Bedlam (2019) - full transcript

- Psych ER,
this is Dr. McGhee.

Don't be ridiculous!

- Did you promise to stop
screaming and just relax?

- Sit down.
- Thank you.

- Call a code, please.
- Call a code.

Call a code, please.

- First med unit, 114.
- Psych ER, how can I help you?

- You're safe.
You're safe.

You're in a safe place.
All right?

- Lock me up, bitch!
- Hey, hey, hey!

- You made a threat with a gun.



You have a history
of mental illness.

You admittedly haven't
taken your medication

for a very long time.

You haven't really been

completely cooperative
with the police.

Sir, I'm gonna need you

to take some medication
before I can--

- Oh, I don't need
the medication.

I'm fine.

- He's benzo-dependent,

alcohol-dependent.

He's gonna be
a nasty withdrawer here.

Don't you shut it!

- How many times have you been
in psych hospitals?



- A bunch, like,
40-something.

- Where do you normally go
to try to get help?

- Uh, just wherever.

Nobody knows where to go.

My name is Dr. Snowdy,
and I'm a psychiatrist here.

Maybe you could tell me
just a little bit about...

how you came to be here today.

- Well, I had
suicide thoughts.

- Oh, my goodness.

Had you ever
told anybody that before?

- No.

Just kept it to myself.

- So sorry you've had
to deal with that.

Have you been able to sleep?

- No.

- You're waking up
in the night?

- Yes.

- Do you dream?

- I don't dream.
I have nightmares.

- Unfortunately, you know,

once patients
leave our hospital,

there's really little
we can do.

You know, we can't
keep people detained

for long periods of time,
months, years.

- They'll put him in, like,
a mental hospital.

- Right, we'll send him
to a mental hospital.

Yeah, no, I know that he's

there for a few days, a week,
and they discharge him.

- And then we'll have
the same thing over again.

- It's--I'm afraid that's--
that's the system.

Almost every American family
at some stage will experience

or has experienced
a case of mental affliction.

And we have to offer
something more than crowded

custodial care
in our state institutions.

Our task is to prevent
these conditions.

Our next is to treat them
more effectively

and sympathetically
in the patient's own community.

I hope that Congress
will act on this bill.

It was called
de-institutionalization,

and in the last decade,
hospitals have been emptied

of almost 1/4 million
former patients.

- In theory,
de-institutionalization

was supposed to get
the mentally ill

out of the so-called
human warehouses

and back into the community.

But in reality,
the mentally ill

were just turned loose.

It's estimated
that between 20 % and 50 %

of the people living on the
streets of America's cities

are chronically mentally ill.

De-institutionalization
remains the rule,

forcing thousands more
mentally ill Americans

out of treatment
and out on the streets.

- The people living
on the street here, Anderson,

over 40 % of them
have mental illness.

Serious mental illness
is America's great secret.

I started my training
as a psychiatrist

in Los Angeles 25 years ago,

and I returned to LA
to one of the busiest

and most
highly regarded psychiatric

emergency departments
in the United States,

to understand
what it means to live

with serious mental illness
in America today.

It's a story that I know
from my profession

and a story I know
from my family.

♪ Budi-budi-boop-bop,
bop-bop-bop ♪

♪ Bop-bop-bop-bop-bop ♪

♪ Bop-bop-bop-bop... ♪

- So you don't want to take
off the handcuffs?

- Nope, not right now!
The truth will set me free!

Budi-budi-budi, Namaste!
Someone told me that!

Someone who was raped
told me that!

Budi-budi-boop,
I love everybody!

Budi-budi-boop.
- My name is Dr. Lacsina.

- Who drives the van?
I don't know.

Budi-budi-boop!
My truth will set me free.

And my "House of Spirit"
and my "Sophie's Choice,"

who will ever know?
Budi-budi-boop.

- Okay.
- I need to set you free,

so you need to leave.
- Johanna.

Focus on the doctor,
please.

- All right, Johanna.
- Here, who are you?

- Did you take any drugs today?

- No, I have too much energy.

Budi-budi-boop!
- Okay.

- I saw Michael Jackson die.

Budi-budi-boop, I am not
who I am, do you understand?

- Okay.
- Do you understand?

Just because Michael Jackson
is any color--

- So we're gonna
need you to--

You need to have a seat.

- Sit down.

When you look at your
, you will know.

Rihanna, you are not the truth,

and neither is Oprah
for being owned.

- Okay.
- I will stay

if you set me free.

- So, Johanna, do you want me
to give you medication?

Nope, get the out
of here,

like I said, so I can be okay!

- Johanna, so I'm just
gonna give you--

- Got it? Do you understand?
Budi-budi-boop.

- Johanna.
- Who are you? I don't care!

Budi-budi-boop.
Reboot, do you get it?

- Have you ever been
on any medications before?

- Lots.
- Okay.

- Every single one prescribed

by my doctor,
the rapist.

What does that stand for?
"Therapist," spell that out.

All right.
This is Caitlin.

- Hi, Caitlin.

My name is Dr. Lacsina.
I'm calling from LAC+USC.

I was calling because
we have a patient here.

She's here in our psych ER.

Can you tell me a little bit
about Covenant House?

Is this like
a homeless shelter,

or like a halfway house, or?

You're a homeless shelter.
Okay, thank you so much.

Have a good day, bye-bye.

- Do we understand? Teamwork!
- Teamwork. Okay, teamwork.

- No, no, no, I don't trust it!
I refuse!

Get the off of me!
- Relax!

You need to relax.

- You need to relax, okay?

- Fine.
- It's just a poke.

He's almost done.
- I don't care.

- That's it, almost done.
- That's what it takes, sir?

Are you happy now?
Is this your soul?

Read "House of Spirits,"
you are your soul.

You are the living--life you
live every day.

Scientology.

Please stop hurting me.
When the spaceship lands--

we are not the only spaceship.
NASA is not America.

Budi-budi-boop,
Enterprise is the answer.

Who will you be today?
Because you will die.

You will find out the circle
of life when it's ready.

Do you understand?
Will you be ready?

Will you make...

Terms with your past,

I will show you a rapist,
one by one.

I will.
I will show you.

The world is that rape.
We're screaming for money.

I cannot afford USC.
I cannot work hard.

I cannot clean vomit
all the time

so I can afford what I need.

I work at the Science Center.
I work--

She's presenting
with lack of sleep,

distractibility, grandiosity,
most recent episode manic.

Um, and then--

- With or without
psychotic features?

- With psychotic features.

- Okeydoke.
- Yeah, and rule out

substance-induced
psychotic disorder.

- What do you want
to start her on?

- I was thinking
Seroquel, maybe.

- Because?

- Because, well, at the APA
conference that I went to,

they had a study
that they talked about

that showed that the Seroquel
as a stand-alone medication

seemed to work really well
for the bipolar patients.

