Isabelle Taft - Mississippi Today | The Greenwood Commonwealth

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Hundreds of Mississippians are jailed for mental illness every year. 5 takeaways from our reporting so far
By ISABELLE TAFT - MISSISSIPPI TODAY
Sun,01/07/24-5:38PM , 781 Reads 9,033 Statewide
In Mississippi, the path to treatment for a serious mental illness may run through your local jail– even if you have not been charged with any crime.
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Jailed for their own safety, 14 Mississippians died awaiting mental health treatment
By ISABELLE TAFT - MISSISSIPPI TODAY
Wed,12/20/23-9:48PM , 1438 Reads 8,976 Statewide
Butch Scipper is haunted by the deaths of three men.
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The federal courthouse in New Orleans where a panel of judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard oral arguments in a long-running lawsuit against Mississippi's mental health system on Oct. 5, 2022. Credit: Isabelle Taft / Mississippi Today

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‘Mississippi chose to fight’: Court overturns Justice Department efforts to overhaul state’s mental health system
By ISABELLE TAFT - MISSISSIPPI TODAY
Fri,09/22/23-3:30PM , 680 Reads 7,814 Statewide
A dozen years after the Department of Justice first sent Mississippi a letter detailing shortcomings in its mental health system, the state may have finally beaten the federal agency.
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Illustration credit: Zack Orsborn - Mississippi Today

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Mississippi’s child abuse pediatrician works between medicine and the justice system. Can he be objective?
By ISABELLE TAFT - MISSISSIPPI TODAY
Tue,02/28/23-4:46PM , 1592 Reads 15,688 Statewide
This story is the first part in Mississippi Today’s “Shaky Science, Fractured Families” investigation about the state’s only child abuse pediatrician crossing the line from medicine into law enforcement and how his decisions can tear families apart.
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