Don't Forget Your Prozac

Wednesday night’s episode of “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” on NBC left me speechless. The plot was centered around the abuse of jailed prisoners by the correctional facility’s psychiatric personnel.

Vincent D’onofrio played the role of Robert Goran, a NYPD detective whose nephew has been incarcerated for being an unwitting dupe in a drug related incident. This character is depicted as having various psychiatric problems which are in turn poorly diagnosed by the jail psychiatrist. Then, in a plot twist that made my hair stand on end, the prison “shrink” takes a dislike to this kid and decides to restrain him to a cot and torture him by depriving him of food and water.

Vincent D’Onofrio’s character then goes undercover to see for himself what’s going on and predictably enough he’s also chained to a cot next to a radiator and subjected to lengthy torture.

As someone who reads widely on the state of people with disabilities I know that the largest psychiatric facility in the United Statesis the Los Angeles County jail.

IN an age of largely unsupervised “privatization” of jails and prisons it’s not unreasonable to imagine that last night’s episode of “Law and Order” may well be founded in genuine despair.

So this morning I have a “Law and Order” hangover. I guess I’ll take some Prozacand shovel my driveway. 

As I shovel I’ll think about the 40 million or so who are not in jail but who need proper medical care and can’t get it.

As Yakov Smirnoff used to say: “What a country!”

S.K.

Author: stevekuusisto

Poet, Essayist, Blogger, Journalist, Memoirist, Disability Rights Advocate, Public Speaker, Professor, Syracuse University View all posts by stevekuusisto