American Injustice Public Pretenders

I went to see my so-called "advocate;" that is, my court appointed Public Defender, Timothy Cotterell. To say the man does not appear even a little bit interested in mounting an ethical defense for me, is putting it mildly. It is more than abundantly clear to this farmer's daughter the man appears to be more interested in covering his proverbial mal-practicing ass while perhaps cooperating with the Yakima County Prosecutor's Office than mounting an ethical defense to ethically serve the best interests of his client, Becky Murphy. One can readily see why I have serious problems with such a legal advocate entrusted with one's defense.

It was nearly impossible to even get in touch with my court appointed attorney---there is no way to leave a voice mail message at the phone number he gave me. His office was difficult to find, it is not at the Office of Assigned Counsel the only address listed on the paperwork informing me who my attorney is. My attorney does not keep regular office hours, nor does he have a receptionist. What is most disturbing is my attorney, Timothy Cotterell, instructed me to contact him by telephone to arrange a court date to ask Yakima County Superior Court ot release me on my own recognizance after my arraignment on September 8, 2014. In spite of Cotterell's instructions, I was unable to reach him by telephone the entire time I was incarcerated at YCDOC from August 22, 2014 until September 30, 2014. When Cotterell finally came to see me on September 26, 2014, after he received my SOS letter begging for his help---it was the first contact I'd had with Mr. Cotterrell since my arraignment on September 8th! Incredibly, Mr. Cotterell informed me at this legal visit that he, "doesn't accept calls from the County Jail..." proclaiming, "he'd never get any work done!?!"  I was mistreated horribly by multiple guard staff while attempting to contact my attorney as my attorney had instructed. I was unable to leave any messages, since I was unable to reach my attorney by telephone as he had instructed; because MY ATTORNEY was NOT taking MY PHONE calls...My Attorney WAS NOT scheduling a court date as he had promised to ask for my release at all.

I was held in solitary at YCDOC being repeatedly victimized by abusive guard staff one of whom named Paz, repeatedly (mis)informed me that because I was incarcerated, I had NO individual RIGHTS whatsoever, except for the "Right to Remain Silent" telling me I needed to, "shut the fuck up." Why such unprofessional and illegal misconduct is goes uncorrected and is in fact covered up by co-workers who become co-conspirators by covering for their co-worker's misconduct is beyond my understanding. I was totally shocked that Paz's co-worker, Groeger, told me to, "Shut up or I'll shut you up" and laughed uproariously when she threatened to use her Tazer on me. I was shocked because before that Saturday night, I had never seen or heard Groeger do or say anything that was not entirely professional. The fact I could hear Groeger and Paz laughing presumably, because I had urinated and defecated on myself, served only to add insult to injury...

The Mission of the Yakima County Department of Corrections is to actively contribute to the safety and wellness of the citizens of Yakima County by providing a safe, secure and humane correctional environment.

Ed Campbell
Director of the Department of Corrections
111 North Front Street
Yakima, Washington 98901

 I don't need to have anyone but God to have my back. The Grace of God is sufficient. Thank you Dad for demonstrating this spiritual axiom for me by the way you lived your life.

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Solitary Confinement: It Defines Who We Are

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via Psychiatric Times:

July 18, 2014 | Forensic Psychiatry, Couch in Crisis, Risk Assessment, Trauma And Violence

By Douglas A. Kramer, MD, MS

Linked Articles

Guns, Violence, and Mental Health: Did We Close the State Mental Hospitals Prematurely?

Heatstroke and Psychiatric Patients

Solitary Confinement: It Defines Who We Are

COMMENTARY

Cruel and unusual—Amendment VIII: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

In The New York Times’ “New York State in Deal to Limit Inmate Isolation,” Benjamin Weiser describes an agreement between the New York Civil Liberties Union and the New York Department of Corrections.1The agreement delays litigation of a suit filed in 2012, by the NYCLU, over the use of isolation for punitive purposes within New York State prisons.2 Their comprehensive report, Boxed In: The True Cost of Extreme Isolation in New York’s Prisons, details the basis of the lawsuit.3 Mr Weiser refers to the provisions in the new agreement as “sweeping reforms.”

