To the Editor:

We can all understand that the tragedy at the Elementary School at Sandy Hook causes new discussions about gun control, but what about the subject of mental illness? In this country and also in the states, we have not dealt with this issue in an appropriate way for many years.

As a mother who had a mentally ill son, was past President of the Family Alliance for the mentally ill, as well as served on the Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Illinois for several years, I have had some experience with what was happening as well as what services exist today. Mentally ill people have little access to institutional treatment in today's society. Singer Zone (state facility) has been closed for several years and our own psychiatric unit at Kishwaukee also is closed, leaving Aurora as the nearest treatment center. The jails admit that many of their inmates are the mentally ill people who receive no treatment!