This is our newsletter. Sign up here.
The mission of Streetlight, previously BigIfTrue.org, is to report stories that envision a more equitable world and energize our readers to improve their communities. Donate to support our work here.
Mental health treatment, jails and institutions
- If someone poses danger to themselves or others, courts can order them to receive mental health treatment in a system called civil commitment. An investigation from Mississippi Today and ProPublica found that more than any other state, Mississippi jails people for days or weeks as they wait for evaluation and treatment. Since 2006, at least 13 people have died in Mississippi jails while waiting for mental health or substance use treatment.
- Despite a new state program to provide mental health treatment in Oklahoma jails, The Frontier reported that jailed people continue to wait for a bed in the Oklahoma Forensic Center.
- The Seattle Times examines the tragic legacy of a psychiatric hospital that closed 50 years ago. Descendants of patients struggle to find information about what happened to their relatives, and more than 1,600 patients may be buried on hospital grounds or nearby.
New from Streetlight
- In Knoxville, Tennessee, renters at Tanglewood Apartments began organizing after they learned the apartments’ new owner planned to almost double their rents. Tanglewood is part of a trend of companies buying Knoxville apartments and dramatically raising rents, pushing renters out of the metro area and, in some cases, toward eviction or homelessness. Tennessee state law allows landlords to raise rents as high as they want without advance notice to tenants. And state law blocks cities from capping rent increases. (Read more)
- I spoke with Carmen Fields, longtime Boston journalist and author of a new book about her father, Tulsa jazz musician and band leader Ernie Fields. I got lost in swing daydreams reading “Going Back to T-Town,” so I was excited to speak with Carmen about Ernie’s life on the road, Bob Wills and the role of music unions in jazz. (Read our Q&A)
- ICYMI: HUD hasn’t inspected some subsidized properties for a decade or longer, agency data says.
Thank you for reading our newsletter. You can reach me here at bryant@streetlightnews.org and 405-990-0988.
– Mollie Bryant
Founder and editor, Streetlight
