September 7, 1999 - A recent study by the U.S. Justice Department estimates that 283-thousand jail and prison inmates are mentally ill. That's four times the number of patients in state mental hospitals. Most mental institutions closed in the last few decades...under a policy aimed at moving the mentally ill back into the mainstream. But treatment programs aren't filling the gap, so, to a large extent, jails are.
September 8, 1999 - It's been five-and-a-half years since Greg Stampley died at Stillwater state prison. Stampley was a severely mentally ill inmate who died while locked in an isolation cell. The case raised questions about the treatment of Minnesota's mentally ill prison inmates. The state eventually aid Stampley's family to settle a lawsuit. In part two of our series on incarcerating the mentally ill, John Biewen of MPR's national documentary unit, American RadioWorks, reports on changes in the state prison system since Greg Stampley's death.
September 9, 1999 - The insanity defense tends to get attention in sensational high-profile cases: Ted Kaczynski, Lorena Bobbitt, and most notoriously, John Hinckley. But successful use of the insanity defense is rare, even for defendants who *are* profoundly mentally ill. Defendants are found not guilty by reason of insanity in just half of one percent of all felony cases. In part three of our series on jailing the mentally ill...John Biewen of MPR's American RadioWorks documentary unit takes an in-depth look at the case of one Minnesota man. The case illustrates the difficulties of claiming legal insanity.
September 10, 1999 - The Justice Department estimates that 16% of all inmates in the United States have psychiatric problems. In this last installment of our series on mentally ill criminals, we look at the place where many advocates for the mentally ill say that the such criminals should be...a hospital. The Minnesota State Security hospital in Saint Peter acts as like a prison - patients must stay within the hospital grounds without special permission- AND a treatment center. Of the 350 patients.the majority carry the label "mentally ill and dangerous". They are the criminals who pose a significant threat to themselves or others AND have a severe mental affliction. Only about 18 to 20 people a year in Minnesota receive this designation, even though many more of the state's incarcerated population are also mentally ill. The hospital is not only better at treating the mentally ill than prison programs, it also better protects public safety. American RadioWorks' Stephanie Curtis reports.
February 14, 2000 - In this special extended edition of Midday, Walter Mondale, former vice-president, speaks at the inaugural program of 50 Years: The Mondale Lectures on Public Service. Mondale’s address was titled, "Atlantic City Revisited: Mississippi Freedom Democrats and the Integration of the Democratic Party,."
April 1, 2000 - American culture has shaped powerful myths about the war - and some of the most powerful ones surround the Vietnam-era veteran. This American RadioWorks documentary, “Revisiting Vietnam: 25 Years From Vietnam,” presents various reports and interviews from an American perspective.
April 26, 2000 - A new American Radioworks documentary "Twenty-Five Years From Vietnam." An hour of stories about the war as it fades into history but continues to shape the lives of many Americans.
April 27, 2000 - An American Radioworks documentary, "Vietnam - A Nation, Not a War." MPR’s Daniel Zwerdling and Deborah George traveled to Vietnam to report on how the country and its people have fared in the past 25 years. Program contains three segments: History and Reconciliation Americans continue to brood about the purpose and the toll of the war. In Vietnam, it's called "The American War," and the anniversary is a time for victory celebrations. Still, many Vietnamese are eager to accept Americans as friends - and business partners. And many Vietnamese who sided with the U.S. during the war continue to suffer. The Legacy of Agent Orange Thousands of Americans who served in Vietnam suffer from diseases they say were caused by exposure to the defoliant called Agent Orange. In Vietnam, the health and environmental damage caused by the chemical is easy to see. But scientists say the impact of Agent Orange in Vietnam has not been sufficiently studied, so the extent of harm is difficult to judge. Vietnam's MIA's While U.S. officials continue to search for the remains of some 1,500 American soldiers who never came home from the Vietnam war, the number of missing Vietnamese soldiers may be 300,000 or more. Some Vietnamese have employed psychics to search for their missing relatives - with surprising results.
January 30, 2001 - A new American Radioworks documentary, Prison Diaries.
July 6, 2001 - Midday presents the American RadioWorks documentary “The Promise of Justice: Burning the Evidence,” which looks at war crimes in Kosovo. This is the story of a secret and grisly operation by Serbian security forces to destroy evidence of possible war crimes in an industrial furnace in northern Kosovo.