Dear 2016 Presidential Candidates,

More than half of all suspects shot and killed by police were suffering from mental illness.

And there are over 300,000 American in prison today that have a mental illness diagnosis – this is crazy.

There is a critical and immediate need for treatment of mental health through a public health system, not the barbaric criminalization of it mental illness we currently see happening all over the United States.

That is why we call on the 2016 Presidential Candidates to address the need for mental health treatment rather than sending people suffering from mental illness to the dysfunctional prisons system.

Mental health needs to be treated, not criminalized.