- If you would like to start
her on Seroquel, that's fine.

What would be the downside
of starting her on Seroquel?

- It could cause hypotension.

- It's going to be
very sedating.

Some people, boom,
they're on the floor with it.

- Yeah.
- And some people not.

I don't know with her.
It's gonna be a guess.

- You want to know
what I learned

from the drug rep people?

Okay, yes.

- They said to start on, like,
for people who are manic,

start with, like,
200 on the first day,

and then increase to, like--
they said increase gradually.

So by the fourth day,
you're on 600.

But if they're in--
- Yeah, think about

what their incentive is...
- Absolutely, I agree.

- Versus what we need to do
for the patient.

What are the major
side effects of Seroquel?

- Metabolic effects.
- Yes, and Seroquel

is super high on that.

She's a young lady.

We don't necessarily
want to fatten her up,

but also we're not necessarily
deciding on her...

- Long-term meds.
- Long-term meds,

but important to be aware.

- How about--
- That's all I'm saying,

just that those are
some of the conversations

you can have in your head

about why this one versus
that one versus the other one.

- Won't you tell me
your date of birth? Huh?

- What'd you say?

Mental illness is not
something people want to hear.

It's not something
they want to talk about.

And it is a lifelong disease.

That's really hard
for people to hear.

In some ways, I think that's
the hardest part of the job,

feeling their--their pain.

I understand
how difficult it is.

My brother got sick
with bipolar disorder

pretty much right after
I graduated.

Putting my brother
in the hospital

is by far the hardest thing
I ever had to do,

so I get it now from
the other side what it's like

when family members put whoever
family member in the hospital.

And, you know...

the feelings of guilt and,

"Oh, is this the right thing?"

That kind of--
I totally get it.

- Stress or anxiety
or PTSD or--you know.

And they're training
a lot of dogs for soldiers

who are returning home.

- Yeah, they really
seem to like it.

I saw a couple shows on that.

- Yeah. One of the soldiers,
he named his dog, like,

Prozac or something
because he was like,

"It works better than any pill
I ever took."

How do you go from
that point to this point?

- It was a really long process
with that time in the hospital.

It wasn't my last.
I've--since that time,

I've been in and out of maybe
about ten in the last year.

So, um...

but right now, and for the last
three or four months,

I got off of medications.

Oh, he's so big!
- Here.

- Okay.

- We'll make him
fly out at you.

Oh, it's scratchy!
Look, it's all over my hands!

- Very nice.

- My dad will sell the monarchs
and the painted ladies,

and then sometimes he'll--

he might be able to get
other species

from other
butterfly people,

but we usually tend to stick
to just these guys.

- Jo, how long since you've
been taking medication

regularly,
not counting the hospital?

- I haven't been on
any medications

since October, November.

- I worry about you, Jo.
- I know.

- And I just want
to make sure that--

- I didn't say, like,

"I'm not gonna take medication.
I don't need it."

It was, "Okay, the medications
are making me worse,

so let's try it without it,"
you know.

If I take it and it helps,
that's great.

I wish it was
that simple for me.

Like, "Oh, you know.

Oh, I found this pill,
and it worked."

Before there were medicines,

there were no reasonable
treatments

for those with
severe mental illness.

We injected near-fatal doses
of insulin to induce a coma

and calm the worried mind.

We used electrical currents
to induce a grand mal seizure

to somehow reset the mind.

We hammered a pick through the
eye socket to reach the brain

and then blindly chiseled away
at the frontal lobes

that were said
to house the emotions.

Frontal lobotomy won the 1949
Nobel Prize in Medicine.

It was performed
on Rosemary Kennedy,

sister of the future President
of the United States.

The procedure was a disaster.

Rosemary had
to be institutionalized

for the rest of her life.

It was a family secret
that would shape

the course of mental
health care for a nation.

Around 1950,
by sheer serendipity,

modern medicines like lithium
and Thorazine were discovered.

Because the medications
could stop

the hallucinations
and delusions,

finally, patients
could leave the asylums.

That was our last
revolutionary breakthrough

in treating psychosis.

For the past 70 years, we have
relied on the same compounds,

sometimes the same pills,

which pharmaceutical companies
have tweaked

and re-patented
under new names.

In the past 15 years,

major funding for new
medication trials

for schizophrenia
has decreased by nearly 90 %.

Today's treatments save lives
but have serious side effects.

50 % of people
stop taking their medication

within one year.

- Were you formally diagnosed
with a psychiatric condition?

- Yeah, they said
schizophrenia.

- I noticed that you have
some movements of the face.

How long have you had
these facial movements?

- About ten years, I guess.
- Ten years.

It's a side effect
of antipsychotics,

basically when you take
antipsychotics for many years.

The nurse's note said
that you wanted

to cut your neck.

Is that correct?
- Yeah, it's painful.

It's also painful to sometimes
hold my head up straight.

- I know it's uncomfortable,
but the medication

that we're gonna give you
is gonna help.

The medications
that we have today,

they're definitely
more effective for depression.

We understand
how to treat mania better.

We understand a little bit
about how to treat psychosis

better and how to mitigate
the impact of the side effects

of all of the medications,
but at the end of the day,

the treatment really
hasn't changed,

and it's not that
much more efficacious

than it was 50 years ago.

- Hi, everybody!

Come on in.
It's a horrible mess.

So, yeah, this is
about to get bad.

But that's how things
get better, so come on in.

Probably we can donate
rather than sell most of this.

- What's going on here?
- We're trying to clean it,

and I made it worse
'cause I was like,

"Oh, you know
what I'm gonna do?

Just take it all out, and then
we have to deal with it."

And then it's like now, I can't
deal with it, and look what--

The next time
we saw Johanna,

her dad had gotten sick,

and for several months,
he couldn't live at home.

- I got this
at the Dollar Store

right across the street.

Music!

So it's been bad,

but it's been good because
you have to have the bad times

to recognize the good times.

The light to rise, wake up.

The darkness
to slow down, regrow

to up, down.

Die, live.
Bipolar.

I think we all are,
and it's a blessing.

It's a curse and a blessing.
It's yin and yang.

There's a Japanese art form
where when something cracks,

you fill it in with gold
and it becomes better,

stronger, faster,
Kanye West, the robots.

There's my bike.

What we're doing, medications,
water, then orange juice,

melatonin, so not Xanax
or anything like that.

Can't do antidepressants.

This man...

Depressants that are supposed
to bring me down--

they crack,
trigger the bipolar,

which becomes amped-up psycho
and makes it worse.

I need to sleep; I don't know
the last time I've slept.

Look at this nasty food,
which I still haven't eaten.

I can't even feed myself,
so that's that.

And I'm trying to, like,
go to school

and keeps
knocking me back.

