Psychology Today | 29.07.2026 20:40
I spent four months in a county jail before a court accepted my plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease. The finding placed me in the custody of the state instead of a prison, and for the next 10 months I was a patient at a state psychiatric hospital. After the jail, it felt like a pardon. Here, at last, was something that looked like care: a psychiatrist who led a weekly meeting, a psychologist, a social worker, an occupational therapist, a nurse, a whole team convened around my recovery. On paper, it was an enviable model.
