Book cover of Insane: America's Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness

Book description

An urgent expose of the mental health crisis in our courts, jails, and prisons

America has made mental illness a crime. Jails in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago each house more people with mental illnesses than any hospital. Across America, as many as half of all inmates have a…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Insane as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Jails and prisons have become our de facto psychiatric hospitals.

This book struck me with particular force because I both teach these issues and recognize that, but for privilege and access to good treatment, I could easily be on the other side of the bars.

If you love Insane...

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December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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