Everything was supposed to,
like, get me ahead

and knocking me back.

And my manager called me
over and over:

"Here's your schedule.
Hope to see you."

Didn't return his calls.

Couldn't pay my phone bill
and just stopped showing up.

Johanna asked to be taken
to the only place

where she felt
she could get help,

some 50 miles away
from her home

at the LA County Psych ER.

Mother nappy time,
hello!

No wonder he put in
his earphones.

Oh, my gosh, this guy
has his work cut out for him.

- Look at your--look at--

- Ma, show me
the pictures!

- Wait a minute!
- Show me the pictures.

- I can't.
- Turn it around.

- That's the one.

- What, is he mesmerized
with his camera?

- He's making a documentary.

- Oh, there's great pictures.

Wow.

I think this was the happiest
year of my family

and probably the last
happy year of my family.

When I was 14, my beautiful
and kind 20-year-old sister,

Merle,
suddenly became psychotic.

Roaming the streets
of downtown Philadelphia,

Merle found her way to the
apartment of our sister Gail

and her husband, Bob.

- And it seems so long ago.
- Yeah, it does seem long ago.

I can tell you
it was around 1971.

1971, so you were how old?

- We were only married
three years.

I guess I was 29 or so.
- All right.

So I was just
starting high school.

She was--
I guess she had to be 19, 20.

- And she got married.
- Yeah.

And then the marriage
broke up.

That's when Merle
had her break,

when she was at
the University of Maryland.

She came over
to sleep over one night.

I went to bed early, and Gail
and Merle were talking.

Maybe around 2:00
in the morning,

Gail came in the room
very hurried

and a little panicky.

She says,
"Bob, you got to get up.

"You got to get up,
and you got to come out here,

and you have to listen
to this."

I went out
into the living room,

and Merle was
totally hallucinating.

And she didn't know
who we were, was very paranoid.

It was very scary.

She was so frightened of us,

we decided
we'd have to call the police.

- My parents drove here,
I guess, the next day,

and my mother was in the car,
crying and wondering

why the hell they had
taken Merle to the hospital

and going back and forth.

My father was fuming.

He was not very happy that you
had taken her to the hospital.

- No, not at all.

And Gail and I
were besides ourself.

It was so clear that Merle
was out of her mind.

The world's oldest
mental hospital

was built in London,
England, in 1403.

Bethlem Royal Hospital would
come to be known as Bedlam.

600 years later, "Bedlam"
took on a new meaning,

a rallying cry
for shutting down some

of America's most disgraceful
mental institutions.

Mental hospitals
like the one my sister

was taken to
were far from ideal,

but they provided
necessary care.

In the 1950s,

there were 558,000 patients
in America's asylums.

By the time I finished
my training

as a psychiatrist
40 years later,

over 90 %
of those beds were lost.

Even the psychiatric hospital
where I had just trained

was demolished.

Like most of my peers,
I went into private practice,

and like most of the
graduating psychiatrists,

I did not treat
the seriously mentally ill.

20 years later,
I wanted to understand

why this happened
in my profession.

I spoke to eight
past presidents

of the American Psychiatric
Association

and asked them how our country
and our profession

came to neglect
our neediest patients.

- The movement
from state hospitals

to community to jails
and prisons

is probably the saddest part
of the story of 20th century

and early 21st century
American psychiatry.

- They threw everybody out
of the hospitals in the '70s.

You know, that was a mistake
for people

who need custodial care
for their whole lives,

and we didn't--we didn't
even think of that.

I organized a conference

at the Association's
annual meeting...

And so many
other illnesses...

About the role of psychiatry
in this crisis.

- And I have yet to find
a single county

in the United States

where there are as many
seriously mentally ill people

in the county mental health
facility as there are

in the county jail.
If anyone knows anyone--

I invited Dr. Fuller Torrey,

America's pre-eminent expert
on serious mental illness.

- During my practicing
lifetime,

most psychiatrists
have not spent very much time

taking care of people
with severe mental illness,

and I will say that,
quite frankly,

I have not been proud of my
own profession over the years.

I think in order to understand

the disaster
that we're looking at today,

you really have to start
in the early 1800s.

The jails and what they called
the poorhouses at that time--

there was an increasing
number of people

who today we would say
have serious mental illness,

schizophrenia,
bipolar disorder.

And people like Dorothea Dix
and others said,

"It's really inhumane to leave
these people in jail.

"It's not where they belong,

so let's put them
in mental hospitals."

So then over
the next 100 years,

the hospitals kept being built
and built and built.

The states paid 96 %, 97 %
of all the costs of people

who were severely
mentally ill.

The federal government had
almost no money

in the system at all.

There was a huge incentive
for the states

to close down these hospitals
because they effectively

shifted the cost of the care
of these people

from the state government
to the federal government.

- I, John Fitzgerald Kennedy,
do solemnly swear--

As soon as Kennedy
became president,

he both speeded up
the emptying of the hospitals,

and he created 700 to 800

community mental health
centers

around the United States
to try and prevent

the development
of future cases

without paying any attention to
the people who are already sick

and the people who were
coming out of the hospitals.

Once the people
were in the community,

then they became
the fiscal responsibility

of the federal government.

Ladies and gentlemen,
I present Mr. Nixon

who will present
Governor Reagan.

During the 1970s,
both Nixon and then Reagan

had no understanding
of mental illness.

When Reagan took office,

he stopped the federal funds
that were going directly

to the community
mental health centers.

- The excessive growth
of government bureaucracy

and government spending--

So what Reagan
was saying was,

"The feds should not really
be involved in this.

Let's give it back
to the states."

The states, of course,
they didn't want it back.

There's not any single Ronald
Reagan to blame for it all.

There's ten presidents
since 1960

that were
all responsible for it.

State governors,
state legislators,

everyone's responsible
for it.

This is a 150-year-old
disaster

that has ended up being
really

the largest social disaster
of the 20th century

and now the 21st century.

- You love your mama?

- We're the love and peace
people in all the world, yes.

California has been
the canary

in the coal mine from day one

because they were
at the forefront

of emptying out
their hospitals.

So today
we are seeing problems

in the emergency rooms
as we're seeing everywhere,

but you see them worse
in California,

where there are
almost literally

no state hospital beds left.

- Let us know if you
need anything else.

- Okay.

The emergency rooms
are overrun with the people

with severe mental illness.

- Yes, ma'am.

- So just 'cause I just got off
the phone Mark-Anthony--

- Uh-huh.
- A couple things.

When you take you
to this other place...

- Yes.
- One, just try to remember

it's a hospital.
There's not--

- If there's no
red dragons there--

if there's a red dragon there,
it's all bad because I'm--

- Okay.

- I don't get along
with the red dragons.

- Okay, I don't know
if there are or not.

