Post by sclcookie on Jun 5, 2006 0:18:30 GMT -5
"Crazy" by Pete Earley, Putnam, $25.95
Every cry for social change begins with a personal tragedy. Pete Earleys
began when his son Mike, a graduate student, became psychotic. In a
Virginia emergency room, a doctor explained that while Mike was clearly
insane, he was an adult, and not an imminent danger to himself or others.
Since he refused to take medication, there was nothing they could do.
Two days later, Mike broke into a strangers house, went upstairs and took
a bubble bath. It required five police officers and an attack dog to
subdue him. But even being charged with two felonies and nearly being shot
was not sufficient proof that he was dangerous, or in danger. His father,
picking up the broad hints of the police, falsely claimed his son had
threatened to kill him. That got Mike in for a two-day observation at the
same hospital where he had been refused admittance. Even then, his fathers
worries were only beginning.
"'How long does it take antipsychotic medicines to work?' Earley asked a
nurse.
"The nurse seemed surprised. 'I'm sorry,' she said, 'but just because your
son is being admitted into the hospital, doesn't mean hes going to be
treated there.'"
Thus begins a nightmare of interlocking Catch-22s, of well-meaning,
dedicated people working at cross-purposes, of a legal system that, in
short, is more insane than the psychotics it processes. Pete Earley is an
investigative journalist, and in "Crazy" he presents a gripping,
disturbing, firsthand account of mentally ill people who have stumbled
into our criminal justice system.
Earley builds a compelling case that Americas legal system is distorted by
its deference to the irrational wishes of people incapable of
understanding their own best interests. But it's the individual stories
that really bring the sick system to life.
Homeless and mentally ill for decades, Alice Ann Collyer of Miami accused
an elderly woman of stealing her thoughts and pushed her. The woman was
not injured, but assaulting an elderly person in Florida is a felony. The
victim signed a complaint only when told Collyer might be hospitalized and
helped. But this was Collyers third pushing incident, and under the states
"3 strikes" law, the minimum penalty was 5 years imprisonment.
Before she could be brought to trial, she had to be found mentally
competent. Thus began an odyssey that had lasted 1,151 days by the time
Earley met her, during which Collyer was shuttled back and forth between
the state mental hospital and jail. Because she had not been convicted of
a crime, the mental hospital could not treat her. Its job is to hold
inmates until they can be judged competent, by training them to answer
questions such as: "Do you know where you are?" "Do you know what you are
being charged with?" After months of this, the hospital sends the inmates
back to jail.
The job of the jail is to hold the prisoners until they can be seen by a
judge. The judge requires exams by three psychiatrists, and that takes
three or so months more. Jails are never pleasant, but the psychiatric
cell block is a hellhole. The psychotic patients, for their own
protection, are held in bare cells and most are kept naked. Many don't
even have blankets to cover themselves. Of course, the jail is not allowed
to treat them against their will.
After all this, many inmates, including Alice Ann Collyer, are incompetent
again, and cannot be tried. So back they go to the mental hospital.
Everyone involved is frustrated. Everyone wonders why these people are not
being helped. And everyone knows that they would be far better off simply
being treated, at a fraction of the cost of their incarceration. But the
law is the law, and must be obeyed.
In Mike's own, far less tragic story, problem follows problem. The only
real villains in this book are the couple whose home he broke into.
Frightened and vindictive, they insist that Mike be found guilty of at
least 1 felony, which would kill his chances of a career and a normal
life. This despite pleas from the defense attorney, the prosecutors, and
even the investigating police detective that a proposed plea bargain to 2
misdemeanors will actually double Mikes punishment (to 2 years of
probation) and be more effective in forcing him into treatment. The true
story of how this plays out is tense and dramatic.
Pete Earley avoids assigning blame to political ideologies, but there is
plenty to go around. Liberals can be faulted for defending the mentally
ill persons right to live untreated in squalor, conservatives for a
reluctance to spend money on treatment.
Mike recovers sufficiently to finish graduate school, but by then his
father has seen so many psychotics cycle in and out of sanity, and talked
to so many parents of young people shot to death by police during
psychotic episodes, that he knows he has a lifetime of profound worry
ahead. The best he can do is announce that Florida has finally passed a
law allowing a judge to order treatment of an insane person who has a
history of violent behavior or multiple hospitalizations. This, however,
would have made no difference in his son's case.
And so the awful waste of money and lives continues. We can only hope that
this time, the cries for reform will be heard.
