Friday Flicks: This is Crazy - Criminalizing Mental Illness
UU Society of Geneva
This month’s Friday Flicks Presentation
Friday, September 22, 2017 at 7:00PM
UUSG Common Room
THIS IS CRAZY: CRIMINALIZING MENTAL ILLNESS
Today, more than 2.4 million Americans are incarcerated in prisons and jails. 1.26 million of those inmates, more than half of the entire prison population in the United States, suffer from some form of mental illness.
Consisting of 3 short documentaries, This Is Crazy: Criminalizing Mental Illness highlights the stories of individuals with mental illnesses who have found themselves in a dysfunctional prison system rather than getting proper care. The incarceration of those with a mental illness causes great harm to the individual and perpetuates a cycle that is damaging to the community, all while pending tax-payer money.
Through personal interviews with community leaders, city officials and formerly incarcerated individuals with a mental illness, this series seeks to bring attention to the injustice of criminalizing mental health and offers alternative community solutions.
There will be a discussion of the jail diversion project in Kane County sponsored by the Fox River Valley Initiative after the movie.