- I'll fight--
no, let me stop you

right there.

It really doesn't matter
if there is.

- Okay.

- 'Cause if he's there,
I'll take his ass out anyway.

- Okay, okay.
- So it doesn't matter.

Okay, go on.
- But--

So they're gonna take you
from here

to there in an ambulance.
- Mm-hmm.

Okay, let me think about this
for a second.

Ambulance, so if the ambulance
is going at its right rate,

it should get me there
in a certain amount of time,

but if somebody tries
to intrude and crash over

and kidnap me
and hold me hostage,

then what are you gonna do?

See, you got to be able
to answer these questions

before you let me
out the door.

- Okay, they are gonna
restrain you when you go,

so you can just get prepared.

I know.
It's a pain in the butt.

- Restrain.

When you say the word
"restrain,"

it's like a trigger.

- Yeah, I know.

- Okay, let me tell you.

Okay, I'll explain something
to you real quick.

When they say the word
"restrain," okay,

it goes like this.

One, two...

restrain!

- Yeah, I know.

That's why I'm kind of trying
to give you a heads-up.

I had no idea
about mental illness.

My mother had no clue.

If you've ever, you know,

dealt with anyone
who has any sort of psychosis,

it's--there's lots of fear.

And so there's one moment
when he was in prison

where they had to do
a cell extraction,

which literally means
take someone out their cell,

but how they do
cell extraction,

they're just horrendous.

He was too scared,

and so they started
teargassing him and macing him.

And...

I mean, I just think
that's what you do

to enemy combatants,

not people who are citizens
of your country.

And in jail,
how was he treated?

- Oh, terribly.
- Just take care, homie.

For what kinds of crimes?

They're all, like,

non-violent mostly crimes
because he was in an episode.

- Now you see me,
now you don't.

Klu...

Klux...

Klan!

- This is just, like, a diary
that I keep every time

he goes into the hospital.

This was back in 2013.

Says, "In the late afternoon,
from Justine,

"that Monte
was breaking everything.

"Refuses to see psych doctor.

"He had pulled the back door
off the hinges

"and broke the glass.

"Monte tells the doctor

"he wants
to rip the doctor's eyes out.

The doctor is very calm.
Monte is growling at security."

Okay, you know, it just goes on

because this episode lasted
last year for 27 days.

This one,
how long did this last?

Like, 19 days, maybe?

19 days, yeah.

- I just love my brother
so much, um...

And he's perfect to me.

He really is perfect to me,
so...

I feel like
when he was diagnosed

and when our family
sort of really

had to come to terms
with his diagnosis, I just--

I refused to allow it
to tell a different story

that I already had
about my brother.

And I refused to allow
the stigma to sort of shape

how I was gonna
relate to him.

And if anything,
it just brought us closer.

And I made a commitment
to myself and for my brother

that I was gonna be with him,
no matter what.

Every downfall,
and every jail sentence,

and everything that was around
his mental illness,

I was gonna make sure that
I was way more equipped

to deal with it than I felt
like, really, society was.

- I met a lot of good people
in the hospital,

staff and inmates, so to speak.

I got a lot of new friends.

Even said I can come back
and visit if I want, you know.

- You want me to cut that?

- Yeah, get scissors
real quick.

- Okay.

You got it?
- Yeah.

- So sounds like it was
a positive experience,

pretty much?
- Yeah, it was rough at first.

The first three days,
I was in restraints.

You know, after that, it was
positive all the way through.

- Yeah, one of the nurses said,
"Are you taking Monte home?"

I said, "Yeah."
She goes, "Aw, he's so sweet."

I was like, "Yeah."

- Are you taking medicine now?
- Yes, I'm taking my meds.

I take Seroquel, Klonopin,
lithium and...

Zyprexa.

- Does it make a difference?
- Yeah. Well, I feel fine.

I feel better.
Feel better than ever.

You know, I feel healthy.
I feel good.

I don't feel no side effects,
like,

think strange or anything,
and it's okay.

- Do you want to let folks know
that actually the food is done?

Enough food is done
for everybody.

- Oh, okay.
- Paul, I'm right here

with Monte, Paul.

- Hello, Paul.

- I'm right here with
your nephew, Monte.

- Just hanging out.
- What's up, Monte?

- All right. Feeling good.
How about yourself?

I'm doing good, man.

What kind of party you having?

- Just a welcome home party.

My mom didn't want
to tell people

about my brother's mental
illness at first; she didn't.

I think there's a lot of shame
in Black communities

in particular
around mental illness.

Shame is dangerous because
shame makes you hide things,

and when we hide things,
we don't get the support

we need,
and when we hide things,

we're not as honest and
transparent about our needs,

and I think that shame
literally kills people.

Shame kills our possibilities
of having something different.

Monte had been off his meds,

had a manic episode,
and broke a window

in a convenience store.

With Patrisse's help,
his case was heard

by a judge in a specialized
mental health court program.

- Number ten on calendar
is the matter of Monte.

When we were here last,
I said that you were

gonna be evaluated both
by the deputy probation officer

as well as by the Department
of Mental Health.

I've got a report
about whether you would be

a good candidate
of this program.

If you were to be placed
into this program,

it might do you some good.

You're charged in count one
with destruction of property

with a value of more than $400.

It's a felony.

Do you understand
the charge against you?

- Yes, sir.

- The maximum sentence
for this charge,

if I were to strike
the strikes,

is three years in custody
that would have to be served

in state prison.

That's not the sentence
you're gonna get

right out the gate.

But if you violate
your probation,

if you violate any of the terms
of the treatment program,

you could be sentenced
to the maximum,

and the prosecution
will be asking for it.

Do you understand that, sir?

- Yes, sir.
- You have to undergo

mental health treatment
at the direction

of the probation department
in consultation

with the Department
of Mental Health,

most likely for up to a year.

It's gonna be tighter
supervision than ordinary,

run-of-the-mill probation.

But if you're willing to do it,

we're willing to try
and hook you up

with the people
who can help give you help.

- Yes, sir.

Until the court could find
a treatment facility

that would accept Monte,

he waited in jail
for four months.

Today the three biggest jails
in America are also

our three largest psychiatric
treatment facilities.

Across the nation,
jails are being built

specifically to house
the mentally ill.

We have 1,560 mentally ill
in Tower One right now.

This is a high-security jail

that was built
for high-security inmates,

and we are now housing
mentally ill folks

in here, patients in here.

- These people are severely
mentally ill.

They need a lot more
than we can give them here,

but we do the best we can.

- The vast majority are
homeless, presumably, right?

- Yes.

- So living out in the streets
and sidewalks and shelters.

- Right.

- There needs to be funded
resources so that

when these folks get out,

and if they're taking
their medication,

they can make it to those
facilities or those programs

and get the treatment
that they need.

