Why People with Mental Illness End up in PA Jails

Why people with mental illness end up in PA jails

The Cost of Failing is the result of two years of reporting. In 2023, Spotlight PA and the Pittsburgh Institute for Nonprofit Journalism published an investigation that found symptoms of serious mental illness have become criminalized in Pennsylvania. The newsrooms reported that people facing charges for behavior tied to their condition often languish in jail awaiting a competency evaluation, an assessment that determines if a person has the men…

A Mother's Fight to Save Her Son Shows the Tragic Consequences of PA's Failure to Build a Better Mental Health System

A Spotlight PA investigation found Pennsylvania politicians and local officials broke promises to replace institutionalized care with community options — despite knowing the devastating consequences. By Danielle Ohl, Spotlight PA Photo courtesy of Nate Smallwood / For Spotlight PA Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positi…

A Mother’s Fight to Save Her Son Shows the Tragic Consequences of Pa.’s Failure to Build a Better Mental Health System

Sue, Robert, and Jonathan are pseudonyms. Their names and some details have been changed to protect their privacy. When Sue thinks back on that cold spring morning in 2022, there are things she knows and things she doesn’t. Article by Danielle Ohl of Spotlight PA She knows her son Robert, who has had a serious mental illness for nearly a decade, turned up half-naked at her mother’s house, freezing, and in the throes of psychosis. She doesn’t kn…