Do Mental Institutions exist anymore?!

If you do not know, I work in downtown Atlanta (more like Midtown, but I am trying to be discreet). Since the traffic in Atlanta is atrocious, I take the MARTA home, or I go to a MARTA station to get picked up. One of the most disturbing things I have experienced is a lot of people with mental illnesses at the station. Especially when you are taking the train late at night. People who are homeless or mentally ill are always on the train. At first, I thought it was something that just happens every now and then. Now I am starting to think something else is going on. You see, ever since Trump has been in office, he has been defunding everything (and before that, due to the economy, businesses were closing). The last thing on the government’s mind is people who are mentally ill. Now, back in 2012 when I was going to bartending school, there was no shortage of people with mental illnesses, but it is not as bad as now, 2025, where there is a group of them. For example, one day I made a decision to take the train to Inman Park/Reynolds town and take an Uber home. Unfortunately, it took my Uber more than 30 minutes to get to me. I was at the train station with someone who looked unconscious, a guy who was either high or drunk and lost, and a screaming person. It was at this moment that I realized that maybe these mental institutions are dumping people outside of train and bus stations. Hoping they would go away and get lost. The high/drunk guy kept asking me to take him to Emory. If I were with someone, I would have taken to him Emory, but I was by myself and scared. I also was not sure of the young man’s motives. Ever since then, I have not had any incidents with anyone on Marta up until last week. I was taking this train from Congress Center station to King’s Memorial (so far, no incidents at King’s Memorial). While on the train, there was a guy in the last car that I thought was listening to music until I actually listened to what he was saying. Until he got next to me and said, “Nigga are you scared?” It took every inch of me to knock his crazy ass out, and luckily, he got off at Five Point. The thing that surprised me was that he was still able to be on the train. I have started to notice that there are more security measures (since the Beyhive incident) at the station. The question is…. how did this guy get on the train???? This is my theory; I think all of the mental institutions are emptying out patients whose families do not have the funds for them to stay there. You see, when the economy is booming, even middle-class people can put their mentally unstable family into an institution. Now, not so much. Only the rich can do this one and two when the family cannot pay for their family members to be taken care of. The hospital has to, unfortunately, release them. Now I have no proof, which is why this is a theory. I just feel like for all of these people to be able to be on the train at night. I have a feeling the hospital just gave them a free train card and sent them on their way. Yes, this is illegal, but at this point, anything is possible. With Medicare being cut, like most things, and groceries spiking. Taking care of someone with mental health issues is the last on the list. We have all heard stories about people having family members being “sent away.” Now they have nowhere to go. Most people forget about their hospitalized relative, so what does the hospital do? Send them home without caring who or what is responsible for them. The next best thing is to send them to the nearest train station. It so happens that there is a train station that will take you to the hospital. The sad part about that is that hospitals probably have the same issue and will send the person back to the train station, too. Do not get it twisted, this is just a theory. This is a theory that is hard for me to believe is not true but then again, why do we keep seeing the mentally ill at the train station and on the train.