Dog Justice for Mentally Ill

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Crime Down; Imprisonment Up

Are jails and prisons kept full by withholding psychiatric drugs from acute mental patients so they will get extra time on their sentences after psychotic episodes? That appears to be happening in Fresno County Jail, according to a report by "Community Alliance - the voice of the progressive movement since 1996."

Mentally Ill People Need Dog Justice

HOW are jails and prisons kept full? Crime is actually down. Christian Science Monitor reports: "Recessions can be the perfect storm for crime. Yet preliminary crime figures from the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 2009 show that the crime rate is falling across America, across all categories. Violent crime was down 5.5 percent and property crime down 4.9 percent between 2008 and 2009, according to FBI statistics . . . Crime in every category decreased, says FBI spokesman Bill Carter. Murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault all declined in 2009, he said. Robbery – which tends to boom in bust times – dropped 8.1 percent."

Are jails and prisons kept full by withholding psychiatric drugs from acute mental patients so they will get extra time on their sentences after psychotic episodes? See an excerpt from an article by a team of reporters at "Community Alliance."

Freefall into Madness: The Fresno County Jail’s Barbaric Treatment of the Mentally Ill

For the past six years, in an effort to cut costs, the Fresno County Jail has repeatedly denied mentally ill defendants the anti-psychotic medications prescribed to them by their outside doctors—medications needed to keep them sane.

As a result, according to Fresno County judges, former nurses, correctional officers, doctors, lawyers and the families of the defendants, the jail medical staff is triggering psychotic breakdowns in people suffering from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

The Fresno County Jail
The prolonged mental breakdowns are causing some defendants to languish in isolated confinement for years at a time, they say, creating a system of mental torture at the county jail. Denied their usual medications, defendants suffer paranoid delusions and mania so debilitating that some have tried to commit suicide multiple times in jail, slashing their throats or wrists with county-issued razors.

[Please continue to read the in-depth report at this link:

http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=7800 ]

Disarming Realities: As Gun Sales Soar, Gun Crimes Plummet

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2013/05/14/disarming-realities-as-gun-sales-soar-gun-crimes-plummet/

According to DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. gun-related homicides dropped 39 percent over the course of 18 years, from 18,253 during 1993, to 11,101 in 2011. During the same period, non-fatal firearm crimes decreased even more, a whopping 69 percent . . . Pew researchers observed that the huge amount of attention devoted to gun violence incidents in the media has caused most Americans to be unaware that gun crime is “strikingly down” from 20 years ago. In fact, gun-related homicides in the late 2000s were “equal to those not seen since the early 1960s.”

Americans are continually plummeted with violent scenes on the evening news, but little to nothing is reported about the nation's falling crime rate. Whereas the reduction in crime is good news for the average citizen, it is not good news for prison investors or for municipalities that signed contracts with private prison companies, guaranteeing them a certain occupancy rate. Therefore, I repeat the question in paragraph 1:

Are jails and prisons kept full by withholding psychiatric drugs from acute mental patients so they will get extra time on their sentences after psychotic episodes? That appears to be happening in Fresno County Jail, according to a report by "Community Alliance - the voice of the progressive movement since 1996."

~ The members and friends of Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill strongly object to withholding psychiatric drugs to induce lunacy in order to lengthen sentences of wrongly imprisoned mental patients, who should be either in mental hospitals or community care programs.

~ We object to crime and punishment becoming an business enterprise that reduces people to commodities that are bought and sold on Wall Street.

~ We object to privatized correctional institutions and feel the quest for success of such facilities led to mass incarceration for Americans, regardless of their innocence or mental illness.

~ We submit to you that the War on Drugs is actually a war on middle-class and indigent Americans who are either recreational drug users or addicted to hard drugs.

We urge everyone who is committed to prison reform to recognize this: There were no overcrowded prisons and jails and therefore no need for private correctional facilities until the mentally ill were "de-institutionalized" and evicted from mental hospitals and community psychiatric services suffered budget cuts. Mentally ill people in America are the backbone of the private prison industry, which grosses billions per year. Crime is declining, including violent crime, which generates the longest prison sentences. With the loss of "business," the mentally ill are at greater risk than ever of suffering long prison sentences to satisfy the greed of prison investors, who include judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors, and lawmakers.

