Long ago two borough cops in Cumberland County, Gary W. Berresford and Harry S. Hart, Jr. slaughtered a young, unarmed man. Ryan Schorr was shot to death for the crime of being mentally ill. In Pennsylvania being crazy is a crime. You can be summarily executed for it! Most of the state's mentally ill persons have been slapped into prison. Pennsylvania punishes insanity rather than treating it. It's the approach that Hitler advocated in Nazi Germany sixty years ago. Once the mentally ill are imprisoned, they are typically beaten, abused and harassed. Prison staff is not qualified to handle the mentally disturbed even if they wanted to do so, which they certainly don't. Guards typically like having weak victims to pick on. It's one of their sports. Mitchell Brown, a young black prisoner at SCI- Smithfield, for example, has been repeatedly savagely beaten and sprayed with chemicals as punishment for being insane and failing to take the medication forced on him by the institution. The squad which beats Mister Brown wears masks so that they can't be identified. If they didn't realize that they are doing something wrong, why wear masks? They often beat their victim where the assaults can be seen by the other inmates. It's a "lesson" of what happens to those who dare to be sick. The masked men get away with the brutal abuse because nobody cares about, or speaks up for the mentally ill or for prisoners. The abuse of mentally ill prisoners is standard procedure. Prison staff feels that it's alright to treat a man badly if he's insane or "different." One notorious sex offender who clearly suffers from profound personality disorders is routinely harassed abused and thrown into the prison hole to be taunted and provoked, simply because he's mentally ill. While all prisoners are treated improperly, the mentally ill are especially abused. Men who become deranged while imprisoned (and all long prison sentences result in mental damage) often become hopeless and suicidal. Suicide attempts in Pennsylvania prisons annoy the staff so they are dealt with like crimes. The victims are severely punished and tormented. Persons who are mentally ill should be in hospitals given decent treatment. None of us should sanction the abuse of sick persons.