Fractured (full documentary) | FRONTLINE + @WFAENews + @FirelightMediaNYC

FRONTLINE, WFAE & Firelight Media investigate the long waits for mental health care that defendants who are deemed too sick to stand trial face in North Carolina.

From FRONTLINE (PBS)’s Local Journalism Initiative, the Charlotte, North Carolina, NPR station @WFAENews and @FirelightMediaNYC, “Fractured” examines how the country’s mental health crisis is playing out within the criminal justice system in North Carolina, a state where it’s been harder to access mental health care than in most others.

"We've found that these defendants may wait months in jail, sometimes more than a year, for the treatment they need to be deemed well enough to go to court," says “Fractured” correspondent, writer and producer Dana Miller Ervin. “In some cases, these defendants can get sicker while they wait for admission to a state hospital.”

Ervin has been investigating access to mental health care in North Carolina for WFAE for the past two years with the support of FRONTLINE’s Local Journalism Initiative. The initiative is an innovative effort to support and strengthen investigative reporting in communities around the country. It launched in 2019 with funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Building on an in-depth radio and digital series, which was released in 2023 by WFAE and FRONTLINE and was recently named a semi-finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, “Fractured” is directed by Débora Souza Silva, a 2023 recipient of the FRONTLINE/Firelight Media Investigative Journalism Fellowship. The fellowship was created to support independent filmmakers of color interested in journalistic documentary filmmaking about underreported issues in the United States.

Explore additional reporting related to "Fractured" here:

“Fractured” is a FRONTLINE production with Dandara Productions LLC in association with Firelight Media and WFAE. The director is Débora Souza Silva. The writers are Débora Souza Silva & Dana Miller Ervin. The producers are Loi Ameera Almeron, Débora Souza Silva and Dana Miller Ervin. The correspondent is Dana Miller Ervin. The co-producer and editor is Nelson Ryland. The senior producers are Nina Chaudry, Carla Borrás and Monika Navarro. The senior editors are Erin Texeira and Amy Rubin. The executive producers of Firelight Media are Stanley Nelson and Marcia Smith. The editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath.

#Documentary #MentalHealth #NorthCarolina #CriminalJustice

FRONTLINE is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional support for FRONTLINE is provided by the Abrams Foundation, Park Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund, with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen. Funding for FRONTLINE’s Local Journalism Initiative is funded with support from John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

[JadeIDgenX]

We need to bring back long term mental health care and do it properly.

[Franaflyby]

As a mother, I'm struggling to get my 31-year-old mentally ill son with a meth addiction into a facility. I've gone off to rescue him several times for the last 14 years with no success. I've chased him all last summer from Utah to Nevada, California, Oregon, and Seattle with no luck. He's now incarcerated at a Kentucky jail. It's too far for me to help him. I've pleaded with the jail to get him help, but they just let him stay till his time is served, just to let him out to the same cycle. I'm exhausted and have decided to give it over to God. I feel like a failure as a mother. Please pray for my son to get help. 💔

[saladsalad]

Yikes... imagine losing your mind, getting thrown in jail, the judge says you're unfit to go to trial, the hospital says "no vacancy, " then the judge sends you back into jail and thats your life for years on end. That's not due process, it ought to be criminal to treat people like this.

[kevinderr]

Journalism. Frontline does it. Thank you, Frontline.

[nunyabznz]

Prison is NOT the place for mental illness!!! As a psychiatric nurse, I speak from great experience. FIX THE

[DianaSwi]

All over the US we need to fix our system

[ShaninOhio-uums]

I worked for many years at an in-patient facility where educated professionals and well trained staff provided excellent care to our residents. The facility was closed 5 years ago due to budget cuts. Mental health treatment isn't prioritized because it isn't profitable. It can also be difficult to attract quality staff to work in the mental health field because it can be stressful and dangerous.

[itismeIamher]

Imagine how scary it is to hear a voice talking to you when no one is in the room. I work with kids with mental illness and the things they say that they hear in their heads is terrifying.

[Dovelunalove]

This happened to me at 23 in my last year of Med school. While studying I started to hear animal voices coming from my textbooks. I was terrified. I took all my books outside & made my mom listen. She got mad at me which I expected. It lasted 8months. Once I graduated it stopped. I think it was the stress of Med school, caffeine pills, lack of sleep. I’m now 25 & haven’t heard voices since.

[breathnstop]

Its a well known fact schizophrenia gets worse without medicine. The subject of this film reminds me of a patient I had as a psych nurse who has gone down hill and its heart breaking. They suffer so much. They really dont want to hurt anyone but they are paranoid.

[burgi]

what a dark place the US actually is. i cannot comprehend this lack of help in your country. greetings from germany. our people get psychiatrists and meds, free. very sad to see this health care system of yours.

[roxyt]

Thank you Frontline PBS. Your thorough, real, and very much necessary reporting IS VERY MUCH APPRECIATED. Thank you so much

[marilynh]

I'm an Army Trained Nurse LPN 💜 and the mental health situation broke 💔 me down. While working in Saint Lucie Detention Center in Florida, I quit. I consider myself pretty tough but also compassionate. The Mental Illness got the best of me.

[tedadams]

How incredibly sad. Many of these patients could be loving, productive, and effective members of society but for their mental illnesses.

[TheMomseloc]

I work in correctional health and mental health care has been pathetic. We don't have adequate staffing or tools. Mental health placement and Addiction help are improving, just not fast enough to keep up.
WE NEED STAFF BUT HARDLY ANY ONE WANTS TO WORK IN THIS FIELD.
You want it better? Then start signing up for it.

[jeremiahwhan]

As someone who's served over 8 years in the community corrections field. Is a veteran. And a dedicated, lifelong Independent. Lemme say.

This shit is difficult to watch. But I appreciate the efforts of everyone involved, in sharing it.

It's never easy to confront truth. But that's exactly why sharing truth, is so important. Thanks for your service.

[Charlieboy]

I live in Massachusetts, and they have shut down 2 psychiatric hospitals and 2 detox hospitals last year! There's a huge drug problem in the area, now people have nowhere to go for either issue! They say they're getting all this money for these issues while simultaneously closing the places the people desperately need!

[ikelove]

I was a corrections officer for 3 yrs man...The mentally ill do not belong inside...Some of them have no clue of what's happening man...Sad...Sad deal

[scaredy-cat]

Sending tens of billions to others countries, and ignoring our own desperate needs! We as a country are in a downward spiral

[mrrooui]

Well done! This is the single largest aspect of the absence of mental health care facing the United States.