America's reduction in violent crime has not generated the cheers one would expect, because it could mean less money for prison owners and investors. This places targeted populations (minorities, the mentally ill, and whites who lack wealth) at greater risk for excessive sentencing and wrongful convictions. Three examples happened recently in Florida and Louisiana:

~Marissa Alexander is a Florida woman who had just given birth and feared serious injuries from being beaten by her ex-husband, who caused her to be hospitalized from a previous beating. As he cornered and threatened her, Alexander fired a warning shot. She was wrongly sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for firing one shot into the ceiling. Petition: "PARDON Abused Mother Marissa Alexander for Standing Her Ground"
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/503/600/056/dont-imprison-marissa-alexander-for-standing-her-ground/

~Sharmeka Moffitt, a woman in Louisiana, allegedly set fire to herself, causing third degree burns, and falsely claimed she was set afire by a white supremacist group. Obviously, if Moffitt did this, one should question her mental state. Instead, she faces "terrorism" charges and could be imprisoned for decades for hurting herself. See "Setting Oneself on Fire - Mental Illness" in this blog at http://dogjusticeformentallyill.blogspot.com/2013/03/setting-oneself-on-fire-mental-illness.html

~Kiera Wilmot, a teenage Florida girl, was expelled and faced felony charges for her science experiment when her mixture of common household products caused the top to pop off a water bottle. Nobody was hurt. Due to an outcry by people nationwide and a successful Change.org petition that gathered nearly 200,000 signatures, the charges were dropped. See "Charges Dropped against Kiera Wilmot" http://legalvictories.blogspot.com/2013/05/charges-dropped-against-kiera-wilmot.html

Both women and the teen are black females, which matters more than it should in this land of "liberty and justice for all."

How far will prison owners and investors go with their "quest to arrest"? For the first time in centuries, debtors prisons are making a comeback. For the first time in America, the White House has the option under NDAA to point out any person or group of people and demand their arrest in military concentration camps without naming any crime or allowing trials. The love of money led to slavery in the 1600s, an institution that has made a comeback in America. This is particularly hard on those who through poverty or mental illness are our most vulnerable citizens.

“This county [Fresno] doesn’t care about its treatment of mentally ill behind bars or otherwise,” said Susan Anderson, the recently retired supervisor who watched her colleagues on the board implement cut after cut to the county’s mental health budget until, she said, there was nothing left but skin and bones.

“If the Board of Supervisors wanted mentally ill defendants to get their anti-psychotic medications in jail, all they would need to do is direct the sheriff, the health officer and the jail doctor to do it,” Anderson said. “But the thinking of the board, the sheriff’s [office] and the rest of the criminal justice system here is not about prevention or humanity. It’s all about punishment.”

See also "U.S. Crime Rate Down: Six Key Reasons"

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0524/US-crime-rate-is-down-six-key-reasons

(This is the tenth(10th) link in this article.)

Homelessness, prison and death must not be America's answer to acute mental illness. No one deserves punishment for having a health crisis, especially one caused by lack of treatment. Thank you for coming to give
ASSISTANCE TO THE INCARCERATED MENTALLY ILL.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Mary Neal Interviewed by Rev. Floyd Harris and Dr. Jean Kennedy

On May 8 and 9, 2013, Mary Neal, director of Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill and Dog Justice for Mentally Ill Americans, was a guest on the Rev. Floyd Harris, Jr. Blogtalkradio show, "Real Talk with No. 1 Doctors." Dr. Jean Kennedy, a psychologist, is his co-host for the show where social and political discussions are broadcast live Monday through Friday at 11:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Please play the shows in the two widgets below (links are also provided below, dated May 9 and 10 at Blogtalkradio).

