Brief State Testimony
Testimony to Health, Housing and Family Security Committee on SF XXX [HF XXX] - February 26, 2007 (M______)
Thank you Chairman M___…committee members…interested parties.
On June 9th I learned what happens too easily when mental illness meets police and jail.
1) On June 6th City police took me into protective custody drunk & texting suicide messages to my wife… when I tried to run they took me down…they were professional and caring…they had a CAT scan run to be sure I was ok.
2) June 9th was very different…
3) A police officer approached me in the E.R. He saw, without knowing it, a reasonably successful, educated, 50 year old…
married 29 years; daughters in college; by anyone’s account, stable.
4) In December 2002 a moderate work stress shifted my brain over an edge I was unknowingly on. I felt it…unaware of what it meant.
5) In a week…cognitive impairment…I couldn’t focus…comprehend what I read…or write a paragraph…my brain felt disconnected…
6) My therapist said I was too depressed to suicide…help might give me the energy to do it…partial hospitalization…severe depression and anxiety…PTSD signs…
7) I reached a very primitive, instinct survival mode that sounds counterintuitive …no appetite…35 pounds in 6 weeks…no sleep… once for 7 days… hospitalization…emotional dysregulation…an overactive part of the brain… meds plus daily therapy for a year.
8) Since? Variations on the theme…disappearances…alcohol and overdose…hospitals…therapy…horrible family stress, but support.
9) Back to June 9th.
10) The officer sees a man on a gurney…curled fetal position…eyes closed…still…from earlier when a mental health nurse, instead of letting me talk to her supervisor or above about discharge being incomplete, called security to kick me out instead of setting up the CD treatment as all had agreed…patient’s rights?…ignored…the stress crashed me…I was non-responsive on the couch… decompensating before her eyes…she had security lift me up and wheelchair me off the property…I was still non-responsive so they brought me to the E.R…the E.R. nurse is upset…what?… this is nonsense!…no one doesn’t want to leave a mental unit!… psych eval?…readmit?… call his wife?…no…call the police?…yes.
11) The officer dislikes non-responsiveness…he jams his knuckle below my ear to make me talk…no response…harder…no response… if you don’t leave you’ll be arrested for trespassing…shock & fear instinctively kick adrenaline into my brain…TRESPASSING?… AREN’T YOU SUPPOSED TO INVESTIGATE BEFORE YOU ARREST SOMEONE…CHECK MY MEDICAL RECORDS… GO TALK TO PEOPLE…(my brain is spent…back to safety / survival instinct like a turtle pulled in)…sit him up… handcuffs…real tight… painful…I’m lifted to the floor…disability?…meds?…mental health?…no one asks or tells…nothing in the police report or 911 call… the CIT Team never had a chance…no one asks if I have reason or right to be there…no one cares…laws are selectively enforced… they literally drag me out feet trailing behind…my wrists are killing me…why’d he do that?…they carry me to the jail intake floor… police / jail discussion about disability or med issues…none…
12) They pat me down…I was still non-responsive…so they got rougher…I puke…they ask medical/mental health questions…non-responsive is deemed healthy…so I’m carried to a cell floor…alone at last…it is dark…quiet and safe…for an hour…but my wrists still hurt… the officer, from the tape…”Idiot’s. They’re all idiots”…
13) When I open my eyes I see wrists with deep purple grooves 360o…I ask to get pictures of what the cop did to my wrists…we don’t do that here sir…multiple iterations of this…law enforcement document against law enforcement?…not here…can I get a nurse… what for…to document my wrists…a nurse came…we argued…she finally agreed to document but never did…3 hours later I ask for the nurse because she said she’d be back…we’ll leave her a message…later…she’s busy…too busy sir…she might be coming…I don’t know sir…look, she’s busy with real emergencies…I made a minor abrasion on my arm and the nurse was there in minutes… sir, what in the hell are you doing…I scratched my arm so you would document my wrists…no one would get you…if you do anything like that again you’ll be in a restraint chair…much arguing with nurse and guards to document wrists…they pretend they can’t see…they nurse won’t look but wants to see the abrasion…check my wrists first…the abrasion is nothing… you promised to document my wrists…do you have any nurse ethics?…she finally agrees they’re still red but against policy orders a restraint chair due to the arguing… no one tried lesser means…tape shows I calmly stated 12 times that I had no reason to hurt myself once she agreed to document…against policy she doesn’t involve the doctor…the abrasion is so minor it isn’t treated…either the Lieutenant or Sergeant orders a deputy to not double-lock my handcuffs until after the nurse checks them…a nice set up to crank handcuffs and wrist straps tight… after the safety check…for 1 hour the pain is bad but bearable…my hands swell and go numb…the handcuffs squeeze tighter between my back and the chair…or they were ratcheted tight to begin with…agony either way…for over 3 hours I cried intermittently…begged for mercy…a nurse…whimpered…on tape guards laughing and mocking… I called on God…my wife…most health checks lasted seconds ……I hallucinated from the pain…relax…you’re not going to die someone said…no one cared…or worse…they cared…it’s what they wanted…
