Freeing the mentally ill from their “prisons”

I have campaigned for better support for persons suffering from mental illness and their caregivers for 3 years and I am glad that the government is now taking steps to improve the lives of this group of citizens. The Law Ministry is now proposing that judges should have a wider range of sentencing options, which among other things seeks ordering offenders to get psychiatric treatment. This 12th letter which I wrote to the Straits Times on 16th September 2006 was one of the 33 letters that I submitted to the media to raise more awareness of mental illness.