Andrew Jarecki

You know, what does that look like?

How does that work?

And she goes, well, you know, it's a little uncomfortable because, you know, I got to be on my knees.

And I said, wait, why are you on your knees?

She said, oh, well, I have to be able to talk through the tray slot.

And I said, so when you're giving a mental health counseling session to somebody who's incarcerated, you're not allowed to open the door.

You're not allowed to see, assuming that person's not like having a violent fit or something like that.

You're not allowed to sit down across from them and have that conversation.

She said, no, no, no, but it's okay.

I just put my mouth up to the tray slot.

And I just thought, you know, when you think about the idea that that's going to be somehow something that will give relief to somebody who's really struggling with a mental health crisis in prison.

You know, we're doing the absolute minimum.

You know, we're checking the box that says, yeah, once a month this guy has a psychiatric evaluation.

But nobody's taking a picture of that and showing what it really looks like to have this nice, you know, young lady, this idealistic young mental health person kneeling outside of a metal cell with, you know, bloodstains on it talking to somebody inside.

Have you ever had experiences with people, friends or family who've been incarcerated?

Oh yeah, yeah, quite a few.

What's that been like?

Because I think there's that question of, you know, people say, well, if you don't like the prison system the way it is or if you don't think people should get locked up forever, then, you know, you're just soft on crime and, you know, obviously, you know, you're some kind of snowflake.

But clearly there's a role for prison.

There's a role for jail.