Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Mental Health Care in Rural America
Four residents of rural Cochise County, Arizona struggle within a criminal justice system in which the de facto mental health facility is the county jail.
In many rural counties in the U.S., the de facto mental health facility is the county jail. Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Mental Healthcare in Rural America explores how the lack of access to mental healthcare in Cochise County, AZ intersects with the local criminal justice system. The short film follows four characters as they struggle at each level of the system, from a patient who has landed in jail multiple times to the sheriff whose facility is flooded with inmates needing treatment. Through their stories, we see the long-term impact of a system that often criminalizes people for needing mental healthcare.