Police Confront Rising Number of Mentally Ill Suspects – Disability Rights Montana Sues Officials at Department of Corrections and Department of Public Health and Human Services

In towns and cities across the United States, police officers find themselves playing dual roles as law enforcers and psychiatric social workers. County jails and state prisons have become de facto mental institutions; in New York, for instance, a surge of stabbings, beatings and other violence at Rikers Island has been attributed in part to an influx of mentally ill inmates, who respond erratically to discipline and are vulnerable targets for other prisoners. "Frequent fliers," as mentally ill inmates who have repeated arrests are known in law enforcement circles, cycle from jail cells to halfway houses to the streets and back.

By FERNANDA SANTOS and ERICA GOODE

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/02/us/police-shootings-of-mentally-ill-suspects-are-on-the-upswing.html?hpw&rref=us&_r=0

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Advocates of mentally ill Montana prisoners optimistic of negotiations

Disability Rights Montana http://www.disabilityrightsmt.org/janda3/ sued seven top officials with the state Department of Corrections and Department of Public Health and Human Services on Monday over allegations of cruel and unusual punishment and due process violations.

By MATT VOLZ Associated Press

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/advocates-of-mentally-ill-montana-prisoners-optimistic-of-negotiations/article_3827cca8-b9f5-11e3-85c9-001a4bcf887a.html

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