documentary for this week is 17 years old, but the issues that Frontline explored in 2005 are still revenant to the our society today.  Additionally, according to a 2014 study of Los Angeles County, the average cost of jailing an individual with serious mental illness exceeds $48,500 per year. By comparison, the price tag for providing Assertive Community Treatment, or ACT, and supportive housing one of the most intensive, comprehensive, and successful intervention models in use todayamounts to less than $20,500 annually, just two-fifths the cost of jail.

Why do you think we’ve not adopted more community based supports as alternative to prison or jail?  What are the barriers you see?  What do you think can be done to start changing the paradigm?

The New Asylums