Reddit reviews Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals (The MIT Press)

Addressing your "better alternative" statement: I'm starting to think that America needs to create a system that can incarcerate the mentally ill and drug addicted for short-term evaluation and treatment, leading to mandatory long-term treatment when necessary.

My city is overrun by drug-abusing and mentally ill homeless people. Part of this is due to some very stupid propositions voters have approved over the past few years, but much of it is due to the fact that there is no way to compel people to get treatment for these disorders. As a result, they commit petty crimes, squat illegally on public land, create unsafe and unsettling public areas, and continue to suffer under their own illness (be it drug addiction, schizophrenia, or any number of other conditions).

America used to have an institutional culture that was set up to care for patients long-term. These institutions had farms and were somewhat self-sustaining. They gave patients jobs and a sense of purpose. Obviously, there were abuses that we could work to prevent. But there are many Americans who need that level of support.

There's a book about the old system that I found very interesting.