Highlights of the New York State agreement include: 1) prohibiting the use of solitary confinement for prisoners under age 18 years; 2) prohibiting its use with pregnant women; and 3) limiting its use with developmentally disabled prisoners to a maximum of 30 days.4 The prohibition against solitary confinement for these “special” populations acknowledges that the practice is harmful to human beings. And imposing these limitations by category admits that, however dangerous the pregnant woman or the adolescent is judged to be, somehow the system will find a way to avoid implementing this administrative, ie, non-judicial, punishment.

Sweeping reforms? While it may be a relief to New Yorkers that pregnant women and high-school age prisoners will no longer to be subjected to solitary confinement, the reforms that the New York Times calls “sweeping” in fact allow this practice to continue for a minimum of 2 additional years.1,2 These “sweeping reforms” simply protect those who can’t protect themselves (teenagers, unborn children, and the developmentally disabled), those who almost anyone with a bit of common sense, humanity, or political astuteness would exempt. For the vast majority of prisoners, no such limitations have been imposed, nor will any be imposed in the near future because the agreement means “business as usual” until the next court hearing. In other words, it authorized 2 more years of being at risk for solitary confinement for most inmates. The NYCLU and the Federal District Court in Manhattan gave the state of New York exactly what it wanted, and what the New York Times described as “sweeping reforms.”

Lost, stray, and unwanted animals

Most of our society agrees that lost, stray, and unwanted animals should be treated in a caring and humane manner. Shouldn’t our fellow human beings be treated at least as well as our stray animals while “paying their debt to society?” Would anyone allow a stray or unwanted dog to be socially isolated for 5 months? I doubt it. But 5 months is the average duration for “extreme isolation” in New York State prisons—for human detainees!1,3According to Rick Raemisch, the new head of the Colorado prison system, the average length of solitary confinement in Colorado prisons is 23 months. Some inmates there spend as many as 20 years in solitary.5

In corrections language, “solitary confinement” is referred to as “administrative segregation,” or (even more antiseptically) as “Ad Seg.”

Colorado experience
Rick Raemisch is also the former Sheriff of the county in which I have spent most of my professional life. He was recently appointed to replace Tom Clements as the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Corrections. Mr Clements was brutally murdered at his front door in March 2013.6 The murderer had been released from solitary confinement directly into the community shortly before the murder. The sad irony is that Mr Clements, described by Mr Raemisch to be “as courageous a reformer as they come,” had already reduced the number of prisoners in solitary confinement by half in just 2 years.5

Linked Articles

Guns, Violence, and Mental Health: Did We Close the State Mental Hospitals Prematurely?

Heatstroke and Psychiatric Patients

Solitary Confinement: It Defines Who We Are

The governor of Colorado gave Mr Raemisch 3 directives when he appointed him:
• Limit or eliminate the use of solitary confinement for mentally ill inmates.
• Address the needs of those who have been in solitary for long periods.
• Reduce the number of offenders released directly from solitary back into their communities.

To begin to understand these goals, Mr Raemisch spent 20 hours in solitary confinement in the Colorado State Penitentiary. Raemisch described his experience in an Op-Ed in the New York Times as “practically a blink” compared to the average stay.5 He later testified before a Senate subcommittee about his experience and recommendations.7

Following his single night in solitary—but before the end of his self-imposed sentence of 20 hours—Mr Raemisch broke a promise to himself and asked a guard for the time. It was 11:10 AM. “I felt as if I’d been there for days. I sat with my mind. How long would it take before Ad Seg chipped that away? I don’t know, but I’m confident that it would be a battle I would lose.”

I do not know Mr Raemisch personally. Before his New York Times Op-Ed, I knew of him only through his red campaign signs in our former neighborhood.8 I had voted for him for sheriff based on our local newspaper’s endorsement. He is a successful and seemingly dedicated individual. How many of us would spend a night in solitary, or a night as a patient in a public mental hospital, to better enable us do our jobs? I’ve never once considered doing such a thing. If Raemisch is “confident” that he would lose his mind in solitary confinement, it seems fair to assume that it’s a battle most of our patients would lose. And so would virtually every prisoner so treated.

The “social brain”
A very benign interpretation of the disciplinary use of solitary confinement is that it began when we didn’t know any better. We now understand that the brain evolved as a social organ—an organ that facilitates social interactions of all types, analogous to the heart and the lungs evolving as cardiovascular-respiratory organs.9,10 Without social interaction, the mental human being ceases to exist, just as the physical human being ceases to exist if the cardiovascular system stops functioning. “I sat with my mind . . . it would be a battle I would lose.”

