(mournful music)
- My name is Armando.
I'm from San Diego.
But I reside here in Sierra Vista, Arizona.
Been out here for about 15 years.
I'm on social security disability for a mental illness.
I was diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic.
I lost my apartment.
Now, nobody will rent to me.
A lot of folks are tryin' to make a home
out in the desert.
Alot of 'em have mental illness.
Mental illness that's not being addressed.
They'd rather tell you to move your camp
rather than saying,
"Hey, is there any way we can help you?"
I've seen a lot doctors.
I get,
I'm one of the fortunate ones,
because the funding isn't there anymore
and you just feel hopeless.
- The demand for psychiatric services,
since I arrived here,
has gone up, at least, geometrically,
and I don't have any explanation for that.
I'm seeing far more difficult cases
than I used to see when I first started here in 1993.
My receptionist told me today
that she turned down eight people
for requesting new appointments
to come and see me.
I could, I guess, accept patients and say,
"Come and see me in three or four months."
It's just too much to do.
I probably have well over 350 patients
in my case files.
Once I did the math,
and talking with Doctor Sullivan,
who's the other psychiatrist here,
and between us, we cover an area
about the size of the state of Israel.
Despite our best efforts,
we haven't been able to attract psychiatrists here.
There are many jobs being offered
at $200,000 to $300,000 a year
working for a large institution
and that's certainly more attractive
to young doctors.
There is just an overall increasing
demand for mental health services across the board
and we can't keep up, just the two of us here.
- [Armando] Most of my family's expecting me to die
a drug addict or an alcoholic.
But I'm all right, for the most part.
The beat goes on, like I said.
I had been off my medication for almost a year
because I had gotten into some trouble
But none of 'em are felony charges.
They're all misdeameanor charges.
(light music)
- [Mark] We got a little over 6,200 square miles
of policing that we do here in the county.
But overall, it's a very vast rural county.
We did a snapshot here a few months back,
of what it looks like when it comes to
mental health in my jail.
On that day, 67% of the people in my jail,
which houses up to 300 people,
were either pre-diagnosed or currently diagnosed
with some kind of mental health disorder.
67 percent.
I consider it an epidemic in our county.
With lack of resources in rural counties,
like Cochise, what happens is,
it is a revolving door.
When you have those with mental health that
they steal a candy bar or, and this is repetitive,
or their causing disturbances there,
the options are limited.
The one option that remains constant is
the arrest right into a jail.
And I'll be the first to tell ya',
that's not the answer.
It's truly not the answer on taxpayers,
it's not the answer for those with mental health.
The Cochise County Jail is the largest
behavioral center, in the county for mental health.
Nobody else will accept them, it's frustrating
because there should be a center
that matches my center in the county
that's designed for those with mental health.
We have an area in our jail for special handling.
Those areas, 30 years ago,
was reserved for your murderers,
your violent offenders, your sex offenders.
Now they're being housed for mental health.
We segregate them, is it the best practice?
No, it's not.
Is it a realistic practice for me,
in a rural county that is trying
to upgrade jails right now too?
You bet.
When you have almost 70 percent of the people
in your jail with mental health,
that are asking for help, that need help,
that's a cost, that's a huge cost
and it's a huge resource that I don't have.
- There's a problem at the jail.
They have no availability for services there.
They have no mental health services indigenous
that know what to prescribe
and know how to interface with patients.
You know, I would see so many people at the jail
that I thought, "Man, you know, if we just had
"a chance to do something we could help them."
Certainly not all of them,
but some of them need a chance.
But because we choose to do that
we create an environment where they're criminalized
and they're going to continue to be criminalized.
- Been outta jail but they don't help me
get anywhere to live.
I don't have a home right now.
I haven't had a home in the last year, maybe?
I don't know, I don't remember,
I can't remember the last time
I had a place to call home.
This is going to be my fourth move
in less than a month and a half.
I go from hotels to apartments, sometimes tents.
