Prison and mental illness...

I have been reading several blogs dealing with schizophrenia today one in particular, The wife of a schizophrenic, caught my attention asking the question 'how many people are in prison because they have been failed by the Mental Health System?" My reply "plenty". I myself have been lucky many times, not falling through the cracks and being safely tucked away in the psych ward by the police and not the watch house.

Some years ago whilst un-medicated I was convinced that I was being persecuted by unknown, unseen but often heard and felt strangers, assailants who pursued me upon nightfall every night. They were in the ceiling peering at me through small holes and I was convinced they were trying to electrocute me via the electrical wiring under the floorboards. I would be left a manic, screaming mess unable to relax or drop my guard until sunrise when I could literally hear their vehicles parked somewhere unseen in the distance, leave.

Finally I could stand no more and was chased by these unseen assailants down the road (I lived in the country) 5 kilometers to a neighboring property. I was found waking the owners of the property up from their sleep. I must have been such a frightening sight... a madman at the door in the small hours of the morning gibbering about being pursued and wanting the police called to catch the tormentors I could never catch. Luckily for me the police involved checked to see my history and I was conveyed to a hospital ward and some medication and not the lock-up. One other occasion I was not so lucky waking in the corrective services remand centre to face a two week remand to court until the mental health tribunal finally released me to a psych ward under a mental health holding order. I still don't remember why I was there.

My problems had been ongoing for years and I was lucky that my history was well documented by the police, hence often provided with psychiatric care for my mental illness when these episodes occurred. Many others are not so lucky...