Jon Ronson, a journalist, told a story[0] about a guy he interviewed in an Asylum that had pretended to be crazy to get out of a minor crime (I think shopliftin

Jon Ronson, a journalist, told a story[0] about a guy he interviewed in an Asylum that had pretended to be crazy to get out of a minor crime (I think shoplifting). The promise to the Judge was, you do a month of psych ward, get some counseling, and get out. "Sweet!" he said, "Better than doing a year in the can for stealing". His psychiatrist branded him a sociopath and put him on some pills that he, a liar, didn't need. They changed him for the worse, a sane man entered the asylum and day after day he was turning into a raving lunatic. "I'm not crazy!", he said - but that was only more fuel for the doctors, as it was clearly something a crazy man would say to get out. The attitude around here was that if you yelled, you got more pills, maybe a beating by an angry male nurse too. If you stay quiet, you don't get out. "I don't need any of this! I was pretending! Please let me out!" he cried. The nurses held him back and tossed him back into a padded room. As they dragged him, he kicked and screamed that he was not crazy and didn't need help, but it was all pointless. His psychiatrist later told Jon that the alternative was worse, that he was a liar, a pretender, and someone that willingly gets in here for any reason clearly belongs in the bobby hatch. He would never get out again. Jon met him on his 18th year in the tin, he clearly wasn't right in the head when they talked, the pills, electroshock sessions and pointless talks with the Psychiatrist every week had clearly sapped this man of any energy he might have once had. He was a ghost of a man now, hunched, old and weak. What a punishment for stealing a can of beans. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYemnKEKx0c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYemnKEKx0c Don't yell at me if I don't get the details right, I doubt it matters if he stole a can of beans or a bottle of whisky.