President Trump Says He's Definitely Open
to 1900s Throwback Measure to Clean Up Streets

The 1900's?.......That makes it sound so ancient. LOL. I Don't know why they closed the asylums to begin with.

First Trump began deporting a good chunk of the potential Democrat voter base and now he wants to institutionalize them! Works for me !

I am all for it if TDR can be made one of the conditions!

Those were and are horrible places. They were loaded with cruelty, neglect, sexual abuse and all manner of unpleasantness. There was no real treatment; only feeding them drugs and incarceration. Thats why they were shut down. At the same time, inflicting those people on normal society hasn't worked out so well either. There has to be a better plan.

A "throwback" to the 1970s, when it worked very well. Leaving mentally deranged roaming the streets isn't good for them, or for us.

Consider the political leanings of most "mental health professionals" who would be making civil commitment decisions and be careful what you wish for.

Having mental institutions wasn’t so much to “cure” as to house the insane in order to keep them off the streets. We used to have Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino to house the criminally insane. Also, druggies were confined there.

When Democrats get the power to decide who is insane, you and I will be reminded why the practice of involuntary confinement for 'insanity' was discontinued. The alternative hasn't fixed insanity; but it has ended one avenue of injustice.

A family that wanted to get rid of an inconvenient relative or a retarded child could have them committed. Thiis looks like a fix but the downside is huge.

About 30% of prison population is mentally ill. I know a woman with Schizophrenia. She is delusional and living in a dream world. She might just walk out of a store with an arm full of socks. She doesn't know what she's doing. She has been in prison twice for her schizophrenic behavior. Medicine would remedy her condition, but in her state of mind, she won't take it. Her situation is sad and tragic. Punishment in the legal system just doesn't seem right.

Patton appears to be still operating and is not entirely for "forensic" commitments. Comprehensive article: https://www.dsh.ca.gov/patton/

Reading about Patton, it's not just an old time asylum. Forensic patients are there to get t reatment so that they can understand charges against them and their court proceeding. And it's not necessarily a free ride: https://www.dsh.ca.gov/Financial_Assistance_Program/index_en.html

Programs other than just indefinite housing: https://www.dsh.ca.gov/Treatment/DSH_Diversion_Program.html

Look up Deinstitutionalization and the Community Health Act to begin to understand why people are on the streets today. Mid century, there was optimism about new drugs becoming available to treat mental illness, and the hope was that asylums wouldn't be needed if people could be treated in their communities. As often happens when politicians get involved, closing expensive institutions became a "cause" to be promoted. As institutions were closed, and the available beds disappeared, the promise of new drugs to manage mental illness failed to materialize as expected. Oops. The money that was "saved" by closing facilities didn't translate to community treatment centers. Think back to the 70s when the "homeless" population began to grow. The beds were gone, and we no longer had a place where folks could be treated, supervised, and kept on their medications. Our MSM began to blame homelessness (as it still does) on a lack of jobs and housing, rather than an increase of mentally ill people on the streets. Some patients will stop taking their medication if unsupervised, because they don't like the way it makes them feel. But without it, their ability to function is compromised. The rush to close down institutions left people who needed care without anywhere to go. President Trump is on to something when he speaks of providing care inside institutions again. Nobody wants to return to the days of abusive treatments and unethical experiments on mental patients. But leaving them on the streets without treatment has been a disaster for both patients, families, and communities across the United States. We've tried deinstitutionalization for decades, and by now we should understand there is a place and a need for facilities that can keep patients for more than a weekend or a few weeks. We can do better.

Austin State Hospital occupies a prime, beautiful real estate site in central Austin. Developers have been trying to get their greedy hands on it for decades. Nevertheless, Texas has refused to close it as it's a haven for the severely mentally ill. My sister was a nurse there, my best friend and I did our Ph.D. Psychology internships there. The ACLU in the 1970's did their best to close all places that confine mentally ill persons who are unable to provide informed consent. Now, a legal order is required to commit a person involuntarily. The people who work there are heroes, and ought to be celebrated for their compassion. This is not "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Respected entities including universities, which sponsor internships there, exercise oversight. Meanwhile, the local leftie loon press in Austin would love to print any horror stories they could, because they enjoy destroying things. There aren't any such stories to print. Austin State Hospital is safe, clean, warm in winter and air-conditioned in the brutal summer heat. Meanwhile, the streets of Austin are a nightmare. You can bet that the ACLU and the usual Karens would love to close all of these safe places for the sick. Let's try not to help them. Let's help those who need help.

#9, like a person who has seizures. . .

They'll fill up too quickly with federal "judges."

Thank the dumbocraps for letting the mentally ill out on the streets to deficate on lawns and build tent cities....

In the 1970's the ACLU with the help of Teddy Kennedy lobbied congress to make laws making it illegal to institutionalize mentally ill adults without their consent. They claimed it was a violation of their civil rights. People were supposed to get help as outpatients. As the mental hospitals were not being utilized the money was shifted away and they closed. Anyone who has ever been involved with mentally ill people know that many are paranoid, they think everyone is out to harm them, and will not take meds or seek treatment on their own. Today an adult parent has no control over an adult child who is mentally ill. Their hands are tied. When a major shooting or other violent crime occurs people always want to blame the parents of the adult child. Mental health institutions should be brought back not all of them had the horrible conditions that people read about. There are some mentally ill who will never get well or can ever be released in society for their own good as well as the good of the public. It would take multiple doctors' diagnosis to have someone committed. A person cannot just have someone committed on their own to get them out of the way. That would be so much better for the safety of the mentally ill and the people they could harm by them being on the streets. I know of the above due to an experience I was aware of in the 1970's.

As a widespread strategy, it would be unrealistic to give the oversight described in #15 to prevent abuses. If we still had many of them, some would be detention facilities for heavily medicated climate-hoax deniers. I bet Fauci would have had Dr. Robert Malone given a bed there.

Advocacy groups and the ACLU will fight for the "RIGHT" of the mentally ill to live in the community and refuse medications and treatment if they choose. It is their right to live on the streets if they choose. Just as a person without mental illness is allowed to make choices for themselves, the mentally ill are allowed the same choices. They are just not choices that we agree with. However, with their rights come the same responsibilities as normal people have. Unfortunately, they are often considered too incompetent to be held responsible for their actions by prosecutors and courts and are set free back into the community to continue their crazy activities. Nobody wins.