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America's Prison System 6/ TheBucknerClarion.com July 9, 2015 (Continued from page 5) As for Long, she said treated, her son is just like anyone else. Yet, children like her son are likely to join hundreds of thousands of other children with serious emotional disturbance diagnoses in the school-to-prison pipeline. For this reason, Epperson believes Dart and his transition center are on the right track in their efforts to develop interventions for people with mental illness who end up in the criminal justice system. He said typical interventions only treat the mental illness, but there are other factors that coincide. "Research is showing there are criminal risk factors," Epperson said. "Most of that research has been done in the criminal justice system without mental illness. But recent research is showing that these criminal risk factors are just as prevalent in people with mental illnesses." He added that treatment for both criminal behavior and mental illness can be delivered at the same time in the same places. "I would argue that they should both be in mental health settings but also in the criminal justice side," he said. "I think for too long these two systems have often argued about whose responsibility it is to really work with the population, and I would say that there's plenty of work to go around." Pettus-Davis agrees. She said that communities also need to step up to the plate, adding that support resources like housing, employment and medication assistance need to be available before and after people come in contact with the criminal justice system. "The prison system's primary purpose is to confine people," she said. "And after they confine them and they get out, the prison has no purview of them…the community is where people live. I think that's one of the number one issues." Pettus-Davis said that better coordination of care between prison officials and community mental health organizations during the transition period is needed. This includes sharing medical records, and providing prescription assistance to help the mentally ill maintain stability during the transition from prison to community. Long takes an even more hard-hitting stance on the matter. "I'm ashamed--not of my son and the millions of people like him who are courageously living the best lives they can despite significant challenges. I'm ashamed of the rest of us who tell ourselves that 'those people' got what they deserved. We don't want those 'weird kids' in our children's classrooms. We don't accept that with the right supports, people can manage their diagnoses and live successful, productive lives in their communities. For those who cannot meet this worthy goal because their illness is too severe, we do not provide quality medical care, preferring instead the cold, harsh reality of a jail cell and solitary confinement. "We can do better. We must do better. Our children are depending on us as a society to provide treatment before tragedy. People with mental illness should finally get what they deserve: compassion, admiration, support and hope," Long said.

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