Sad Conditions of Indonesia’s Mental Health Institute
12
November
Asia’s mental health centers look more like a prisons than hospitals. Photographer John Stanmeyer takes a closer and disturbing look at those suffering in silence.
Asia’s centers for the mentally ill-like this one in Indonesia_often seem more punitive than palliative
Human stain_Patients at the Panti Bina Laras Cipayung mental health center in east Jakarta are left to lie on the soiled floor of the latrines
Exposed_Most of the patients at the center are naked; some are shackled or chained to window bars
Discarded_A naked, emaciated man curled up on the floor beside a live chicken and some rotten wood
Living Hell_A teenage boy locked up with men at the Cipayung center
Scarred_Inside the Cipayung facility the air is thick with flies and the stench of feces
Wasted_A half-naked elderly man too weak to stand eats on the floor of the Cipayung facility in east Jakarta
Daily Struggle_Inside the female ward of the Cipayung center. Originally intended for 200 patients, the government-run facility is crammed with 305 inmates
Crisis_Chained and naked inmates inside the male ward of the Cipayung center
Criminal_Though the number of patients at the center has nearly doubled since 1996, less than $1 is spent on each person per day
Damaged_A woman patient at the Cipayung center reaches breaking point. Almost no other Asian nation offers less mental health care than Indonesia
Photos by : John Stanmeyer
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