Personally Speaking: Our mental health care system and criminal justice system are broken. We need reform NOW.
For the past fourteen years, I’ve watched my best friend and brother fall victim to the symptoms, prejudices and social injustices that come with the territory of living with a severe mental illness. The illness, a delusion disorder, slowly robbed him of his life and his future. In a lot of ways I found myself grieving a person who was very much still alive. There were so many parts of him I knew wouldn’t be the same again. However, there was so much more about him to learn, love, and support; if, only, we were given an opportunity to do so.
He was silly and funny, highly intelligent (still is), polished, and most importantly kind. Parents, friends, and teachers admired him. He was the first one that would stick up for a kid getting bullied, had the biggest and most accepting heart, and lifted everyone up around him.
There is a lot of him that is still very much the same; his intelligence, knowledge, kindness, and incredible heart. But, slowly, the illness became more prevalent. It was years of small behavioral changes; a deep and unwavering relationship to God, a gradual decline in hygiene, depressive moods, withdrawal and isolation, and fixed false beliefs on particular subject matters. Despite all of the negative impacts of the illness, he accomplished so much. He was very athletic and highly intelligent. He continued to perform at the highest of levels despite the illness. He was a collegiate athlete and graduated in four years with both an undergraduate and master’s degree.
What’s sneaky about mental illness is that in some ways a person’s judgment and cognitive thoughts are negatively impacted and in other ways they can still very much function ‘normally’. High-functioning individuals with a mental illness are those hardest to treat as doctors, family members, and even themselves find it hard to pinpoint symptoms and changes. These individuals also tend to fall through the cracks of our systems. They are too smart and able for conservatorship or guardianship and are able to hold a job most of the time. However, that does not mean that they are well, mentally sound, or are smart and capable to fix themselves.
Sadly, as my family and I were dealing with the new normal of trying to understand his illness and how to care for him and get him help, the family member decided to have him arrested. Our hearts sank. We did not understand why. The family member had called us immediately after the incident to let us know what happened; during the visit he had a breakdown, words were exchanged on both sides, nerves were rattled, but that ultimately, she was fine and hoped he would get the help he needed.
However, a few days after the arrest, her story kept changing and with the passage of time became more deeply exaggerated and embellished. In fact, there was nothing in the police report from the day of the incident that would make one believe her grossly exaggerated story was true. Shouldn’t the District Attorney stopped this from happening when her client’s story kept morphing over the years?
A few years later the case ultimately ended up going to trial. It is important to note that before trial a previous attorney ordered a competency evaluation. We thought he would finally be getting the help and medication to clear his thoughts and help him understand the reality he was facing with his legal case. We were wrong. Competency evaluations do not result in treating the patient. They are still under the same guise as medical law that they only treat a patient against their will if they are a threat to themselves or others. He was never a threat, so he sat there for months and was suddenly found ‘competent’ again. Talk to any doctor...the passage of time is not a way you restore competency in an individual.
A plea deal was on the table shortly thereafter that would have resulted in counseling and admission of guilt. He suffers from a delusion disorder and as a result had fixed false beliefs as it pertained to the case. He was convinced that his extended family member would drop the charges and that going to trial was the only way not to tarnish his record. Despite us pleading with him that there was no way that would happen, he didn’t heed our advice.
He was not trying to be difficult. He was not trying to be insubordinate. He was living his reality. We were unable to help him and get conservatorship to make these important legal decisions for him, DESPITE a diagnosis of his illness. Someone who was diagnosed with a delusion disorder still legally was able to retain full control over their fate and future. This should not be the case and we need new laws and policy change to put measures in place so this does not continue to happen. During trial, he denied the trial lawyer from using his mental state at the time of the crime or any mention of his mental health as a part of his defense.
The trial lawyer legally had to uphold the wishes of his client, even though he knew it was a terrible decision for his case. He knew his client was suffering from a serious mental illness and that his judgment was impaired. If we had a chance to make my brother’s legal decisions on his behalf via conservatorship/guardianship we would have taken a plea and involuntarily committed him to a medical program to treat his illness rather than going to trial. Legally we couldn’t get conservatorship and unfortunately for the latter we wouldn’t have been able to commit him because he wasn’t a threat to himself or others.
Suffering a mental illness is a life long sentence that is harsh enough. Due to the issues and faults with current policy and law in the justice and medical systems, a person with so much potential who got sick is being punished for his illness. He is serving nearly 20 years in prison for something he didn’t do, and could have plead guilty to a violation charge, had he had the awareness and insight into his illness. One moment of psychosis shouldn’t define an individual.
Enduring a breakdown doesn’t mean you’re crazy, incompetent or worthless. He lived a normal life after his only hospitalization; he was hired at a prestigious firm, hung out with friends and family, and coped with processing what he had just been through. He needed rehabilitation, treatment and time to understand what had just happened to him. He needed to be treated with kindness and humanity not made a monster and thrown into a legal battle that only caused more stress and trauma making an already hard healing process harder.
When mental illness is brought into the justice system without full facts or context, sick individuals tend to receive harsher and unjust sentences and punishments. 10 out of 11 mentally ill people who are in the state’s system are in jails and prisons, not hospitals receiving treatment. These statistics must change.
After witnessing everything I have I can honestly and wholeheartedly tell you what went wrong and what we need to do to fix it...now.
- The mental health care system is broken and reactionary rather than a system that puts patient care first. We cannot continue to leave the burden of help and recovery on individuals who mentally lack the legal capacity and ability to understand their illness. We must find a common ground between an individual’s rights and preserving their mental integrity.
- The legal system is broken in several ways. If a loved one is exhibiting signs of a mental illness or if their rationale and cognitive function is impaired a guardian should be able to make decisions that preserve their mental integrity rather than allow the burden of care to fall on the individual battling a mental illness. This also means being able to grant guardianship for legal decisions and other matters that have huge impacts on their lives.
- The judicial system is the only system that ‘exists’ to deal with issues both societal and medical as it pertains to mental illness. However it was not built for this use nor it it equipped to do so. If we continue to lean on a system not meant to bear such a burden, we must immediately implement new law and procedures that divert mental illness cases to a mental health court. This will help to mitigate and prevent individuals from falling through the cracks of our system and being overly prosecuted.
I watched my mother and grandmother deal with these broken systems trying to get their sons help. Sadly, over the last 35 years little has changed or improved. I refuse to bring my children into a world where these issues continue to go unresolved. I hope my children are healthy, but if they are not, it is my calling to ensure that their civil liberties and mental integrity are upheld by the law. It is every person’s right to receive help and treatment for an illness and a fair shot at recovery. Policies both legally and medically need to be put in place to uphold those rights. Anything less than multi-system reform is unacceptable. Here’s to hope, faith, and living with intention to pave a new path forward!
Written anonymously by a family member