Perhaps this is naïve, but I recall as a child, touring many of the original 13 colonies with my parents, seeing historic replicas of pillories where convicted criminals endured the humiliation of rotten tomatoes and vegetables being being thrown at them in their obviously defenseless position. This was later declared “cruel and unusual punishment.” At least that punishment was temporary. At least it was actually a social experience. It may have shamed and embarrassed, but it was social, and it was public. It was not an assault on the essence of the human brain and the brain’s emergent property of mind.

Human rights and solitary confinement
Although New York State had earlier banned the use of solitary confinement with seriously mentally ill prisoners, most states have not. This is significant for many reasons, one of which is that estimates of the incidence of serious mental illness in prisoners range from 20% to 40% and growing.11,12 We may assume that over-represented in this population are prisoners with PTSD, major depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. What is the effect of any length of solitary confinement on persons with these disorders? Mr Raemisch, after 20 hours in solitary confinement, which he knew before hand would both be time-limited and could be terminated at any time, said it was a battle he “would lose.”

All state and federal prisoners have been convicted in a court of law and sentenced to these facilities. The sentence entails a loss of freedom and a loss of certain rights. But the right to be protected from “cruel and unusual punishment” is never lost.13 Solitary confinement for the overwhelming majority of prisoners is not ordered at sentencing. It is non-judicial. It is a second level of punishment wholly administered outside the judicial system. It is unrelated to due process, a trial by one’s peers, the assumption of innocence, the right to council, etc. Solitary confinement for most prisoners, in my opinion, is cruel and unusual punishment. Solitary confinement for prisoners with serious mental illness, in my opinion, is torture.

Solitary confinement literature

Most psychiatrists and other experts working with prison populations have expressed deep concern about the use of solitary confinement with seriously mentally ill prisoners, including excellent reviews by Metzner,14 and Metzner and Fellner.15However, a recent study, flawed in my opinion, deserves comment as it appeared to show no harm associated with solitary confinement for inmates—regardless of whether they were diagnosed with mental illness.16 Coincidentally, it was conducted in Colorado where there is continuing commitment for reform, and at the same facility where Mr Raemisch spent 20 hours in voluntary “administrative segregation.” Furthermore, Dr Metzner and Mr Fellner were co-authors of this recent report, but neither was the lead author.

Study design for this problem is challenging. The logical comparison groups are fellow inmates: those with and without mental illness—subjected to solitary confinement or not. However, that imposes the confounding variable that all subjects are incarcerated whether or not subjected to solitary. Of the 302 inmates in the original study population, 55 either refused to participate or were removed from the study due to behavioral issues. Difficulties with determining subject motivation for participation, and perhaps the skewing of subject responses for the perceived benefit of the investigators cannot be measured.

Lastly, the only measure of psychological distress reported was the Brief Symptom Inventory,17 certainly not comparable to comprehensive psychological or psychiatric evaluations. Of course, no pre-incarceration studies were available either for comparison. Subjects with mental illness subjected to solitary had more difficulty at each measurement interval than their non-solitary comparison groups, but all groups showed diminished symptoms over the one-year duration of the study. The findings could [cynically] be used to argue that all patients could be kept in solitary confinement without concern for psychological harm.

Conclusion
Some detainees in the state and federal prisons have committed crimes that many of us can never forgive. But how we treat such people beyond the loss of freedom and certain rights is entirely about who we are as a society. It is not about them or what they did. It is about us.

The bottom line: solitary confinement is “cruel and unusual.” And solitary confinement for the seriously mentally ill is torture. We don’t subject stray dogs to solitary confinement––because we know it would be unethical. This issue defines who we are as a society. Are we comfortable with that identity? I hope not.

—Douglas A. Kramer, MD, MS

Additional resources from National Public Radio (NPR), 2006-2014
• Mann, B. N.Y. Becomes Largest Prison System To Curb Solitary Confinement. NPR Weekend Edition, February 23, 2014.
• Sullivan, L. In U.S. Prisons, Thousands Spend Years in Isolation. NPR Special Series: Life in Solitary Confinement, July 26, 2006.
• Sullivan, L. At Pelican Bay Prison, a Life in Solitary. NPR All Things Considered, Life in Solitary Confinement, Part I, July 26, 2006.
• Sullivan, L. As Populations Swell, Prisons Rethink Supermax. NPR All Things Considered, Life in Solitary Confinement, Part II, July 27, 2006.
• Sullivan, L. Making It on the Outside, After Decades in Solitary. NPR All Things Considered, Life in Solitary Confinement, Part III, July 28, 2006.
• NPR Staff. Solitary Confinement: Punishment or Cruelty? NPR All Things Considered, March 10, 2013.
• Mann, B. N.Y. Becomes Largest Prison System To Curb Solitary Confinement. NPR Weekend Edition, February 23, 2014.