Please listen to and share the two-parted radio interview. Comments are invited in the comment area below at this article and/or at Blogtalkradio's archived tapes. Access the interviews by using these link:

"Rev. Harris and Dr. Kennedy Interview Mary Neal - Part 1"
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/realtalk1dr/2013/05/09/rev-harris-dr-kennedy-interview-mary-neal

"Rev. Harris and Dr. Kennedy Interview Mary Neal - Part 2"
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/realtalk1dr/2013/05/10/rev-harris-dr-kennedy-interview-mary-neal

The May 8 show covered information on how we got here. How did America reach the point where 1.25 million mentally ill people are inmates rather than hospital inpatients or outpatients, according to their offenses and functionality? We also discussed mentally ill people who are on death row, although the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that such persons are not eligible for execution. Learn why the insanity plea usually is not used or often fails, even when a criminal defendant has a long, documented history of mental illness. We reflected on America's standing as a human rights advocate, waging war over human rights violations internationally, while engaged in mass incarceration at home. America holds the world's largest prison population in human history, with over half of those incarcerated being the nation's mentally challenged people. We talked briefly about the solution for many mentally challenged offenders: assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) programs.

We continued with Part 2 on May 9, because Rev. Harris and Dr. Kennedy were interested in learning why I became a prisoner activist with an emphasis on decriminalizing mental illness in America. Part 2 is at the link above:

During Part 2 of my interview with Rev. Harris and Dr. Kennedy for their "RealTalk1Drs" Blogtalkradio show, I exposed why this civil and human rights activist is censored: 1) to cover-up the secret arrest and murder of Larry Neal, which you are invited to read about at the website called "Wrongful Death of Larry Neal.com" at http://WrongfulDeathofLarryNeal.com and 2) to protect the reputation of the law firm that defruded my family to protect Memphis Shelby County Jail after Larry Neal's secret arrest and murder in that publicly-owned correctional facility - The (Johnnie) Cochran Firm frauds. Learn more by conducting a Google search for "Cochran Firm Fraud Against Mary Neal." I found that the justice system and media are apparently interested in covering-up Larry's murder and protecting the reputation of this deceptive law firm rather than securing justice for a mentally ill heart patient who was killed while in secret government custody. During my justice quest, I discovered that mentally ill Americans' right to life, especially blacks', are considered "immaterial" and laws protecting same are less enforced than laws protecting animal rights, especially regarding police wrongdoing.

Repeat of Paragraph 1: (There are two urls to the radio shows on this webpage.) On May 8 and 9, 2013, Mary Neal, director of Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill and Dog Justice for Mentally Ill Americans, was a guest on the Rev. Floyd Harris, Jr. Blogtalkradio show, "Real Talk with No. 1 Doctors." Dr. Jean Kennedy, a psychologist, is his co-host for the show where social and political discussions are broadcast live Monday through Friday at 11:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Please play the shows in the two widgets below (links are also provided below, dated May 9 and 10 at Blogtalkradio).

Mary Neal pickets media companies for refusing to report Larry Neal's secret police kidnapping and his murder and H.R.619, a mental health bill that would have restored Medicaid for qualifying patients to have inpatient treatment.

When dogs were abused and some were murdered on Michael Vick's ranch, the world was outraged, and the football star was investigated, prosecuted, sentenced and fired. Many Americans are denied "Dog Justice."

Mentally Ill People Need Dog Justice

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Mentally Ill Kenyans Escape

Kenya covers 224,445 square miles and has a population of about 43½ million, but there is only one mental hospital within the entire country. Since mental illness is a pervasive, chronic health condition for as many as one in five people, one might assume that Kenya does not prioritize psychiatric care for its citizens. In the United States, the national health care insurance bill that passed in 2011 and goes into full effect in 2014 reportedly omits inpatient psychiatric treatment. Throughout 2009 to 2011 while the national health care bill was being lobbied, journalists refused to report H.R.619, a congressional health bill introduced in January 2009 that would have resumed Medicaid insurance for inpatient psychiatric care. Presently, 1.25 million mentally ill Americans are imprisoned and comprise 60% of the country's inmates in cruel solitary confinement. Ignoring mental health care is not without its consequences in the U.S. or in Kenya, where 70 inpatients recently overcame guards and 40 escaped from the mental hospital. See the story below:

Mentally Ill People Need Dog Justice

"The Christian Science Monitor" reports: Kenya police on Monday [May 13] searched for 31 mentally ill patients who escaped from the country's only public psychiatric facility.