(source: Knight Ridder)
Every cry for social change begins with a personal tragedy. Pete Earleys
began when his son Mike, a graduate student, became psychotic. In a
Virginia emergency room, a doctor explained that while Mike was clearly
insane, he was an adult, and not an imminent danger to himself or others.
Since he refused to take medication, there was nothing they could do.
Two days later, Mike broke into a strangers house, went upstairs and took
a bubble bath. It required five police officers and an attack dog to
subdue him. But even being charged with two felonies and nearly being shot
was not sufficient proof that he was dangerous, or in danger. His father,
picking up the broad hints of the police, falsely claimed his son had
threatened to kill him. That got Mike in for a two-day observation at the
same hospital where he had been refused admittance. Even then, his fathers
worries were only beginning.
"'How long does it take antipsychotic medicines to work?' Earley asked a
nurse.
"The nurse seemed surprised. 'I'm sorry,' she said, 'but just because your
son is being admitted into the hospital, doesn't mean hes going to be
treated there.'"
Thus begins a nightmare of interlocking Catch-22s, of well-meaning,
dedicated people working at cross-purposes, of a legal system that, in
short, is more insane than the psychotics it processes. Pete Earley is an
investigative journalist, and in "Crazy" he presents a gripping,
disturbing, firsthand account of mentally ill people who have stumbled
into our criminal justice system.
Earley builds a compelling case that Americas legal system is distorted by
its deference to the irrational wishes of people incapable of
understanding their own best interests. But it's the individual stories
that really bring the sick system to life.
Homeless and mentally ill for decades, Alice Ann Collyer of Miami accused
an elderly woman of stealing her thoughts and pushed her. The woman was
not injured, but assaulting an elderly person in Florida is a felony. The
victim signed a complaint only when told Collyer might be hospitalized and
helped. But this was Collyers third pushing incident, and under the states
"3 strikes" law, the minimum penalty was 5 years imprisonment.
Before she could be brought to trial, she had to be found mentally
competent. Thus began an odyssey that had lasted 1,151 days by the time
Earley met her, during which Collyer was shuttled back and forth between
the state mental hospital and jail. Because she had not been convicted of
a crime, the mental hospital could not treat her. Its job is to hold
inmates until they can be judged competent, by training them to answer
questions such as: "Do you know where you are?" "Do you know what you are
being charged with?" After months of this, the hospital sends the inmates
back to jail.
The job of the jail is to hold the prisoners until they can be seen by a
judge. The judge requires exams by three psychiatrists, and that takes
three or so months more. Jails are never pleasant, but the psychiatric
cell block is a hellhole. The psychotic patients, for their own
protection, are held in bare cells and most are kept naked. Many don't
even have blankets to cover themselves. Of course, the jail is not allowed
to treat them against their will.
After all this, many inmates, including Alice Ann Collyer, are incompetent
again, and cannot be tried. So back they go to the mental hospital.
Everyone involved is frustrated. Everyone wonders why these people are not
being helped. And everyone knows that they would be far better off simply
being treated, at a fraction of the cost of their incarceration. But the
law is the law, and must be obeyed.
In Mike's own, far less tragic story, problem follows problem. The only
real villains in this book are the couple whose home he broke into.
Frightened and vindictive, they insist that Mike be found guilty of at
least 1 felony, which would kill his chances of a career and a normal
life. This despite pleas from the defense attorney, the prosecutors, and
even the investigating police detective that a proposed plea bargain to 2
misdemeanors will actually double Mikes punishment (to 2 years of
probation) and be more effective in forcing him into treatment. The true
story of how this plays out is tense and dramatic.
Pete Earley avoids assigning blame to political ideologies, but there is
plenty to go around. Liberals can be faulted for defending the mentally
ill persons right to live untreated in squalor, conservatives for a
reluctance to spend money on treatment.
Mike recovers sufficiently to finish graduate school, but by then his
father has seen so many psychotics cycle in and out of sanity, and talked
to so many parents of young people shot to death by police during
psychotic episodes, that he knows he has a lifetime of profound worry
ahead. The best he can do is announce that Florida has finally passed a
law allowing a judge to order treatment of an insane person who has a
history of violent behavior or multiple hospitalizations. This, however,
would have made no difference in his son's case.
And so the awful waste of money and lives continues. We can only hope that
this time, the cries for reform will be heard.
(source: Knight Ridder)