Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2003 20:20:53 -0500 Subject: [Mpls] police mediation and the courts
Re: N. I. Krasnov Mpls Digest 1548: They [the police] enforce the law. The Courts provide justice. L.B. Don't count on it. It is my personal opinion that the situation of the courts being out of control follows as a natural result of the police being out of control, although I recognize that reasonable people could differ on this. A heist in Minneapolis recently outshone even that of the Jesse James gang. This time a woman's identity as a person showed up missing, her physical integrity was compromised by powerful, addictive drugs forced into her body, and she is prevented from the customary use of her mind and memory. All of the above--taken from her by a court out of control. This happens. In Minneapolis, it happens every day. Four of us had gone to Commitment Court with this woman in late March to watch. They were ready to start but after we waited two hours, the prosecuting attorney came out and said they didn't have enough evidence to commit and all they had was hearsay. The court was postponed over the week-end. This is the third case that was reported to us where a woman was committed while in distress and despair after being raped and not having anywhere to go to talk about it and find some little support. This is the customary response of the system-to commit a woman to what often turns out to be life-long addiction to prescription drugs that have the same chemical composition and the same effect on the body as the street drugs which society spends so much money on for police, courts and prisons. This is a serious threat to the abused person's mental, physical and spiritual well-being. We are needlessly creating life-long dependency in people, no matter if their drug-pushers are legal in the medical industry or illegal on the street. The court was resumed on a Monday and she was committed because she "called the police from Rainbow in a panic." She had gone there when she saw her previous attacker threatening her and she didn't know what else to do. Also, a bank teller came to court and gave testimony which the woman disputed. Evidently there still wasn't enough evidence to commit her or it was pretty shaky because they gave her a Stay of Commitment and sent her up to Pine City to a CD-MI treatment center. There, they had her see an attorney and advised her to end the Restraining Order against her husband. They told her that otherwise she wouldn't get her kids back for another 10 years. She was placed back in her home in the Phillips neighborhood with her husband in charge. =She can't get any Medical Assistance nor SSI nor any money because she lives with her husband. He doesn't give her any money. =He wouldn't give her a dollar to buy coffee when there was none in the house. =He took her car keys off the table and had them in his pocket. When she asked for them, he said he didn't know where they were. One time, he took them out of his pocket and gave them to her while saying they were on the table the entire time. A family member said, "Daddy, you just took them out of your pocket." =Another family member witnessed something similar and called him on it. =He called the police numerous times and when they came, he would say, "I apologize for my wife. She's mentally ill." This is a pattern that is well-known. The perpetrator is calm and well-controlled when the police arrive. Sometimes, he was gone when the police came. =Sometimes she left the house when she saw him calling the police. She would stay away in fear for a couple of days. =After several months of this abuse and torture, when there was nowhere to go to sit down and talk, she walked in to one of the medical industry's mammoth buildings because she didn 't know what else to do. She has been there a week. Another mother told me recently the cost is $1800 a day at different behemoth of the medical industry. They talk about sending her to Anoka. There will not be an open bed at Anoka Regional Treatment Center for two weeks or more. =The rape. I don't remember that the defense attorney even brought that up in her court commitment hearing. =Lack of treatment for the rape. Nobody in HCMC, nor Pine City, nor Fairview Riverside has helped her deal with the rape. She thought she would have some way of talking about the trauma and dealing with it. Nobody has talked to her about it. =She has seen a doctor only once in the week she is locked up in Fairview Riverside. No blood, hair and urine tests have been done to find out what physical conditions she has which may have manifested as mental conditions. She could have had a full medical evaluation for $1,000 and vitamins and supplements at $300 a month, and a Home Health Aide to come in twice a day until she nearly recovered, for that amount of money. =The System: =I attend meetings of the State Advisory Council for Mental Health. One State Employee there said that 500 to 700 people in Hennepin County (Hennepin is the only county cited) have the right to move to a less restrictive environment under the Olmstead Act. ==The same person also commented that the "IMD" regulation which denies the states' rights to collect federal funds for state hospitals/ Institutes for Mental Defectives was in effect for 25 years. No one said anything about how it was ignored until last year. It still may be ignored. No one knows. =I called my County Commissioner, Gail Dorfman, yesterday. I had talked to her workers before--Becky at one time and Teri at another time. I asked again to talk to Ms Dorfman and to talk to the Health Committee. Someone will get back to me. =I had asked Hennepin County to set up a place where people who wanted to sit down and talk to someone could do that. There are several of us older women who are ready to serve. It wouldn't take a high-priced professional. In fact, when people do get 15 minutes to talk with a high priced professional, they end up frustrated and disappointed. When people are under siege, they want to talk to someone who understands, someone who has been through it. . =Our organization has asked for years to set up a place where people could go for a few hours, a week, a few months or longer. Where these have been set up, they are called Crisis Hostels. Guests have the option to take the medications or to go to the hospital if they want, but they are not forced to. Ideally, the staff should be people who have been through the system. That doesn't cost much. Louise Bouta Well Mind Association of Minnesota 4003 Pillsbury Avenue Minneapolis, MN 55409 612-823-8249 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.wellmindminnesota.org TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. 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