Samuel Anampiu, the police chief in charge of the area where Mathari Mental Hospital sits, said that about 70 male patients overpowered the guards at the hospital and that 40 managed to escape Sunday morning.

Nine of them have since been brought back by parents and guardians, according to hospital medical superintendent Dr. Kisivuli Azenga. Azenga said one of the patients incited the others after the attendants delayed giving the medicine to the patients.

Mental health care in Kenya suffers from a lack of funding. Poverty, a lack of access and the stigma associated with mental disorders prevent many patients from getting good assistance.

********

Your comments and questions are invited in the comments field below each article in DogJusticeforMentallyIll blog. Americans have significant problems advocating for more mental health beds for inpatients, as proved by the video in the next article:
"Preventing Advocacy for the Mentally Ill" at

http://dogjusticeformentallyill.blogspot.com/2013/05/preventing-advocacy-for-mentally-ill.html

This health advocate was prevented from making calls or using the Internet to promote congressional bill H.R.619 to increase access to mental hospital beds for indigent and middle class Americans, the health bill mainstream media ignored. When scrolling "Dog Justice" blog from my cellphone, I noted that two articles were skipped: "Police Taser and Kill 60-yr-old Mentally Ill Man" and "Mental Health News April 2013".
Don't miss our news! Please join the blog at the first widget in the upper right margin at

http://DogJusticeforMentallyIll.blogspot.com and you will receive our emails.

Please access more articles advocating Dog Justice for Mentally Ill people in America at the blog index on the right margin. See the full report about Kenya's missing mentally ill patients at:

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2013/0513/40-patients-escape-from-Kenya-psychiatric-ward More information about Kenya http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenya

(Six links are in this article.)

ASSISTANCE TO THE INCARCERATED MENTALLY ILL.

Repeat of paragraph 1: Kenya covers 224,445 square miles and has a population of about 43½ million, but there is only one mental hospital within the entire country. Since mental illness is a pervasive, chronic health condition for as many as one in five people, one might assume that Kenya does not prioritize psychiatric care for its citizens. In the United States, the national health care insurance bill that passed in 2011 and goes into full effect in 2014 reportedly omits inpatient psychiatric treatment. Throughout 2009 to 2011 while the national health care bill was being lobbied, journalists refused to report H.R.619, a congressional health bill introduced in January 2009 that would have resumed Medicaid insurance for inpatient psychiatric care. Presently, 1.25 million mentally ill Americans are imprisoned and comprise 60% of the country's inmates in cruel solitary confinement. Ignoring mental health care is not without its consequences in the U.S. or in Kenya, where 70 inpatients recently overcame guards and 40 escaped from the mental hospital. See the story below:

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Preventing Advocacy for the Mentally Ill

The video embedded below is an example of the censorship faced by Mary Neal regarding efforts to give ASSISTANCE TO THE INCARCERATED MENTALLY ILL. In January 2009, Rep. Eddie Johnson (D-TX) introduced H.R.619, a bill into U.S. Congress that would have resumed Medicaid insurance payments for psychiatric inpatients. That funding was deleted in the 1970s. As a result, private prisons were opened across the nation because of overcrowding as hundreds of thousands of mentally ill people who were released from hospitals became prison inmates instead of hospital inpatients. Their health condition had been criminalized. The concept of imprisoning rather than treating America's acute mental patients is very lucrative for numerous prison investors moonlighting as public officials.

Today America has approximately 1.25 million mentally ill inmates, without whom private prisons would not exist. Sick people are the backbone of the private prison industry. Between incarcerating psychiatric patients and the War on Drugs, private prison owners and investors created a huge empire by taking full advantage of victims' psychiatric conditions and drug addictions. I became the most censored person in America because of my advocacy to expose and oppose the mass incarceration and murders of America's mentally ill.

The proposal to resume using Medicaid for psychiatric hospitals under H.R.619 died in congressional committees. It was a bill that would have made mental hospitalization available for indigent acute mental patients BEFORE tragedies and avoidable crimes. But cyber stalkers were hired to prevent advocacy by hundreds of members of Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill, an online human rights organization. Throughout 2009 and 2010, years when national health care insurance was the main subject on every news show, H.R.619 was never mentioned by any journalist. The system did not want America to know that an alternative to arrests of mental patients was on the table.

