The disintegration of the country’s mental health hospital system and the increased use of mandatory minimum sentencing have led to the incarceration of a growing number of individuals suffering from mental illness. In Oklahoma, it has been said that the largest facility treating people with mental illnesses is the Oklahoma County jail. The warden at the Mabel Basset women’s prison has estimated that 80 percent of inmates at that facility have some kind of mental/emotional issues. Griffin Memorial Hospital, in recent years, has lost 1/3rd of its treatment capacity because of funding cut backs.
On Friday, November 14, 2014, from 6:30-8:30 P.M., the Christian Education Committee of Memorial Presbyterian Church will sponsor a panel discussion on Mental Illness and Criminal Justice. The program will begin with a viewing of selected scenes from a PBS Frontline® program, The New Asylums. The panel members, each from their own perspective, will respond to the issues raised in the video. The panelists will also interact with one another, and respond to questions from the audience.
Panelists will be Jeff Tallent, Executive Director of the Evolution Foundation, a non-profit organization that develops programs to provide advocacy and support for recovery based programs for people with conditions related to mental illness; Traci Cook, Executive Director for National Alliance on Mental Illness (Oklahoma); Emily Virgin, OK House of Representatives, District 44; Susan Sharp, Ph.D., David R. Boyd Professor of Sociology, University of Oklahoma; and Lt. Cary Bryant, Crisis Team Norman PD.
This free program will be open to the community; refreshments will be served.
Emily Virgin
Susan Sharp
Traci Cook