- See more at: http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/forensic-psychiatry/solitary-confinement-it-defines-who-we-are/page/0/3?GUID=54B1CAB2-FD72-42A9-8931-F69A6A94D106&rememberme=1&ts=02082014#sthash.HqLhrxzn.dpuf

The Department of Justice: The Office of Civil Rights Criminal Division does not conduct investigations

ON September 18, 2010 The US Justice Department employee J. Tucker signed for a package sent by overnight express.

In the package was a copy of the entire Yakima County Superior Court Record for the Involuntary Commitment of my son, a copy of the entire record which was available to his attorney, and the entire record given to my son.  These three records should have been identical, but in fact are not; which is why I sent them along with the written complaint I filed on my son's behalf. Also included,  was a copy of the report I had filed with Yakima Police Department; I also added to the complaint that I had learned that Central Washington Comprehensive Mental Health had shredded all of the Original Court Documents; also a crime... I can only conclude that the documents were shredded because they were evidence of the crimes committed by two CWCMH employees, who were acting under the Legal Authority granted to them by the State of Washington.

I am living below the poverty level so the cost of obtaining and sending these records overnight was an expense I could ill afford--but what choice did I have?  The State of Washington has absolutely no interest whatsoever in investigating allegations of people who have a diagnosis of mental illness having their individual rights preserved or defended in Involuntary Commitment proceedings. The drugs used by psychiatry can cause iatrogenic diseases, permanent disability, and have fatal risks; I would think Due Diligence of Duty and Standard Court Procedures, Rules of Evidence, Proper Notice, Proof of Service, Effective Assistance of Counsel, would be required---they in fact are NOT needed in Washington State.  None of these elements which preserve an individual's rights were afforded my son. The State of Washington has no interest in actually investigating criminal complaints when it is  State employees or the State's authorized agents who are the alleged perpetrators.

When I contacted the local FBI office, I was told by the agent on duty that he could not take my complaint, that it would need to be filed with the Department of Justice in order for him to conduct a criminal investigation. This obviously allows time to cover up crimes... In effect, only the State itself can cause an investigation to be launched by State or Federal Law Enforcement when reports are filed in which the State's employees, or the State's contracted agents have allegedly committed Federal Crimes Under Color of Law violating the individual rights of a vulnerable adult...The State has a Conflict of Interest in that it is also liable when one of it's agents causes harm to a person or entity.

My son is physically ill for the third time in less than a year and a half.  He has ongoing damage being done to him and is medically neglected.  Most psychiatric patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia are, IMO. Psychiatrists prescribe drugs that cause iatrogenic diseases, but they do not medically TREAT the diseases they cause. In my experience, psychiatrists will not make appropriate referrals to appropriate specialists either---unless badgered for months by a MadMother.  I am not ok with the utter failure of those who work for the State of Washington, salaried employees and elected representatives alike. Most disappointing is that fact that my district's elected Representatives, men I voted for, who have failed to do their jobs ethically or honestly; failed their duty to serve the public they have been elected to represent. All three men of these men have refused to respond personally to a single phone message or email. I have to say I am shocked by this.  Their predecessors all personally responded when I sought their assistance; and were helpful to me and my sons.

I am not ok with the the fact that mental health professionals violated the law, and my son's Individual Rights under the US Constitution.  I am not ok with the fact that their corrupt and unethical boss, the CEO of CWCMH, Rick Weaver, told me that the Yakima County Superior Court Clerk loses Original Court Documents all the time and that his mental health clinic shreds Original Court Documents that the Law requires be retained. He claims there's nothing wrong with shredding them, (and breaking the law) because he further stated, "we do it all the time."

Prior to mailing the package, I called the DOJ and was told the correct department to file the complaint with, and given the mailing address.  I was very specific about the nature of my complaint and I was assured prior to mailing the complaint, and after it was reviewed by the  Department of Justice Office of Civil Rights Criminal Division to call them if/when I had any more information.

