Individuals with severe mental illness (SMI) have been barred from “polite” society throughout history. Many will eventually find their way to prison, behind a different set of bars, where there is little incentive to treat. Have we simply traded one form of confinement for another, even more cruel one?
Survival in a world built on punishment is not just an act of defiance but a testament to the resilience of those who have been criminalized—Black, Brown, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, and poor communities. Their struggle is not just against incarceration, but against a society determined to strip them of dignity and opportunity long after they’ve been released.
Pregnant and parenting teen moms, along with their children, face difficult and uncertain futures without appropriate support in terms of economic investment in healthcare or educational support. Janice Airhart offers a perspective on how to deliver these supports, in light of her personal and professional lived experience as a former high school teacher of teen moms.