You ever been to jail, prison or commited to a psych hospital. Why did you have to go? What was your experience like? Did it help you or did you got worse and went back?

Buster buster: that’s what the details part is for…

You might be interested in Zuma’s answer on this thread. The question is different than yours, but touches on what you are looking for. The answer is very good, very descriptive.

I’ve been to jail. I went for caring a hand gun. It was horrible and I hope to never have to do it again. I wasn’t treated bad but the three hours I was in there seemed like thirty. It was EXTREMELY cold too. The jailers were very nice as were the cops after they realized that I wasn’t going to shoot at them.

I just work at a psych hospital. It’s pretty boring at this one.

I was locked up for nearly 6 years, in different prisons, different levels of security. It was for weed, Federal case. Some days were good, in the sense that you can laugh, enjoy playing sports, have good conversations with the inmates that I hanged around with. But there was time were there was a lot of tension, because of the different gangs, or guards that are jerks.
Got to read many, many books, in the first 18 months of pretrial I nearly read a book a day, which helped a lot because there is a lot of uncertainty, a lot of tension because I was waiting to get sentenced, when there is more violence between inmates. The things I missed the most were the little things, and sex. Food was mostly bad, but we cooked great food, by smuggling vegetables and meats, plus using items from the canteen, best nachos I’ve ever tried.

@mrmijunte Best post ever.

Oh, and I worked at a psych hospital. The units that have the out of control, or not yet controlled people, schizophrenics, or sometimes bi-polar can seem very “crazy.” it is not that the whole population in there is ranting or acting out of control, but there are more of those types there. Those units generally smell bad too, like urine or BO. Having said that, I worked on that unit, and so did many young women, we felt safe enough to work there. I only mention we felt safe because I worry my description sounds scary, and I did not feel scared. Many of the patients were very nice, wanted to feel better, it was sad.

Other units are calm, could be any hospital, the only difference is you are locked in. People who are depressed, not coping well, etc., can be anyone, a friend, a family member. You could meet the same person anywhere, at work, in a mall, through friends.

Not yet.

@JLeslie are you so sure that things said by those that others thought were “crazy” said things so out of control? Just a question and thought.

@Summum I don’t understand what you are asking. I use crazy in the commonly used way of people hearing voices, being paranoid, behaving in a manic way so hyped up they are
practically incoherent, lashing out with short tempers, etc. Plenty of people have diagnosis of schizophrenia, bipolar, etc, and are not acting raving mad. My grandfather was paranoid schizophrenic, and he was mild mannered and timid. I remember a very sweet girl in the hospital where I worked who at her time of discharge told me she just has to remember if she starts hearing those voices again that they are not real and to ask for help. She was 19, smiled, calm, wanted to overcome her difficulties. Many people “step-down” to other units once they are controlled with medication to have a more pleasant environment, and be able to participate in more talk therapy.

But, there was a woman who got pissed and hit her head with a big wall phone, my colleague standing next to her, and blood got all over her clothes. Another woman who kept spreading open her legs when she sat down to show everyone her stuff. Another woman who had 9 children at the age of 29, all being cared for by her mother, because she was so mentally unstable. Several men who were basically criminals, some violent crime. All sorts of “crazy” shit.

Sorry I’m just so very touched by life and I have worked with many that are thought of as being or having experience that is not as we call it normal. I know what you are saying and it is awful what things exist in this world. I have been around this in my life and it is an awful thing about our imperfect world. I can tell you that many of those in this situation are there because of several reasons some are out of their control and some are not. The thing is that we have no idea what is really going on in their world and often times they are going through things that are very real at least to them. I just remember the movie Green Mile and how John Coffee saw things and how the world judged him. I’m feeling the negative of this world tonight and it is often times very overwhelming. Thanks for you kindness and understanging. Blessings

@summum oh, I agree, we don’t know their world, their mind. No judgment here. I only get very concerned when someone might hurt themselves or others, or feels uncomfortable themselves in their own mind and perceptions. I don’t want a world of robots where their is some perfect mental standard. Our minds make us each unique, a little eccentric can be a good thing, an interesting thing. What some may call a troubled mind might produce fantastic thought, art, music, love, you just never know. Also agreed we don’t always know what brings someone to a behavioral hospital. I think pretty much everyone has the potential for mental illness under the right circumstances; I think so much of it is due to environment, higher percentage of nurture vs. nature in my opinion.

GA @JLeslie