Doing this right, efficiently–with less competition between bureaucracies and with far fewer mentally ill folks in prison–would actually save us money.

Marco– It largely boils down to money, as you well know. In the last few pages of my book, “The Mike File,” I imagine a best-case scenario that would have given Mike a different life and a much better one. A team of caregivers, connecting through agencies, a group home kept alert by regulators, a clubhouse down the street. The needed legislation would fund all of this, for all the vulnerable, in perpetuity!

Thanks for your warm words, Cathy. In the state hospital, Mike was probably heavily drugged. I’m not sure that counts as round-the-clock support! And in the care home, he was on his own. He was almost certainly misdiagnosed, and he would have a much better chance today at a full life. You can take a deeper dive into his life–and what an alternate outcome might have been like–in my book, “The Mike File.”