- The state of mental illness
in this country

is beyond
the trite notion of crisis.

It's at a point
of comedic absurdity.

We built more prisons
than universities.

Our budgets for prisons
are actually higher

officially than
our education budgets.

In California,
it's a remarkable fact

there are as many people in
the prisons with mental illness

as there were people in 1960
in institutions of care

for mental illness.

About 37,000 people in 1960

were supported in alternatives
to carceration,

and today they're being
supported in a jail system.

There's about one of every
four inmates in California,

exacerbated by a recidivism
rate of about 70 %,

which is even higher
for people

that are suffering
from mental illness.

What's the saddest thing
you see, if I may ask?

- Just, you know,
the number of people

that we just completely
given up on is just staggering.

The controversial
Prison Realignment bill,

is it doing
more harm than good?

During the years
we were filming,

the crisis in Los Angeles
went from bad to worse.

To reduce prison
overcrowding,

California released 18,000
inmates into Los Angeles,

over 8,000 of whom had
a history of mental illness.

Around the same time,

several Los Angeles hospitals
and clinics closed down.

Some psychiatric hospitals

even dumped patients
onto Skid Row.

- We allege that the patient
was dressed

in nothing more than hospital
paper tops and bottoms,

had no money,
no identification.

All this translated
into an increase in admissions

and an increase in violence
in the ER.

This is for my safety
and your safety.

Oh, my --

- All right, this is for
my safety and your safety,

all right?

Just relax,
have a seat.

The doctor who
takes them off, right?

Just help us out.
Come on.

- What just happened?

- What just happened is,

these
have been with me

for over 20 years!

Okay, okay.

- What I would like you to do
is hang out

in one of the seclusion rooms
for a while, okay?

Without the handcuffs.

But it'll be a locked room.

- Yeah, so now you want
to put me in another cell?

- You--
- Where I spent the last

20 years of my--

come on, you
dick-ass cops.

- Stop, slow down.
Slow--

punk-ass.

- Slow down.

We ain't messing with you.
We ain't messing with you.

Yeah,
you the are, man.

Cops around me!
The out of here!

- Once you're ready,
we'll be here.

When somebody is a mixture

of both depressive symptoms
and manic symptoms,

which is the opposite
of depression,

it's a real irritable,
angry kind of emotion,

lots of energy,
no sleep for days,

which is what he's
in the middle of.

- Yeah, we all want to work
with you, man.

We want to--
- Okay.

We come to a
hospital, man,

and I'm treated
like I'm back

in prison.

- Do me a favor.
Listen, she's a doctor.

All these cops
around me!

- Want me to get out of here?
We'll get out of here.

Talk to the doctor.
- The out of here!

- Let's go,
we'll get out of here.

It's hard sometimes to be
compassionate,

especially when, you know,
they threaten to kill you

and stuff like that, but...

he may
have had abuse in jail.

It's not uncommon.

All I want you to do is take
the Seroquel and the Klonopin

and hang out in here
with the door locked.

In a cell.

- Yes, I'm sorry that

it feels like that to you.

I'm not here to make you feel
like you're in prison,

but I got to respect
the safety of everybody here,

including you.

Klonopin, I gave him that one.

- I thought we had it locked.
What's the deal?

- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

- I'm your doctor.

- Whoa, whoa, I'm talking
with the cop now,

somebody I know and respect,
who I've dealt with before.

I'm the one who ordered it,
though, not the police officer.

- Hey, if we have mutual
respect, do me a favor.

Just go back in your room,
then we'll talk in there.

How about that?
Do that for me?

- You guys are gonna
lock me in there.

- It's up to the doctor.
She's the one in charge.

This is her house right now.

- You know what's gonna happen
when I come out of there?

It's gonna be
a cell extraction,

and I'm gonna come for her.

- Okay.
- I'm letting you know

that right now.

I'm coming for you.

Come on,.

- Matter of fact--
- Don't let him go.

- Hey, hey, hey, hey.

, This is not
what we talked about. Come on!

- Code green, code green!

Press the button.
Press the button.

- Got to go, he's got to go.

Come on.
- Don't do that.

- Code green!
- Code green!

- Push the panic button!

Get off my
back, bitch.

- You need to relax there.

- Did you look
at his mouth or no?

- No, he refused treatment.

- Refused treatment.

Hi, it's Dr. McGhee.

I would really like to know
if you have any injuries.

I promise I'll leave you alone.

I just need to know if you have
any injuries, and--

- Okay.

I'm gonna listen
to your heart.

What I see, especially
from the emergency room,

is this ridiculous
merry-go-round.

People get sick because they
don't take their medication,

and how can you ask people
to take medication

when they're living
on the streets?

Hold on.

- I'm gonna
straighten your leg.

What do you need?

Good night, Diana.

- Okay, bye, Doctor.

We are still enjoying

the gift of Reagan policy
back in the '80s.

We chose to go from

keeping patients
institutionalized

their whole life

to having them
live on the streets.

For whatever reason,
we've decided, as a nation,

that that's acceptable.

- People can, uh, use this
address as a mailbox,

so you can get
your mail right here.

People don't have
addresses, so...

People only got so much
fight in 'em, you know.

It's either fight or run.

I've been fighting for so long

that I go back and forth
from fighting to running,

fighting to running,
fighting to running.

You know,
it's like a big circle.

Right now, I'm fighting again.

You know...

Because probably of
my medical situation,

and I don't want to die
on the streets.

But a lot of people
out here suffer

from either drug addiction
or mental health issues,

and that's why
they're down here.

It's sad.
It's really sad.

You know, I suffer from it

and these people
suffer from it,

and there ain't
no help nowhere.

We just keep going around
in circles,

and we get nothing.

It's just sad.

Whatever place is gonna
put me in the quickest place

is where I want to go.

- Mm-hmm.
- You understand?

Whatever place comes available
that says,

"Yes, we can move him in
the next couple of weeks,"

that's where I want to go.

- We've already contacted
managers.

We're waiting for the managers
to give us the okay

in terms of their vacancy,
so we can come with you--

- So why did I come
down here today?

- Well, you came down--

well, remember, we scheduled
this meeting last week,

and I hadn't been able
to reach you all last week.

- My phone's dead.
- We have Monday and Tuesday

to work with you this week.

We thought we were
going to have

the entire week,
maybe five or six days.

- So what are we gonna do?

- We'll discuss your options,

and then if this is something
you want to do, then we can...

- We've discussed and discussed
and discussed.

Can't we just find
an apartment?

I got AIDS.

I was shooting drugs
behind somebody that had it,

and they never told me,
and I ended up catching it.

Life has on me
all my life, man.

- Well, how are you doing?
- I'm depressed a lot.

About the housing thing,
you know, and...