How you doin' ma'am?
Good, my name is Armando.
- [Clerk] You're renting the room? - Yeah.
38, 38.
- [Clerk] Oh, you're on the do not rent list.
- [Armando] Oh ma'am, that was about three years ago.
- [Clerk] Yeah, you're on the do not rent list.
- [Armando] That's 'cause I threw up in the room.
That's the only thing I did wrong.
Can we make an exception,
only because we're just tryin'
to get this filming done?
- [Clerk] No, it says there,
you threatened other guests
and others who were in the room.
- [Armando] I think you have the wrong person.
I threw up in the room,
that's what I got in trouble for.
- [Clerk] Same birthdate.
You're on the do not rent, I can't rent.
- [Armando] Okay, that's cool, gotchu.
Thank you, take care. - [Clerk] Yeah, sorry about that.
- [Armando] Oh no, it's no biggie.
I can handle that.
- [Clerk] I just have to follow the rules.
- [Armando] No, no problem, I understand that ma'am.
Take care, have a good evening.
- [Clerk] Okay, have a good evening.
- Pow, pow, tryin' to wake everybody up.
They won't rent to me.
It's kinda heartbreaking
when you walk into a hotel
and they tell you you're on the list
do not rent to or whatever you want to call it.
I mean, what can you do though?
- [Interviewer] So, on a night like tonight,
when you couldn't get into that,
where do you go?
- [Armando] Behind Hayes Street, right there, the alley.
I'd prefer to be out in the open
than in a tent in the desert.
I prefer to be in an alley,
that way I can really watch what's around me.
- Unfortunately, with the healthcare system,
is nationally, as well as here in Cochise County is,
your level of care and your treatment
is predicated on your economic resources.
There's a large homeless population,
that perhaps, may not even have insurance.
And because you don't have insurance,
there's no place in this county
that will provide treatment of care for you.
I'm employed with the behavioral health agency
by the name of Wellness Connections,
in the position of a Re-entry Specialist.
Wellness Connections is a peer-run organization.
We don't really deal with the people
that we provide services for,
on a clinical level, if you will,
but more on a personal relationship.
I served 15 years in the Department of Corrections.
During that 15 years I met a lot of people
that had been identified as people
that had mental health conditions.
It impacted me directly in that,
how can a person that has a love for people
see somebody in that condition
and not have compassion
to want to reach out and help that person?
When you go to the county jail
and you have been identified
as a part of the population
that have been diagnosed
with a serious mental illness, SMI,
their first thing is to put you in isolation.
Isolation for any long or extended period of time
is gonna cause your condition to become worse.
And then you're released back into a community,
untreated, mind you, and expected
to have a change in behavior practices.
For some reason, we think we can
abracadabra a new lifestyle
when we've never addressed the issue.
So at some fault, yes, we are at fault,
as a community.
Because if I need help
and you don't help me,
and I'm reaching out for help,
then you're just as much
a part of the problem as I am.
We shouldn't expect the community
to change behavior practices, lifestyles,
when we've yet to address the core issue.
(somber music)
- [James] Our problem is funding.
Where do we get the funds
to help the people that are in jail,
help the people that are out,
and see that they get the follow-up they need
to continue treatment and get to experience life
without their psychiatric symptoms?
- When decisions are made by congressional people
or elected leaders
or those that have decision-making power
to change mental health issues,
it's all about urban America.
It's about the populated areas of this country
who have a plethora of resources to pull from.
Nobody talks about rural America,
which makes up almost 90% of this country.
For years, we haven't funded this problem,
we've avoided this problem,
but now, we need to come together at the state level,
at the federal level, all the way up to
the president of the United States
and say, "Enough is enough."
And I guarantee if we do that
we can make a difference.
It's all about helping each other,
as Americans, coming together.
It's time we do that.
- If we sat down, spent some time and money
and came up with proactive programs
to get people the help they need.
We're gonna keep building jails and prisons.
(rock music)