Fw: Justice for Mentally Ill

> The report discussed in this article can be found at
> http://www.consensusproject.org/. -lvt
>
>
> Justice for Mentally Ill
> Group Wants to End Vicious Circle That Keeps Returning Mentally Ill to
> Jail
>
> By Bryan Robinson
> ABCNews.com
>
> June 11
> — Years before becoming an advocate for the mentally ill, a suicidal Tom
> Lane
> was surrounded by armed police, contemplating whether he should force the
> officers to kill him — and none of the law enforcement officials seemed to
> know it.
>
> In July 1997, Lane, a cabinetmaker who was a recovering alcoholic and
> substance abuser, was suffering from severe depression. A head injury from
> a
> construction accident left him suffering from seizures and unable to work.
>
> Despondent, he called a suicide hotline from his trailer home in Northern
> California. When he could not guarantee the hotline operator that he would
> not harm himself, police were dispatched to his residence and he found
> himself surrounded.
>
> "I had hidden my .357 [Magnum] inside my travel trailer. They asked me to
> come out and show my hands. I could see the laser from one of the officers
> tracing me from 15 feet away," Lane said. "I really contemplated doing
> something to make these officers do something to me, a suicide-by-cop kind
> of
> thing."
>
> Police did not kill Lane, but he did not receive immediate counseling for
> his
> depression, either. Lane, who is considered legally blind, recalled being
> thrown and dragged on the gravel outside his home to a police car. His
> glasses were broken and he was thrown in jail, where police refused to let
> him take his anti-seizure medication. Lane was hospitalized after he began
> suffering two seizures a day.
>
> Upon release from the hospital, he still suffered from depression and did
> not
> receive the any recommendation for treatment for mental illness. He soon
> began sleeping in the bushes outside the hospital. Lane was able to call
> his
> mother collect from a pay phone and his family found him and brought him
> to
> New Mexico.
>
> Once he was receiving treatment and was back on his feet, Lane became an
> advocate for the mentally ill.
>
> Now living in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Lane, 42, has been instrumental in
> forming peer counseling groups for people suffering from mental illness.
> He
> has focused on their problems in dealing with law enforcement. And he
> helped
> contribute ideas to the Criminal Justice-Mental Health Consensus Project,
> a
> two-year bipartisan collaboration by the Council of State Governments with
> law enforcement officials, criminal justice officials and mental health
> advocates and consumers that will present a report at hearing before the
> Senate Judiciary Committee today.
>
> The Mentally Ill’s Revolving Crime Door
>
> The report is designed to help state and local government officials who
> are
> dealing with the significant number of people with mental illness in
> prison
> or jail. The Justice Department estimates that 16 percent of the people
> incarcerated in America suffer from mental illness.
>
> "When on any given day there are more people with mental illness in the
> Los
> Angeles County Jail than in any state hospital or private facility in the
> United States, it's time to agree we have a major problem," said Ron
> Honberg,
> director of legal affairs for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.
>
> The report makes 46 recommendations, from training officers better to
> handle
> initial encounters with the mentally ill, to ensuring that the mentally
> ill
> receive the treatment and counseling they need upon release to prevent
> their
> return to jail.
>
> "Every day, police officers encounter individuals and situations in which
> untreated mental illness has resulted in behaviors that generate a citizen
> complaint or disorderly behavior," said Robert K. Olson, president of
> Police
> Executive Research Forum and chief of the Minneapolis Police Department.
>
> "My officers know we can better serve individuals with mental illnesses
> without risking public safety." he said. "This report shows police how to
> work with all stakeholders using models and principles they can tailor to
> their own community — approaches that will minimize the costs in human
> lives,
> dignity and police resources."
>
> Avoiding Deadly Decisions
>
> Olson said he became involved in the Consensus Project because in the
> course
> of his 37-year career, he found that hundreds of people with mental
> illnesses
> were killed by police who he said were not trained to handle special
> situations properly. To save lives, Olson said, his department developed
> methods to better prepare his officers for encounters with disturbed
> people.
>
> In Minneapolis, Olson said, some police are specially trained to assess
> situations involving people suspected of suffering from mental illness.
> Olson
> said his officers are also being trained to use less-than-lethal methods
> when
> dealing with the mentally ill, such as stun guns. Olson and the Consensus
> Project also recommend the use of mobile crisis intervention teams to
> assess
> and defuse explosive situations, and police protocols for handling people
> with mental illness.
>
> "Before [the reforms], we were not trained normally to deal with people
> with
> mental illness," Olson said. "We're not psychiatrists; we're cops. … There
> were a lot of people — hundreds — with some kind of mental illness we
> later
> learned about who were getting killed or wounded needlessly. And I thought
> that there must be a better way for us to serve the community and not make
> deadly decisions with the mentally ill. My hope is that other state and
> local
> governments could perhaps adapt our model, what we're doing here and
> conform
> it to fit the particular needs of their community."
>
> Olson also favors — and the Consensus Project recommends — a database that
> documents incidents between the mentally ill and police to keep law
> enforcement officials accountable, track repeat offenders and to help
> prevent
> mentally ill people from returning to prison.
>
> Hopeful for New Legislation and Collaboration
>
> Lane realizes he was lucky that police did not grant his suicide wish.
> Many
> people who suffer from mental illness are undiagnosed, refuse treatment or
> don't have relatives to look after them or are unable to help them. And
> often, as in Lane's case, they are refused medical treatment or mishandled
> by
> officials. That makes them more likely to have repeated encounters with
> police.
>
> "Mentally ill people are more likely to have encounters with law
> enforcement," Lane said. "They attract attention when they act out and
> they're more likely to return to prison because they and police don't know
> they have an illness or they refuse treatment. When they're released,
> they're
> still undiagnosed and poor and more likely to return to prison. We've got
> to
> have more innovative solutions and better collaborations between law
> enforcement and mental health experts after the mentally ill are
> discharged.
> I just hope the report is a tool, an instrument of change."
>
> Based on the findings of the report, the Consensus Project hopes
> congressional leaders will introduce legislation that will enable
> communities
> to adapt some of the recommendations of the report and perpetuate better
> understanding of the mentally ill in the criminal justice system, a
> problem
> some believe has been long overlooked.
>
> "This is a complex problem that Congress should examine," said Sen.
> Patrick
> Leahy, D-Vt. "If we are going to help our law enforcement officers reduce
> crime, we need to stop the revolving door of arrest, release, and
> re-arrest
> that is so common for mentally ill offenders."
>
> Drawing Inspiration
>
> A better understanding of the mentally ill is a good beginning, law
> enforcement officials say. But recognizing a need for collaboration
> between
> police and mental health professionals is the key.
>
> "Awareness is always a good thing," Olson said. "There have been literally
> hundreds of deaths when a system that was supposed to protect them [the
> mentally ill] failed them. There has to be coordination and collaboration
> that involves law enforcement, mental health professionals, and the
> courts."
>
> Meanwhile, Lane is dealing with his mental illness and seems to be
> winning.
> As late as 1999, he said almost killed himself during a bout with severe
> depression when he overdosed on prescribed medication. Today, as a
> survivor
> of a suicide attempt and an encounter with police who did not fully
> understand his condition, Lane hopes that some of his peers will learn and
> be
> empowered by his story. In July, he said he will begin a new job as
> director
> of consumer affairs for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.
>
> "I'm managing to manage the illness instead of having the illness
> mismanage
> me," Lane said. "I just want to get the word out and if people draw some
> kind
> of inspiration from my story, then I'm happy."
>
>