- A lot of people have told me
how slow and frustrating it is.

But what is the holdup now?
What don't they have?

- I don't know.
I went and did a walk-through.

And, uh...
- Yeah.

- And then I thought
I was gonna do

an application on Friday,
and now they're telling me

I have to go do an application
somewhere else.

- Yeah.

- Because I don't have
a rental history.

I've been homeless
so many years...

- Mm-hmm.
- Because of my being--

mental health.

- There's a lot of red tape
in housing,

but once you get it,
you get it.

It's kind of like a little
obstacle course, but do it.

- The whole trying to do things
normal is...

Frustrating the hell out of me
because I'm not normal.

- At the mercy of your moods?

- Mm-hmm.
- Yeah.

- Yeah, I mean, how many years
have I been with mental health?

Like, 43 years, and they
still haven't fixed me.

I ain't saying it's you,

but after 43 years, you figure
somebody could get it right.

All right, then, now
we have the Alexander...

- So when am I moving in?

- Hoping.

- Makes no sense to me, man.

You know, leave somebody
sleeping on a sidewalk

when he's got
a apartment!

Broke, homeless
on the sidewalk!

And he's got
a roof!

He's got a roof,
and he can't get in it!

He can't get in it!

I don't understand it!
I don't understand!

I don't understand it!

- It's a big one.
- Yeah, it's nice.

- It's a big one.
- Yeah.

- Yeah, it's a big one!
Yay!

- Congratulations.

Thank you, Steve.

Thank you.

- So let me ask you a question.

- Yeah. So it's
a hypothetical question.

How many years
did your sister suffer

with the symptoms
of schizophrenia?

- So out of those 30 years,
how many of--

what percentage of that time
were your family persistent

in supporting her and helping
her deal with those symptoms?

- Yeah, and so this
is society's response.

When society feels
like no matter

what effort is put forward,
what resources are put forward,

this problem doesn't go away,
or it only has a very minor,

small impact,
people get frustrated.

People give up on
their own family members.

So if people give up
on their own family members,

if people ultimately give up
on theirselves through suicide,

what makes you think society
as a whole isn't gonna give up?

We were in a consultation
room like this.

There was the psychiatrists,
my mother, my father.

I think he sat over there.

My sister Gail
probably sat right next to me.

And Merle was there,

and she was so angry
about being there.

And she was still psychotic,
and she would pace the room.

Remember that, she would pace,
pace, pace, pace,

get anxious and pace, and rant
and rave and say crazy things.

And at one point,
Gail and I said,

"You belong here.
You should be here."

And she, you know,
snapped at us,

and said, "You belong here!
You're the crazy ones!"

And my mother cried a lot.

And my father kept it cool,

and he said, "We had enough.
We're taking her out of here."

- I do remember him saying,

"Never, never do that
ever again.

"Never--
it's my daughter,

and you're not to do anything
like that ever again."

With him, it was shame.

I think there's a lot of shame

regarding mental illness
with him.

- I think he thought he was
doing the right thing.

I don't think anyone really,
you know,

thought they were
destroying her life.

It was at that moment,
at 14 years old,

when my parents took my sister
out of the hospital

against medical advice,

that I decided
to become a psychiatrist.

Merle was my first
best friend...

Took me to my first
scary movie...

Sung me to sleep.

As a child, Merle also had
signs of mental illness.

She had periods of disabling
anxiety and depression.

And it might have
changed everything

if Merle had gotten
professional help early on.

- I'm gonna ask you

what might seem
like a strange question.

Do you ever have an experience
of hearing voices in your head?

Do you ever hear people

talking to you
that aren't really there?

- My head tells me to run away.

- Your head tells you
to run away?

Is it a voice, or you just
think that in your head?

- Voice.
- A voice?

Every study shows
that the earlier you intervene

with a kid and a family,
the better the outcome.

The voice told you to go in
the kitchen and cut yourself.

Was it a weekend or a weekday,
do you remember?

- Weekend, I think
in the weekend.

- Was it, like, in the morning?

Was it in the afternoon?
Was it in the evening?

There are a total
of ten county

inpatient adolescent
psychiatric beds

available in Los Angeles
County at any given time.

Parents are stuck with this
very difficult decision.

"Do I want to take
my suicidal kid back home

"and watch him 24/7,

"or do I want to leave my kid
in an ER

"for three or four
or five days

while they're looking
for a bed?"

She stated, quote, "All day,
I have been feeling sad

"and thinking of suicide
and running away from home.

"I would choke myself,
drown myself,

or use drugs to hurt myself."

Did you really try
to drown yourself before?

- Yeah, but I couldn't because
I, like, won't,

and I was kind of scared.

- Were you aware
that she had tried

to drown herself in the past?
- No.

- Just the--

- I heard it
the first time today.

- You get bullied at school?

You feel like
it's difficult for you

to sometimes ignore your anger?

Okay.

And so when you get angry,
you feel like killing yourself?

- You did mention
a couple of times

some kids told you some stuff,
but I told you,

"Just ignore it," you know?

But I didn't know
it was that serious for you.

- I mean, anytime
an 11-year-old

says that they want
to kill themself

and has multiple plans
in which to do so,

and has tried to kill themself
in the past, it's very serious.

Suicide is the number three
cause of death in adolescents

and early adolescents her age.

- You know I love you.

You may think sometimes--

you think I don't love you,
but I do.

You always question that.
I don't know why.

- She's going home.

I'm gonna discontinue
her whole--

- That's Delilah, right?

- Delilah.

So Alvarez is going
to Bakersfield?

And then why don't we put
on this one home with Mom?

- You said Delilah?
- Yeah, Delilah home with Mom.

After the first time,
it didn't solve anything.

I was still
emotionally unstable,

so kind of got worse
because at school,

the problems continued
and I didn't know

how to cope with them.

I tried committing overdose,
and thank God nothing happened.

That's when he sent me
to the hospital.

And they sent me to therapy
and everything,

and so everything
is better now.

I have two medications.
One is for my anxiety.

I take that one daily,
and the other one

is for depression.

So it's whenever I'm--

it's to, like, control my
feelings and, yeah, emotions.

She worked!

It's been very hard.
I try to be strong,

but there were points
that I would just--

I'd be driving back from work,
and I would just start crying

because,
I mean, it's like, you know,

sometimes you feel like
you don't have the strength.

But I just ask God to give me
the strength to keep going,

and how best I can help her.

You know, you think you
have your--the normal child,

you know, and then
something like this happens,

and, like, what happened?

What did I miss?
What did I do wrong, you know?

But other kids
just don't get it on time,

and they just--they're gone.

- Delilah...

So, Monte,
when did you realize

that you a mental illness?

- When I was 20 years old,
and I started, you know,

seeing people, you know,
ears are getting pointy.

