Linton P Gordon
Mentally challenged persons are becoming an increasing problem to communities throughout Jamaica. There is no town in Jamaica without mentally challenged persons roaming the streets.
It is said that the experts, that is psychiatrists, have given the opinion that taking mentally challenged persons to institutions for treatment is no longer the way to go. These experts are said to have given professional opinion and advice that mentally challenged persons are best treated in their communities rather than in institutions such as the Bellevue Hospital for mental patients.
We should respect the opinion of the psychiatrists who have given their professional opinion on the matter. However respecting the opinion does not mean that we are not entitled to comment on this opinion and even to question it.
There are several mentally challenged persons roaming our streets who are violent, aggressive and are known to attack persons going about their lawful business. It cannot be in the interest of members of the public for these violent, mentally challenged,persons to remain on the street as they constitute a grave danger to members of the public. Similarly, it is not in the interest of the mentally challenged for them to be on the streets attacking citizens, as citizens are likely to respond, to retaliate and in that situation harm may be caused to the mentally ill or the person retaliating.
SEXUAL ASSAULT
There are instances throughout Jamaica where mentally challenged persons have created serious harm to other citizens. There are instances where mentally challenged persons have sexually assaulted females going about their business. There are instances whereby they have thrown items at citizens hitting them causing harm and there are instances where they have lit fires in areas where fires are not to be lit. There are also instances where they have set buildings on fire causing death and harm to persons in those buildings.
In many instances, relatives of these mentally challenged persons are not able to manage them. In desperation these relatives turn to all sorts of methods to deal with them. In some instances they expel them from the home. In other instances they beat them mercilessly. There are also instances where they “transport” them, that is to say, they take them to a faraway place and dump them with the hope that they will live on the streets in this faraway place and not return to their homes.
Whenever relatives or members the public seek the help of the police to deal with mentally challenged persons, the standard response of the police is that until the mentally ill person has committed a crime, they (the police) have no right to interfere with him or her
To be fair to the police, they neither have the training nor the equipment to deal with mentally challenged persons. Neither do they have the proper accommodation to keep mentally challenged persons. Most police officers are fully aware that if they place mentally challenged persons in a cell with other detainees it is likely that there will be confrontation between the mentally challenged and other detainees and it is very likely that this confrontation will result in serious injury and possible death to one side or the other.
sERIOUS THREAT
All the towns on the North Coast from Montego Bay through Falmouth, St. Ann’s Bay, Ocho Rios, Port Maria, Annotto Bay to Port Antonio have a number of mentally challenged persons roaming the streets. These people constitute a serious threat to the safety of citizens and a grave source of nuisance to businesses.
The authorities should therefore see the matter of the mentally challenged as an issue for a proper national policy.
It is a lack of commitment to the poor when we leave these mentally challenged persons, who are mainly from poor families, to roam the streets of our towns feeding, like pigs and dogs, from piles of garbage.Several private citizens have over the years made efforts to assist them but it is more and more apparent that the Government, and in particular, the Ministry of Health has no proper, sensible or effective plan to deal with these unfortunate citizens. In the result, all our towns are seeing more and more mentally challenged persons coming onto the streets and one can only conclude from this that, that successive Governments have failed in their responsibility to the less fortunate, in particular the mentally challenged.
Until the authorities address the matter of the mentally challenged on our streets we will continue to live under the threat of the mentally challenged and the mentally challenged will continue to live under the threat of being attacked, beaten and possibly killed by those who fear them, mistrust them or believe that they constitute a threat to them.
