to patient rights for the mentally ill.

Folks have preconceived ideas about how all this plays out and are far removed from the truth. My dad’s sister was paranoid schizophrenic and he had time with her. His hands were tied and fought the losing battle. I’m married to someone on the other side of that coin so I see both sides and it’s a heck of a cluster. She also deals with law enforcement in 5 counties. We rarely talk about her job since she really can’t

“Socialism only works in two places: Heaven where they don't need it and hell where they already have it.” ― Ronald Reagan