Families of acute mental patients are ordinarily denied assistance for their loved ones experiencing crises. Sick Americans are deliberately left untreated until after crimes in order to keep the prison system well fed. Municipalities actually have quotas they must fulfill with private prison companies in their areas - contracts promise private prisons to keep them filled to a certain level, then our courts deliver. The worse the crimes that are committed by psychiatric patients, the longer prison terms they receive, and the more money prison investors get as a result of those sentences. That is, IF they make it to jail alive and are not killed by police officers while in custody. Many sick people are not so lucky.

Denying treatment for the lack of mental hospital beds and awaiting a crime to treat the mentally ill does not save tax money. It only redirects tax money to prisons instead of to treatment facilities.

Chronic health conditions like congestive heart failure and kidney failure are treated medically. Only mental illness is treated legally. Only mentally challenged people are shot or Tasered to death when they experience health crises - which is a circumstance that should be avoided by community care under an assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) program so that no hospitalization or incarceration would be necessary.

The criminal justice system must wait until AFTER there is a crime to act. If mental illness was not criminalized, our communities would be safer, because sick people would not be left untreated unless and until they commit some crime ranging from vagrancy to murders.

Demand an end to criminalizing mental illness. Demand that psychiatric conditions be treated as a chronic medical condition and not as a crime. Ask your congressional representative to reintroduce a bill like H.R.619 to resume health insurance for inpatient care for our mentally ill relatives and neighbors in crises and those who require long-term containment. Demand that AOT programs are enacted and used for psychiatric patients in your communities. AOT programs give subsistence assistance and mandated psychiatric treatment. AOT programs should be ordered for every psychiatric patient exiting a mental hospital or correctional institution to help them avoid future hospitalizations, incarcerations, death-by-police, and homelessness. Give ASSISTANCE TO THE INCARCERATED MENTALLY ILL.

Police Taser and Kill 60-yr-old Mentally Ill Man

Sixty Year-Old Mentally Ill Man Dies in Isolation Cell Hours After Police Tasing

(Sept. 17, 2012) A 60-year-old man who had long suffered from bipolar disorder died in a jail cell Friday evening, hours after police tased him and placed him in isolation. Bill Williams was arrested for shoplifting at a gas station in Snohomish County, Washington. He had recently stopped taking his medication, and his family said they called the police and his case manager the previous week saying he needed to be hospitalized, but were ignored. KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reports:

“His life was so difficult. Anyway, for it to end like this and die alone in his cell is just incomprehensible,” said Williams’ daughter, Trina Blau.“There’s a hospital right there where they could have shot him up with a sedative to figure it out. Instead, they shot him with a Taser and he’s dead.”

This article is re-published from my FreeSpeakBlog at http://FreeSpeakBlog.blogspot.com where it is called

Police Tase 60-yr-old mentally ill man to death

Mary Neal, director of Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/aimi
Dog Justice for Mentally Ill http://DogJusticeforMentallyIll.blogspot.com

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Mental Health News April 2013

GUN CONTROL
Will gun control laws actually prevent psychiatric treatment? How many veterans and others will avoid seeking psychiatric help because they fear being disarmed? That question was raised by Dr. Scott Mendelson, a psychiatrist for the Veterans Administration, in a Huffington Post article.
"Mental Health and Second Amendment Fears"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-mendelson-md/mental-health-gun-background-checks_b_3088438.html
Excerpt: "The recent gun tragedies have spurred us to pursue new controls on who can purchase a firearm. A major focus of this effort is to make certain that individuals who might pose a danger because of mental illness do not have access to weapons. I whole-heartedly agree with this effort. However, in recent weeks I have become aware that many of the veterans I see are starting to fear that merely coming for psychiatric help will cost them their right to own a gun."

BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING AND HIPPA
(Unsubstantiated Report) New York Governor Cuomo has ordered state officials to confiscate private patient records from psychiatrists, meaning that all your assumed "doctor-patient confidentiality" is now a fairytale. Everything you've ever told a psychiatrist, psychologist, doctor or therapist is now subject to government confiscation, and whatever they find will be used against you. And it's all being done to "save the children," of course!
http://www.naturalnews.com/039960_New_York_patient_records_confiscation.html

SUICIDES AND MURDERS
ABC News Videos - An NYPD officer kills boyfriend, infant son, and self; Las Vegas police officer and family dead in apparent murder/suicide; Maryland star high school student and army officer dead in apparent murder/suicide; Jovan Belcher, of the Kansas City Chiefs, kills girlfriend and self with butcher knife
http://abcnews.go.com/US/york-police-veteran-kills-toddler-boyfriend/story?id=18958466#.UWxiFmOnbD0

This writer recommends that all police officers be given psychological evaluations periodically, not just during the hiring phase, and that they be tested for drugs and alcohol immediately after all violent incidents that result in catastrophic injuries or deaths. Police officers and military people work in stressful, volatile situations requiring quick decisions. Mental illness and drug or alcohol addictions can negatively impact their ability to accurately comprehend and respond appropriately to stimuli. For example, steroids are often used by police officers as well as sportsmen and can cause brain damage and feelings of aggression.

MENTAL HEALTH LAW
http://www.desmoinesregister.com reports that the Iowa State Senate voted 33-17 Tuesday to pass a $42.8 million appropriations bill aimed at supporting the redesign of Iowa’s mental health system. Hatch said the Senate bill spends $13 million more than the House version to insure that no counties have waiting lists for mental health services or an interruption of services. The bill now goes to the House.

MASS INCARCERATION OF THE MENTALLY ILL AND WORLD POLITICS
One can trace America's booming prison population growth to the "de-institutionalization" of the mentally ill in the 1970s, which actually transferred acute mental patients to prisons rather than hospitals and community care. This was done in large part to facilitate private prisons and meet the guaranteed occupancy levels municipalities promise private prison owners. Today, 1.25 million of America's inmates are mentally ill. Sixty percent of those in solitary confinement are sick people, and eighty percent of prisoners in cruel solitary confinement are minorities. Having an obviously racist and health conscious prison system negatively impacts America's ability to advocate for human rights around the world, and it makes military intervention based on human rights seem hypocritical. Moscow pointed to this country's record-high incarceration rate and the torture and frequent deaths of inmates (within the USA and abroad) in its response to President Obama.
"Moscow Calls Obama's Human Rights Bluff"
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/04/16/pers-a16.html

CALMING EFFECTS OF MUSIC
Music is a relatively common and very traditional therapy used to achieve a calmer state of being. One mental health clinician, who is also an experienced music therapist, uses music to help her patients stir up emotional images and claims that the music “The vibration in music releases tension in the cells and organs,” thus creating a feeling of relief. One musical group has dedicated its time to playing in nursing and convalescent homes and cite that they have observed their music help the elderly people living there achieve a feeling of calm. Dentists and surgeons also cleverly use music to decrease their patients’ worry and increase their pain threshold: the type of music playing in the elevator and lobby are not accidental and the type of music played during surgery prep is considered part of the prep itself. Biblical David played his harp to assist the mental troubles of King Saul, and later King George commissioned similar musical therapy to aid in stress reduction. Read more at http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/2486

Enjoy 18 videos by Whitney Houston, whose melodic voice is very relaxing and soothing (at YouTube link http://youtu.be/DLS4pqPhBIw and embedded below) as you continue to read mental health news in DogJustice blog. The articles are listed in the blog index on your right. Thank you for coming to learn more about the challenges facing mentally ill people and their families and give Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill.

