12 to 14 Weeks!

As you read this, “Natalie” and “Melanie,” two very intelligent women who are reliant on Medicaid, are sitting in their respective jail cells waiting for evaluations and court-ordered inpatient treatment to which they will be transferred by guards in a prison van with barred windows while wearing handcuffs.  Their combined wait time is 12 to 14 weeks. 

Their cells are nothing more than oversized toilet stalls with no privacy walls around the toilet.  There are two cots with very thin mattresses and one sheet for her and one for her previously unknown cellmate.  There is little to no therapy nor inpatient treatment happening for these women who suffer from Substance Use Disorder.  They sit in their cells minute after hour after day after week after month until the court has identified a placement for them.

Two quotes from people going through this process:

“This is a time of mental rot.”

“This process only builds up more resentment in people who are already dealing with resentment from the emotional traumas that got them here in the first place.”

Is this any way to treat human beings who are suffering from a disease that is officially recognized as such by the medical community?