Mentally ill need proper treatment

To the editor:

Gov. Terry Branstad declared May to be Mental Health Month. Let's hope that marks the end of his dabbling in the mental health field.

In the course of the last few months, he has first announced the closing of all four mental health institutions in Iowa, agreed under pressure to keep two open a little longer, set another closing date, and announced that a private company would be hired to operate them, for profit.

He hasn't consulted with advocates in the field; or if he has, he's rejected their advice. There are not enough available beds in local hospitals to take any more psychiatric patients.

Does the governor have a plan? Oh, I think I can guess. We have a new prison, built at great expense, in Fort Madison. At least 41 percent of the people housed in Iowa prisons are mentally ill. Why not move other mental health sufferers to this institution?

Think of the money we'd save. Of course, many of the people in Iowa prisons might not be there if they had received proper treatment for their mental illness. But I doubt that will influence the governor.

This plan lacks only one thing: privatizing the Iowa penal system, and I suspect that is high on the governor's list. Remember, you read it here first.

Kathleen H. Hall

Cedar Rapids