Ideally we would have a way for people who can't take care of themselves, or hold a job to be taken care of that isn't effectively putting them in prison.

Mental "asylums" that were almost as bad (and sometimes worse) than prisons is clearly bad. But just leaving people to live on the streets or end up in actual prisons isn't strictly better.

I'm not saying we should bring back the asylums, at least the way they were, but there should be a better way to take care of people who aren't able to care for themselves.

Yet strangely, we imprison people based on their intent all the time.

For years a woman ran around in traffic and was killed by a car to protect her from the state. Nothing could be done? She had to die?

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/heatherknight/article/Ca...

Exactly and once you're in the asylum the doctors can lobotomize and drug you to the point of insanity. People used to abuse the system to get rid of family members they had an inheritance dispute with.