Today I called with further information.  The person who took my call acknowledged that she had reviewed my complaint, and then asked me what information I had.  I told her I wanted to inform them that Jon McClellan, the unethical research psychiatrist hired as an expert by the GAO testified in a US Senate hearing on December 1, 2011, had in fact drugged my son into a state of profound disability in a Federally-Funded Drug Trial without Legal Authority; and without obtaining Informed Consent.  Jon McClellan did this in spite of my vehement protests. Jon McClellan repeatedly told me I had NO SAY in what he was doing to my traumatized child.

I reported he in fact helps formulate public policy for children in the custody of the State of Washington, and he advises other medical professionals around the State on how to drug children using neuroleptics off label. I reported that Jon McClellan has written numerous Practice Parameters, treatment guidelines and drug treatment algorithms which recommend using neuroleptic drugs off label in the manner being investigated due to rampant the Medicaid Fraud which continues to decimate the Medicaid budget. How many have been disabled and killed as a result is impossible to determine; the  data is purposely NOT collected. This fraud continues unabated in spite of three investigations and several multi-million dollar lawsuits...

Jon McClellan testified at a hearing that was part of the third US Senate investigation into the widespread off label drugging of foster children; but all children on Medicaid are at risk.  Neuroleptic and other psychiatric drugs are dangerous teratogens that cause serious iatrogenic illnesses and diseases, which can disable and kill. Everyone who takes them is at risk for these adverse effects; but children, adolescents and the elderly are particularly vulnerable. It is Medicaid Fraud whether a child is in foster care, or lives at home with their parents...When asked by Senator Tom Carper why so many children were being given these drugs off label, Jon McClellan claimed to have no idea why children are in fact being drugged in the manner he recommends.  Jon McClellan basically 'wrote the book' on drugging children off label.

I was then informed, we "don't investigate the type of crimes" that I had reported on my son's behalf "in this department."  What I want to know is, why ask for further information if there was not going to be an investigation? If my complaint was in fact in the wrong department, why was I assured when it was first reviewed, in September 2010 that it was? The DOJ's Office of Civil Rights Criminal Division had been sitting on this complaint for over a year when this conversation took place.

Believe me, it was quite a shock to hear that the Department of Justice Office of Civil Rights does not investigate Civil Rights Crimes committed against people who are diagnosed with a mental illness, Under Color of Law.  It seems this is discrimination based on disability. My son is identified as a vulnerable adult and he had felony forgery and perjury used as the basis for obtaining a Court Order to detain and subsequently used to obtain a Court Order to involuntarily treat him by mental health professionals.

The Deputy Prosecutor knew the testimony he offered the Court was perjured---he had to have realized after we spoke that the Affidavit offered by Nancy Sherman was fraudulent---I wasn't even aware of any Court proceedings, and certainly did not ask for these illegal proceedings to be conducted. In fact, both the prosecutor and my son's Assigned Counsel went along with this charade.  I had spoken at length to both of these unethical Officers of the Court; my elder son had also spoken at length with his brother's Assigned Counsel.  Nonetheless, in a hearing lasting ONE MINUTE AND TWENTY SIX SECONDS, a Yakima County Superior Court Order was sought and obtained placing my son under a court order for six months. If that isn't a criminal violation of my son's Civil Rights perpetrated UNDER COLOR OF LAW; I am Mary Freakin' Poppins!  The mental health and legal professionals who perpetrated these crimes all had an ethical, a moral and a legal duty to my son which they all abdicated with seeming impunity. In doing so, each of these "public servants" failed their duty to the Superior Court of Washington, failed their duty to the people of the State of Washington, AND utterly failed to preserve and protect my son's individual rights as required by both State and Federal Law. These "professionals" further traumatized a trauma victim and made other people and institutions unwittingly accomplices to their crimes.

Federal Crimes committed Under Color of Law; i.e. using the legal authority granted to mental health professionals, which are in effect, Police Powers; two mental health professionals, and two Officers of the Court broke several State and Federal Laws when they violated my disabled son's Constitutional Rights; and caused him grievous harm. This is NOT the kind of crime the Office of Civil Rights, Criminal Division investigates...This outrageous claim was made over a year after the I had been informed the complaint I had filed on my son's behalf had reached the correct department; and that it would be investigated.

The appearance of Justice and Justice itself is absent.  

My "American Experience" has been a fucking nightmare.   

Statue of Liberty photo via Sky Blue Sight

first published on 12-16-2011 as "The DOJ Office of Civil Rights Criminal Division does not do what?!"