14) After 4 hours I was removed… before removal a new nurse chimes in…you did this to yourself sir…no I didn’t…I want pictures… this is a crime scene … how do I call the police…the nurse warns that if I don’t be quiet and cooperate he’ll keep me in the chair… fear shuts me up…to help me stand a guard happens to touch my wrist…I scream from the searing pain…how do I call the police… one brave misguided deputy suggests the cop shop…No!…he is shut down fast… photograph my wrists…I want pictures of my wrists …if you don’t cooperate you are going back in the chair …fear wins the argument…again, they got what they wanted… jail incident report…I was uncooperative and making unreasonable demands which could not be accommodated…
You have the power to enact laws to stop this…but if laws have no teeth…no clear criminality…no enforceability… they won’t protect those who follow too similar a path against unwarranted pain and suffering …or worse …others have died…like 21 year old Timothy Souder a few months ago…mentally ill…minor crime…restrained to bed for long hours…they shut off his water… in 4 days he died of dehydration…it was on 60 Minutes last Sunday…everyone asks if I have an attorney…I don’t…it is secondary to things like this…providing insight to help agencies and lawmakers understand what is needed…
Suggestions for your consideration:
1) mental health assessments “before” segregation “before or immediately after” [guard & inmate safety may require quick segregation] define immediately as assessment to begin within 20 minutes [if ‘immediately’ is undefined jail staff will take advantage]
2) no reference in bill to restraint chairs or blankets 3) abolish restraint chair use immediately [maybe blankets; I don’t know]
or make failure to use restraints very safely and humanely punishable by law…significant… no wrist slaps…gross misdemeanor/felony and any inmate complaints require written documentation…honest reporting…photographs if requested…any injury seen by staff…police, detective, crime lab must be brought in if any inmate statements suggest it is requested: this is a crime, you abused me, call the police, I want an attorney, or if any injury (physical or mental) is seen or possible…if inmate specifically agrees injury is minor bring in medical 1st to assess. [make it up to the inmate’s discretion; not jail or medical staff; they can’t be trusted]…[until cleared by the detective and/or crime lab the scene is a criminal scene…the inmate is a crime victim and both are to be treated as such] and require calls to detective and crime lab to be done within 3 minutes [failure to force immediate action will be abused] and anyone having been chair or blanket restrained gets immediate mental health assessment at restraint removal and before discharge. and enact law and punish false entries and non-entries which diminish, understate or ignore inmate requests for medical attention or obvious symptoms of over-tight handcuffs or restraint chair straps, physical pain, numbness, paleness or skin discoloration, bleeding, crying, (?significant?) discomfort including urination or defecation, difficulty breathing, loss of or diminished consciousness or coherence, or other mental or physical symptoms or injuries that an ordinary person would deem as possibly needing medical attention. Any staff member seeing, hearing or otherwise made aware of any such requests or symptoms or injuries shall have appropriate medical staff notified within 3 minutes. and Failure to follow ACA, XX Department of Corrections, any reporting requirements described in this section, or other restraint chair or restraint blanket policies and procedures which results in (?significant?) physical or mental harm or injury to an inmate shall be either a gross misdemeanor or felony.
3) CIT Training enforce mental health status effort by police [make them at least try] enforce mental health diversion to CIT trained police and others enforce reporting mental health status/concerns to receiving facilities enforce maltreatment laws against police [CityPD internal affairs insists the officer followed procedure; I disagree; I have appealed once; I will continue to appeal]
4) Intake Screening Tool make no response positive for mental illness create screening tool jointly with human services commissioner [if corrections commissioner has veto power he has too much power]
5) Fatality Review Team add serious physical and mental injury to fatality [people shouldn’t have to die to get data for critical reforms] Anyone wanting the detail that supports my comments is welcome to take a CD. Thank you for listening.
M______ xxx.xxx.xx48
