Cynthia Harrison hugs her son, Anthony Hamilton, in June at Washtenaw County Jail in Michigan. She hasn't seen him in person since he went to jail in January. | Photos by Nick Hagen for POLITICOLynette Clemetson is director of Wallace House, the Knight-Wallace Fellowships for Journalists and the Livingston Awards at the University of Michigan. She is a contributing editor at Politico.The first arrest was over trash.
When I ask Washtenaw Sheriff Jerry Clayton what he thinks about Anthony’s cycle of incarceration, he shakes his head slowly in frustration and says, almost inaudibly, “Shouldn’t be here.” When I ask him to elaborate, he returns to his full and commanding voice: “It’s not only a criminal justice failure, it’s a societal failure. The criminal legal system is the tool that society uses to carry out its policies.
“Right now, we’re asking police to do a whole bunch of things that they’re not well equipped to do,” says Michigan State Senator Jeff Irwin, a Democrat whose district includes Washtenaw County. He introduced a bill this spring requiring the state to develop requirements for training police in de-escalation, implicit bias and behavioral health. “When they try to solve those problems that they shouldn’t be solving, a lot of times they make the problem worse,” Irwin says.
Clayton is engaging in that conversation with various residents across the county. Among the people he increasingly finds himself in the same meeting rooms and public spaces with is Anthony’s mother, Cynthia Harrison. The two met for the first time this spring over Zoom after Cynthia raised concerns with community mental health providers that services they were proudly touting were not reaching her son in the jail. Clayton has since recommended Cynthia for committees charged with reform.
Top: The view of Cynthia Harrison’s street from her home office in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Bottom: The behavioral psychiatric section of a binder where Cynthia keeps documents relating to her son Anthony Hamilton’s mental health history. Substance abuse is a common dual diagnosis for people with mental illness caught in the criminal system, and it became a problem for Anthony late in high school when Cynthia loosened her strict watch over his medications and his comings and goings.
“He wouldn’t be a felon if the system were addressing his mental health issues appropriately,” says Cynthia. “With the right support he could be a productive tax-paying citizen. Instead taxpayers are paying for him to be in jail.”
Biggest threat to mental health… Social Media And yet parents turn a blind eye to the destruction it is leaving in its wake because then need to see what jeans their favorite influencer is wearing….
*(O GENOCIDA SOMENTE/ESTÁ NO (PODER)PORQUÊ AS ( MESAS DIRETÓRIAS/INTERNAS Y EXTERNAS) DE TODOS OS(PODERES DA REPÚBLICA DO BRASIL)COMPACTUA COM A (MENTIRÁ)DEIXANDO A.. (VERDADE)DE LADO/SEMPRE ORIENTADOS(MILENARMENTE)PELOS ; CEGOS/MORNOS/HIPÓCRITAS ABENÇOADOS DEBAIXO DE MALDIÇÃO)*
The cuffing of mental patients when being transported from one facility to another can be traumatic enough. Just a donation for the day.
Who knew mental illness was a crime?
And it’s highly politized and biased
Judges really don't like to see homeless people before the bench. It can be never ending.
'His most recent charge is for manufacturing and delivering heroin and cocaine.' Pretty strange and specific 'Mental Illness' this young man has.
I had two suicidal episodes in the past. Both times, police responded quickly and prevented anything permanent. I'm grateful for their actions. But also, a friend's husband was shot to death by cops who responded to a mental health situation. I think we can do better.
And it shoukd start in childhood ...unusual behavior thoughts acting out...not cute