Mary Neal, director
Dog Justice for Mentally Ill
http://DogJusticeforMentallyIll.blogspot.com
Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill (AIMI) at Care2, where 305 members invite you
http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/aimi

Please also visit AIMI at Google+, where we have four members and need you
https://plus.google.com/communities/108448922585036678747

And visit Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill at Facebook, with 166 members who invite you
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Assistance-to-the-Incarcerated-Mentally-Ill/295716950438625

A burden shared is a burden lessened. Lately, I have been worried about a friend of mine who faces prison for overdue probation fees. See "Save Katherine Conner from Prison Slavery" at
http://marylovesjustice.blogspot.com/2013/04/save-katherine-conner-from-prison.html

Mentally Ill People Need Dog Justice
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Sunday, March 31, 2013

The Mentally Ill As Witnesses: Brunswick, GA

On March 21, 2013, a 13-month-old baby boy was killed in Brunswick, Georgia. Sherri West, the child's mother, reported that two black youths attempted to rob her during her morning stroll with her baby. West alleges that she was shot in her right thigh and her son was killed in retaliation because she had no money. A Glynn County grand jury indicted De’Marquise Kareem Elkins, 17, and Dominique Demetrius Lang, 14, regarding Antonio Santiago's murder and other charges related to the baby's death. West reportedly identified the teens from photos.

Police also arrested the accused teens' mother and aunt and followed a lead to find a gun in a lake. Ballistics from the gun will be compared to the bullet that shot the baby. The news report regarding recovery of the gun did not disclose who provided information as to where the gun was. The indictment says that on March 22, Katrina Elkins provided a false alibi for Elkins by reporting he was at her residence during the shooting. The indictment also accuses Karimah Elkins of providing a false alibi for her son, as she told police he was with her during the shooting.

“We arrested them [the teen defendants' mother and aunt, who are siblings] last night and brought them back to headquarters, where we afforded them the opportunity to make additional statements,” Doering told the AP on Tuesday [March 26]. “They did, and that information led us to other witnesses … (who) led us to an area where the gun was disposed of.”

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/crime-law/mother-aunt-of-suspect-in-brunswick-baby-shooting-/nW4mh/

West also had two other children: a daughter and son. Her son died by stabbing in an altercation with another teen in New Jersey when he was 18. West's daughter, Ashley Glassey, was removed from her mother's custody at eight years of age, but she speaks with her mom regularly by phone. Glassey questions her mother's story about the baby's death. See an excerpt from the ABC report.

Daughter of Brunswick victim questions her mothers story

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/topstories/article/305674/483/Daughter-of-Brunswick-victim-questions-mothers-story

Glassey says her mother is bipolar and has schizophrenic tendencies. Glassey said she started to have her doubts after receiving a phone call from her mother telling her that her brother, Antonio Santiago, had been killed. She claims that on the night of the shooting her mother asked, "How soon do you think life insurance policy will send me a check?" Glassey said she has contacted the Brunswick Police Department and no one has called her back.

What amount of credence should police and courts give testimony by mentally ill witnesses? Glynn County is where Yvonne Hickman was arrested and banned on the word of her mentally ill husband, a PTSD veteran, who falsely reported that Yvonne ran over him repeatedly with her car. The car was not damaged, and Mr. Hickman had no injuries. He continued working out at the gym daily after making this claim, but his wife was incarcerated and banned from Glynn County. See videos about Yvonne's ordeal at

http://dogjusticeformentallyill.blogspot.com/2012/03/nathaniel-hickman-yvonne-hickman-was.html

Criminal charges against Yvonne Hickman were dropped three years later. In her lawsuit against Glynn County officials, which was dismissed without trial, Yvonne alleged that officials committed fraud, and she submitted documents to prove it (legal documents bearing what was passed as Yvonne's signature that she denies having signed).

CITY COMMISSIONER ARRESTED IN CONNECTION WITH BRUNSWICK CASE
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/29/us/georgia-brunswick-baby-shooting/index.html
The 59-year-old commissioner was charged with influencing a witness and obstructing law enforcement in an investigation, the Glynn County Sheriff's Office said. Brooks was arrested Thursday, posted $5,000 bond and left jail Friday afternoon. [He simply told the defendants' mother and aunt they had the right to remain silent when being interrogated by police about the murder investigation.]

Evidence may prove that Elkins and Lang are indeed guilty of attempted robbery and murder. If so, the teens absolutely should be imprisoned (the district attorney has announced he will not seek the death penalty). But all defendants deserve the presumption of innocence until proved guilty in a court of law unless they confess and forego trial.