This series looked at the issue of mental illness in the community from the perspective of people who suffer from the disease; the loved ones of people with mental illness; the police who have become the front line of Florida’s mental health system; the jails that have replaced mental institutions; the impact one mentally ill person has on a neighborhood; and what Florida, which ranks 49th in funding, can do to provide better care for the mentally ill. The significant findings include the number of mental illness calls to law enforcement and the cost of treating the mentally ill in the Orange County Jail, which is now the largest mental-health care provider in Central Florida. Most significant, though, were the personal, intimate and painful stories of people with mental illness who were willing to step forward to publicly talk about something that is still shrouded in shame.