I felt like everybody
was after me.

I felt like people were talking
about me, and I was just like,

"Wait, something's
not right here."

And I said, "Why is my mind
thinking like this?

This is just abstract.
This isn't normal."

♪ Black life,
it matters here ♪

♪ Black life,
it matters here ♪

- You should turn it up.

♪ Black life,
it matters here ♪

♪ Black life,
it matters here ♪

Soon after I got to know
Patrisse,

she took me along on a vigil
on behalf of a young man

who had been fatally shot
by the police.

An LAPD officer, they say,
shot and killed

their mentally challenged son,
25-year-old Ezell Ford, Jr.

- They laid him out,
and for whatever reason,

they shot him in the back.

More than half of the folks
who are being shot and killed

by police have some sort
of mental health issues.

We know that Ezell Ford
in Los Angeles,

who the cops knew
had psychiatric issues,

shot and gunned down
in his own neighborhood.

My brother, Monte,
who's had run-ins

with law enforcement
for a very long time,

he's a part of a pattern
of harming, abusing,

and often killing Black people
with severe mental illness.

- A lot of bad things
have happened.

You know, I guess, they look,

"Oh, he's a big,
you know, Black guy,

and he looks dangerous,
so we'll treat him that way."

But that's the opposite.
I'm--you know, I don't--

I've been very few fights,
you know, in my life,

and that's because I chose--
I chose that.

My hope is that we're going
to intervene in the way

Los Angeles
treats the mentally ill,

specifically that
sort of cross section

between mental health
and incarceration.

You have to have lofty ideas
and lofty dreams.

- No justice!
- No peace!

- No justice!
- No peace!

- There are currently
3,300 beds right now

for the mentally ill
inside of these jails.

That's a problem.

Ain't no power
like the power of the people

because the power of the people
don't stop.

During the second year
of filming,

Patrisse co-founded a new
civil rights organization

that would become
a national movement.

Black lives matter!
Black lives matter!

Black lives matter!
Black lives matter!

- For every single Black life
in this room

and every single Black life
on this planet,

how are we going
to save Black lives?

Pretty much all my activism,

especially around
police violence,

especially around
mass incarceration,

is for my brother.

If this were cancer,

there'd be a revolution
in this country.

This is an issue
that is a civil rights issue.

It's about the discrimination
against our brothers

and sisters,

simply because of the immutable
fact their illness

is an illness of the brain

as opposed to an illness
of any other organ in the body.

This is not complicated.

Treat mental illness the same
as every other illness,

and we will make
enormous difference

in tackling the challenges
that face us.

And there shouldn't be
a Democrat or Republican

out there who says no
to the agenda

that you take up
to Capitol Hill today.

And she had schizophrenia;
she thought bugs were crawling

under her skin.

And we ran to the ER,

and they basically ran
to Bellevue and they said,

"Well, we have no beds,
and she's not danger."

We ran to Gracie
Square Hospital.

"We have no beds.
She's not dangerous."

We ran to Beth Israel Hospital.

"We have no beds.
She's not dangerous."

She wasn't sick enough
for them to admit her.

- I got a nuisance ordinance

from the City
of Bedford Police.

They were out at the house
before we came home...

- 52 times.
- And on the first call,

they laughed at my son.

They thought it was funny,
his mental illness.

- Even the emergency room.
- And they had been

at our house 50-some times!

This was nothing new to them.

My son was now
considered a nuisance.

A few days later,
five days later,

they came out
and they killed him.

- They murdered him.

- They over-Tased him
so many times.

They changed
their Taser reports.

There's no accountability
for these guys at all.

He always looked at me
to help him.

On that day,
I just couldn't save him

'cause they got in the way.

Anybody want some
chopped liver?

This is a very precious
moment

in the Rosenberg family.

Mama, what are you gonna
say to the camera?

- Uh, hello there, hi!

My loving family was as close
and open as can be,

but there was one secret
that could not be shared.

- Hi!
- Smile for the camera!

- How you doing?
- Wonderful!

And I want to tell you,
it's my pleasure

that you all came here today.

I've been dreaming about this.

A few years after she was
diagnosed with schizophrenia,

my sister heard voices
in her head

and jumped out
of her bedroom window.

Merle was found
by the neighbors.

She had broken nearly
every bone in her body.

My mom and dad told everyone
that an intruder

had entered the house
and was going to attack her,

and Merle went out
the window to escape.

My heartbroken parents
dedicated their lives

to getting Merle
to walk again.

But her mental illness
was never to be discussed,

and when my parents
and my sister Gail died,

I was left in charge of Merle.

I hired doctors
and social workers.

She fired them.

My family's house,
now Merle's house,

was falling apart
and becoming unlivable.

Whenever I came to the house,
she locked me out.

In December 2005, I told her,

"You must move out.
I need to get you help."

After two weeks of her
not answering the phone,

I finally called the police.

They found her dead in her bed
at the age of 55 years old.

I never intended
to share my family's story.

I never intended
to go back home.

But I now realize we can't fix
something that we can't face.

I wish I knew
what really happened.

I really don't know how to make
sense of it all, honestly.

I really don't.

- There may be things that
you never figure out, you know?

You might never know.

- She would sit on this bed

and write reams
and reams of paper,

and, you know, write to
the devil and write to Rufus,

who was the spirit
who possessed her.

And, you know--

and I'm sure
that's what happened

when she jumped out the window.

She was just so--

so deluged by voices

and ideas that were so scary.

And when she died...

I didn't feel
a whole lot of, um...

Anything.

And it very much bothers me.

I wish I could've made it
better for my sister.

I really do.
- You did everything you could.

I know you did.
- Well, I don't know.

I just wish there was a happier
ending to her life

and to my entire family's life.

- Oh, just be careful
not to let the cat out.

There we go.
I call her Mellow Yellow

'cause her eyes--
like, whenever I get too manic,

I say,
"Okay, I got to mellow yellow."

So yeah, I went
in the hospital,

and then feeling better,
and that's what's hard,

is it's like you can feel
pretty normal for a while,

but then you just relapse.

But I always thought
it was the medication,

but it's actually
the illness, I guess.

So that's--
when I'm finally after,

like, five or six years
of this,

is finally coming around to.

I would like to get my degree.

I would love to, further down
the line, have a family,

but I would like
to have my degree

to have a job
to be able to support myself.

That would just be so amazing,
but it feels out of reach.

But, um...

I, you know, um...

I would like to get to that.

I just remember when
this first happened to me,

how alone and scared I was.

And it was just
the loneliest feeling.

You just felt like this freak,

and you didn't know anything
about it, and it was just--

it would've been nice
to have known

that other people
are like this, you know?

And now I know if you
have this, you're not alone.

Monte finished a year
of treatment

ordered by the court.

