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By Owen McNamee and Douglas Brawley 
Special to BrowardBulldog.org 

South Florida State Hospital in Pembroke Pines.

South Florida State Hospital in Pembroke Pines.

Editor’s Note: Owen McNamee heads the mental health division of the Broward Public Defender’s Office. Douglas Brawley is an assistant Broward public defender and attorney for the Forgotten Soldier.

Twenty years ago eighteen members of a Broward Grand Jury issued a scathing report that concluded the county’s mental health system was under-financed, fragmented and leaderless. They found the system was failing thousands of mentally ill and disabled persons and causing hundreds to wind up in jail or endure forced hospitalizations without needed treatment.

Twenty years later, we are still failing this vulnerable population.

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