Crazy in America: The Hidden Tragedy of Our Criminalized Mentally Ill [Paperback]

Mary Beth Pfeiffer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2007

Crazy in America shows how people suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, clinical depression, and other serious psychological illnesses are regularly incarcerated because alternative care is not available. Once behind bars, they are frequently punished again for behavior that is psychotic, not criminal. A compelling and important examination of a shocking human rights abuse in our midst, Crazy in America is an indictment of a society that incarcerates its weakest and most vulnerable citizens — causing them to emerge sicker and more damaged.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Investigative reporter Pfeiffer takes a critical look at the lack of treatment for the mentally ill that often lands them in prison, where their behavior is misinterpreted and they are vulnerable to abuse by other prisoners. Profiling six such people, Pfeiffer examines the circumstances that led to their incarceration, the inadequacy of plans upon their release, and the strains on their families. Among her subjects is Shayne, a schizophrenic who has been institutionalized since the age of 14 for mental illness and drug addiction and was jailed for a time for stabbing the local sheriff; she eventually blinds herself by plucking out her eyes. Luke, who suffers bipolar disorder, lands in a Texas prison after his behavior escalates into violence and drug abuse. Pfeiffer intersperses her reports of the facts of her subjects' lives with communications from them to their families, highlighting the growing confusion and pleas for help. Pfeiffer puts her subjects in the broader context of the nation's woeful lack of concern for treating the mentally ill. Bush, Vanessa
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About the Author

Mary Beth Pfeiffer is a Soros Justice Media Fellow who has written articles on prison conditions and the treatment of mentally ill inmates for numerous publications. A journalist for twenty-five years, she has been an investigative writer and editor for the Poughkeepsie Journal for the last decade. Her prison reporting has won her two National Headliners Awards, an Outstanding Achievement Award, a national Council on Crime and Celinquency citation, and six awards from the state Associated Press and state Publishers Association. In 2004 she was awarded a fellowship from the Open Society Institute to research articles on the imprisoned mentally ill.

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (May 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786717459
• ISBN-13: 978-0786717453
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #216,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another hidden tragedy in our Prisons, May 11, 2007

By 

Bethany Hempel - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Crazy in America: The Hidden Tragedy of Our Criminalized Mentally Ill (Paperback)

In 2006, I became interested in our prisons, as Human Rights Watch did a report regarding the use of dogs as a way to extract prisoners from their cells. Iowa was listed one of seven states who used such inhumane practices. As my work continued I became aware of the United States being one of only four nations in the world that lock our children up and throw away the key. It is no surprise that the mentally ill are another hidden tragedy in our prisons.

"Crazy in America: The hidden tragedy of our criminalized mentally ill" gives us the story of six individuals whose stories transcend throughout our prison system. We have taken people who have been diagnosed with mental illness and put them into a prison that seeks punishment rather than help that is desperately needed. Dollars no longer go into Mental Health but into prison systems that lack the necessary tools to help those with mental illness. Instead, our prison system feeds their psychosis by locking those mentally ill in a cell for 23 hours a day for long periods of time.

This is the book we have been waiting for, a book that is not only beautifully written, but gives us a glimpse of our failing, broken, and inadequate prison system. This book is informative and heartbreaking, but above all, it gives grounds to why we MUST fix our shattered prison system.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crazy in America, September 28, 2007

By 

John E. Richards (Savannah, Georgia) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Crazy in America: The Hidden Tragedy of Our Criminalized Mentally Ill (Paperback)

Crazy in America: The Hidden Tragedy of Our Criminalized Mentally Ill As a long time staff advocate for the National Alliance on Mental illness (NAMI), I found the book and its multiple story accounts very accurate and heart rendering. For the uninformed, the stories may be so impactful that they will find it hard to understand that a society could mistreat its citizens so badly. Good book.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crazy In America is a national tragedy that demands action, July 13, 2007

By 

Pat Jewell (Decorah, Iowa) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Crazy in America: The Hidden Tragedy of Our Criminalized Mentally Ill (Paperback)

The author of Crazy in America introduces us to 6 of our brothers and sisters whose lives were devastated by mental illness along with the families that care deeply about them. Three committed suicide while in isolation cells in both jails and prisons. Luke in a Texas jail, Jessica in the New York prison system and Joseph in the California Youth Authority Facility. Two more, Alan and Peter died in separate incidences at the hands of Florida police officers whose very presence exacerbated the symptoms of their illness. The pain and anguish of the five individuals and their families unfolds before your eyes as you read their stories.

The sixth person the author writes about is Shayne, my niece, the focus of my advocacy work and truly a special person and survivor. As I read Shayne's story I grieved for the horror that was unfolding once again before my eyes. The anguish of not being able to stop the crime that landed her in jail and eventually an Iowa prison. The self mutilations of her right eye and two years later her left eye. Six months after blinding herself she dislodged four of her teeth trying to bite off her finger. Visions of this vulnerable and sick woman destroying herself one digit at a time terrified my thoughts as I pleaded and begged for help from whomever would listen. Four months later Shayne tried to bite a whole through her cheek and I wondered if it would ever end. All of these incidences happened while in isolation cells. Shayne has proven, at least to me, that isolation is not treatment. The prison environment was to stressful for her coping skills and she started a downhill slide 1 year into what would be 5 years behind bars.

It is hard to write a review of a book that causes you to feel so much pain and suffering. I do however thank Mary Beth for being the caring and knowledgeable advocate that she is. Shayne and her family are forever grateful that she has used her journalistic talent to tell the stories of these six vulnerable and loved individuals in the hopes that changes will be made before to many more have to suffer being criminalized because of a misunderstood illness.

If countries are judged by the way they treat their most vulnerable citizens than I grieve also for America because our mentally ill are being hidden from view behind prison walls which is where they were 150 year ago. The medications necessary to stabilize symptoms of mental illness are available. The knowledge of what needs to be provided to ensure their success living in the community is known. It will take the will of the people to provide these basic necessities. Call your legislatures and congressmen and tell them to support laws aimed at helping those with disabilities.