The “criminalization” of mental illness is the end result of decades of failed mental health policy. Jails and prisons are the new asylums. Law enforcement is now on the front line of mental illness crisis response. Mental illness is one of the drivers of incarceration in the Whatcom County Jail. See the Vera Institute of Justice, Report to Whatcom County Stakeholders on Jail Reduction Strategies (November 2017). The county’s incarceration of the mentally ill is not unique. It is part of a national shame.
