密歇根新闻广播 治疗囚犯精神疾病的一线曙光

Milton Mack, who was chief probate judge in Wayne County for many years, is probably the state judiciary's top expert in the problems of prisons and the mentally ill.

Mack, now state court administrator¹, has long maintained that we could significantly reduce both our state prison population and its costs if more of our mentally ill could be put on medication instead of being locked up. But efforts at reform have too often been stymied² by politicians who were more concerned about looking "tough on crime."

But incoming Speaker of the House Tom Leonard, a 35-year-old former prosecutor³ from DeWitt, knows something needs to be done, and seems to want to fix it. "This is absolutely a bipartisan issue," he told me in a telephone interview a few days ago, adding that he sees himself as a consensus⁴ builder and wants to reach across the aisle⁵ to Democrats⁶.

That could result in an eventual⁷ savings⁸ of hundreds of millions for the taxpayers⁹. An alarming and steadily¹⁰ growing percentage of those in Michigan prisons are certifiably mentally ill.

The good news is that over the last decade the total number of inmates¹¹ has significantly declined by about 10,000. There were more than 51,000 in 2007, and only about 41,000 today, according to a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections.

But there are nearly 9,400 mentally ill prisoners – and on average, they cost taxpayers a lot more. In Michigan, the average cost of keeping someone behind bars is a little more than $35,000 a year. Many of the more severely¹² mentally ill inmates, those who cannot safely be in the normal prison population, are in the Woodland Correctional Facility in Whitmore Lake. They each cost us more than $95,000 a year.

Some of the prison mental illness problem can be traced to the de-institutionalization movement of the early 1990s, when Governor John Engler led a push to close state mental facilities. Many of those released were in no shape to reenter society, and they ended up in prison.

A few years ago, some forward-thinking judges pioneered the idea of "mental health courts" which really means reserving a portion of the docket for the mentally ill.

One such pioneer was Genesee Probate Judge Jennie Barkey, who early on sentenced a prisoner to treatment rather than to prison, against the opposition¹³ of her young clerk, a newly minted lawyer named Tom Leonard. He told her, "Judge, this is never going to work."

Well, it did. The man stayed out of prison, and Leonard ended up apologizing to him and the judge. Two years ago, as a legislator, Tom Leonard was the main force behind a major update to Kevin's Law, which allows friends and family members to order treatment for someone who has had their mental illness confirmed by a physician.

Naturally, there will always be some mentally ill prisoners too dangerous to be released. But there are far more who could become productive members of society. The new speaker told me he knows that he doesn't know everything; he intends to sit down with senior staff and the experts and discuss the next step.

Given that our ability to fix things is being choked off by our bloated corrections budget, this could be the most promising¹⁴ reform in years.

1 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

2 stymied   

n.被侵袭的v.妨碍，阻挠( stymie的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Relief efforts have been stymied in recent weeks by armed gunmen. 最近几周的救援工作一直受到武装分子的阻挠。 来自辞典例句
• I was completely stymied by her refusal to help. 由于她拒不相助， 我完全陷入了困境。 来自互联网

3 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

4 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

5 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

6 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 eventual   

adj.最后的，结局的，最终的

参考例句：

• Several schools face eventual closure.几所学校面临最终关闭。
• Both parties expressed optimism about an eventual solution.双方对问题的最终解决都表示乐观。

8 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

9 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

10 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

11 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

13 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

14 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。