860 Comments for Old Essex County Jail

This reminds me of Annie during the opening "Its a hard knock life". It looks just like that set and I'm waiting for Danielle Briseboisand Molly Ringwald to jump out singing.

What I am saying is that the illness itself sometimes does not allow that person to understand that they need help. There is a reason why they are unwilling to accept the help and it is the illness itself. When something is messing with your mind you really don't think so rationally. It is something VERY frustrating for the people who love them. It is just not simply something they do to themselves, it is more something that is happening to them. Mental illness is not a choice. There is nothing worse than wanting to help someone and them not even understanding that they need help. I am not saying that locking them up is the right or wrong treatment. I am saying is that it is not thier fault, nor is it the fault of thier loved ones. It is the fault of a cruel illness that distorts the way they see things. I am not speaking as someone who has never had experience with mental illness. It sounds to me as though you cared deeply for your ex. However, sometimes to protect your own mental health you have to leave a situation. I am sure that your heart was broken a lot of the time. I am merely saying here that no person is to blame, the illness is.

A. Mom,

True, isolation from those who care the most is a manifestation of the illness. I was married to a Bi-Polar, and know all too well. Imagine the Motts of the future taking shots of our current facilities. Will the future Motts be similarly appalled by our current lack of knowledge concerning mental illness? Do you think locking the mentally ill, and homeless into an institution would make them any happier? Warmer and fuller perhaps, but happier? I would have loved to cram lithium and prozac into my ex but that's obviously not what she wanted. After 7 years of near homelessness It seems she may be on an upswing, I bid her the best but until she accepts the medicine herself there is nothing anyone can do.

Seems ironic that they could get themselves arrested and moved to a nicer cell with 3 meal a day, and electricity, heat, cable, library, gym, who knows what else???

Pepple don't do it to themselves because they are unwilling to get help. Mental illness is just that, an illness. It changes the way a person thinks. Sometimes it cause paranoia. A person suffering from paranoia is not likely to trust someone to give them help. Also because of the nature of the illness mentally ill people may not realize they need any help.

"people actually live here.....shows you what state our country is in"

Until you have lived with a person who is mentally ill I'm not certain you can grasp the dispair that those closely related feel, this is because the "patient " will have no ones help. Be it addiction or psychological, the reason doesn't matter. What does matter is that people who end up living in a place like this generally do it to themselves due to an unwillingness to accept help. It has absolutely nothing to do with the country you live in.

This picture fills my heart with pain.

This picture seems almost hopeful, as the new life springs from the horrors that once lurked here and the nightmarish urban decay.

the bars look slimy

i can almost see louis depalma screaming at the cabbies from his cage.

almost looks like somebody's still in it....

at least they won't have to take them far when they get caught.

I didn't do it! I want my lawyer!

I gasp in awe

Add to my most wanted prints by SIr Motts.