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Dorothea Dix's Activism
Dorothea Dix, an American social reformer, "began a 30 year campaign to see that the mentally ill were taken out of the prisons," and her efforts helped to bring mentally ill people out of prisons and into institutions for treatment. -
Nellie Bly exposé
On assignment for New York World, Nellie Bly feigns lunacy in order to be admitted to the Women's Lunatic Asylum detailed the appalling living conditions at the asylum; this led to to a grand jury investigation and needed reforms at the institution. -
Short-Doyle Act of 1957
The Short-Doyle Act of 1957 began to defund mental institutions in California without providing a sufficient alternative for mentally ill people to turn to; instead, it pushed them into under-resourced local centers. This contributed to the recriminalization of mentally ill patients as viable options for treatment began to disappear. Though this began in California, institutions around the country began to close down. -
President Kennedy
President John F. Kennedy signs the Community Mental Health Act to provide federal funding for the construction of community-based preventive care and treatment facilities. Between the Vietnam War and an economic crisis, the program was never adequately funded, showing that mental health issues never fully became a priority within this time period. -
Research about the effects of closing mental hospitals
" In 1980, a study published in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry concluded that emptying the public mental health hospitals had “forced a large number of these deinstitutionalized patients into the criminal justice system.”5 Two other studies published in 1982 and 1983 by researchers at the University of Southern California indicated that the problem was only getting worse" (Stanford Law School Three Strikes Project). -
Cuts to public health plans during the Great Recession
In the aftermath of the Great Recession, states are forced to cut $4.35 billion in public mental-health spending over the next three years, the largest reduction in funding since deinstitutionalization. -
Death of Darren Rainey
Schizophrenic inmate Darren Rainey died after prison guards punished him for soiling himself by placing him in a scalding hot shower for two hours. In March 2017, the guards responsible were released without jail time. -
Research about modern prison populations
A joint study by the National Sheriffs’ Association and the Treatment Advocacy Center released a report revealing that the US prison system houses 10 times more prisoners than psychiatric hospitals.