He was taking medication,
in therapy,

and had a job
for the first time in years.

- What's up, dawg?
I know Jesse.

Yeah, I know you, dawg!

- Yeah, man! I haven't seen you
in almost over 20 years, maybe.

- That's one of your
little boys?

Looks just like you.
- My son, man.

You know I'm on the radio, man.
- Okay, yeah, yeah!

Not everybody that has
a mental illness is a monster.

Have people treated you
like a monster?

Yeah, basically, yes.

Like, "Oh, there goes
that guy; he's a bad guy.

"Oh, he did this and that

because he had
a mental illness."

That's what, you know,
my life story is.

I just want to just live
and be happy

and just be left alone,
you know?

- Monte, I got your number.
- All right, Jesse.

- I'm gonna text you.
- All right. Cool, cool.

- So you can have mine,
okay?

- All right.
Be safe.

All rise.

Recognize the principles
for which we stand.

Department 126
of the Superior Court

of the County of Los Angeles
is now in session.

Please be seated
and come to order.

Good morning, Your Honor.
- Good morning.

- Okay.

Todd was arrested.

Unlike Monte, his case
was heard in a criminal court.

- The court has had
an in-camera review.

The proceedings are sealed,

and discovery will be
turned over by 4:25.

- And, Your Honor,
I would also like to ask

for OR full release
on compassionate grounds,

as his T-cell count has
plummeted to the double digits

during his time
of incarceration.

This is a non-violent offense.
His strikes are over.

Bail is set at $10,000,
and he lacks the 10 %

premium to get himself
out of jail.

- I'm sorry, but you got
a strike on your history.

I'm not inclined to release you
at this point.

- Well, how many years
do I have to pay for that?

How many times
do I have to pay for that?

- You will have to have
to your attorney about that.

Okay, the request is denied.

Matter is continued
to May 4, 2016.

I don't think
any police officer or DA

can explain to me why a guy
who's supposedly doing

hand-to-hand drug sales

in an amount less than $10 is
a menace to the public safety,

why he needs to spend
over three months in jail

while he awaits his trial.

His health has plummeted
since he's been inside.

His T-cell count is now
in the double digits.

Basically, the system
provides him just enough

so that he won't die
on their watch,

but that's about it.

After three months in jail,
Todd lost his apartment.

This is "Eyewitness News."

- Hundreds of protesters
shut down a busy downtown

Los Angeles street.

Why they put homemade
jail cots

in front
of the supervisor's office.

The 100 replica jail beds
we've created are a far cry

from the upwards of 6,000
the county is trying to build.

We can't get well
in a cell!

People with severe
mental illness deserve care.

Holding people and warehousing
them in jail cells

is not gonna be the way.

We have historically
not fought

for people
with mental illness.

- We've got $3.5 million--

People are rising up
and saying,

"We are sick and tired of our
families being thrown away,

being disposable."

We have to be a part
of a growing movement

trying to change
the course of history.

No more jails! No more jails!

- We've run into contradictions
where custody and penalization

takes priority over care
and treatment.

Mental health conditions,
medical conditions,

they're not well served
in custody settings,

so community-based care

is really what we can do
to heal.

Thank you.
- Thank you.

No clapping
from the auditorium.

If you agree
with what they're saying,

you can always put your hands
in the air, raise the roof.

Next speaker, please.

- As you know,
my brother, Monte,

suffers from serious
mental illness.

There has been no adequate
treatment for him

or people like him
in Los Angeles.

It's been criminalization
and incarceration.

We need a radical shift
in the mental health care

in Los Angeles.

No dollars should be spent
on a facility that locks away

human beings who are suffering,
who are sick.

Do this right.
Do not compromise.

Support the Montes
of Los Angeles now.

- Next speaker, please.
- My name is Colin Dias.

I served for ten years

as a Chief
of the Department of Psychiatry

at LAC+USC Medical Center
and seven years

as the Chief of Emergency
Psychiatric Services there.

We are at an inflection point
in the treatment

of the mentally ill.

You must change the paradigm.

- There are people like me
who sit here

as proof that treatment
and care,

instead of jail, work.

There are stories and stories

and stories
of thousands of people.

- Last year,
I lost a family member

to the effects
of mental illness.

- Every time that my brother
has been taken away,

he's given back
to us in pieces.

- We've been coming here
for seven years,

saying, "No more jail."

One year ago, we came here,
saying, "No more jail,"

and today we say,
"No more jail.

Facilities of compassion
for our people."

- Thank you.
Next speaker, please.

- Imagine a place of care.

Imagine a place of well-being
when you've needed that.

- And I beg you to consider
expanding existing

community services,

looking at intensive
community-based models

that are recuperative
in nature, enhancing those--

- I believe that this county
has an opportunity

to be a model for the country,
to put people first.

- I want to thank everyone
in the audience

who's been fighting
for almost a decade

to get us to this point.

- Supervisor Kuehl, aye.

- Supervisor Barger?
- No.

- Supervisor Barger, no.

Supervisor Hahn?
- Aye.

- Supervisor Hahn, aye.
Motion carries, four-to-one.

- Whoo!

Today on
"Eyewitness Newsmakers,"

a major turning point:

the LA County
Board of Supervisors

will not build a new jail.

Mental health treatment will
replace it, a landmark change.

- We won. Monte!
- Yeah?

- We won!
- Are you being serious?

We get to dream big now.

Monte, we're gonna save
a lot of lives.

A lot of lives.

- Okay, it's a very busy
day today.

Today is July 4th.

All the beds in the community
for inpatient psych

are all filled,
so we're gonna get

everything under the sun
this afternoon, this evening.

- So I'm gonna help you guys
for a few hours.

Let me help you
knock these notes out.

Is there anybody in particular

that is more complicated
that I can help with?

- No.
- No.

- I think I signed up
for those.

- All right.

- Are you DC'ing him
or keeping him?

- No, no, he's--

he's history of agitation.

Family brought him in.

- Okay.

- So your last day in the ER
is August 1st.

Is that gonna be a day of joy
or a day of sadness?

Yeah.

- So has your experience here
in the ER

left you, um, drained?

- Yes.

- So you wonder how anyone
could do this

on a continuous basis, correct?

- I don't wonder.

I know people do it.
I just have my limits.

I'm quitting because
it's a workload

that's not manageable.

My responsibility
has to be to being

the best doctor I can be.

So I sort of developed
a way to cope.

It's just gone on too long.

As long as doctors tolerate
these working conditions

and the outside world

won't know what's going on
or understand what's going on,

then nothing will ever
get better.

The definition of insanity is

repeating the same thing

over and over and expecting
different results.

The way we treat mentally ill
in this country is insane.

- Good night.
- Good night.

To not have access
to regular food, housing,

medication,
medical care--

it doesn't make for a good
American story.

♪♪