State officials promise large-scale involuntary addiction and mental health treatment at Salt Lake City’s edge. Critics see “a prison, or a warehouse.”
Needless to say, people don’t go by choice, can’t leave when they want. Might be a concentration camp instead of a jail, since there’s no legal reason to force somebody into it:
As Mr. Shumway describes it, nearly two-thirds of the 1,300 homeless people potentially sent to the site could be there for involuntary treatment. About 400 beds would be set aside for psychiatric treatment. Another 400 beds would provide substance abuse treatment “as an alternative to jail,” he said, with entry and exit “not voluntary.”
What kind of “treatment” do you think will be given?
Previously? Or now? Someone that I have known for a long time got treatment and she said that it sucked. She almost died twice. Even with the best of intentions (yeah, right) I expect a poor experience especially at the scale that they are talking about. However, my question is why are they doing the equivalent of arresting someone and sending them to treatment by saying that they are sending people to treatment without the formality of arresting them.