Of the 100,000 people incarcerated in New York State’s prison system, it is estimated that 20,000 have severe mental illness. Once they are released from jail, what happens to these sick individuals? Michael Lesser is a parole officer working in New York City. His entire caseload is made up of ex-inmates with acute paranoid schizophrenia. MAD JUSTICE is a documentary film about a day in the life of Officer Lesser, as he oversees 50 mentally ill, drug-addicted felons as they attempt to adjust back into society. Lesser is out on the street seven nights a week, making spot checks on his “flock.” The parolees, living in homeless shelters and halfway houses, struggle with life-long drug addictions, paranoid delusions and felony records. If they break the rules, Lesser brings them back to prison. If they manage to successfully comply with Lesser’s regime, they just may have a shot at a productive future.
