Mpls Digest Re: Judges to watch-Commitment Courts I think all the courts need to be watched but the one that people most dislike hearing about is the Commitment Court. Most people think there must be a reason people are shunted off to the mental hospitals and have their lives taken away. I can assure you there is not. These courts usually are open and only may restrict visitors if the family objects, I was told. Nobody said anything about if the person to be convicted-er committed- objects. (S)he doesn't have any rights anywhere, anyhow.
Nobody is saying that it is the judge alone who is guilty of taking people's lives away on the basis of only hearsay evidence. That is true, but the entire system is involved, which is to say that society itself goes along and endorses this system. In #1577, I told about both houses of the legislature. The Governor can come under attack, also, because he makes appointments to the Minnesota Advisory Council for Mental Health. This is made up of State and County officials, providers, parents, and a few consumers from state-sponsored groups. No one is allowed to be on the Council who has a different opinion and represents the viewpoint of the accused. The key word is they want "to speak with one voice." I reminded them that is what the Farm Bureau said in 1964 during the Farmers Holding Action. They represented the Chicago bankers and they didn't want anyone confusing the public with the facts. I have attended the Council meetings for the last six years and have applied to be admitted all that time. My application is still current. There are many openings since January which have not been filled yet. That said, it would behoove any of you to watch the commitment court. In a day or two, the case will come up again of a battered woman who had got a restraining order against her husband. Then she got committed as mentally ill and chemically dependent. A friend of hers had called me and several of us were waiting in the hall to watch the court. After two hours, the prosecuting attorney came out and said they were postponing the hearing because all the evidence in the file was hearsay-third party evidence. Without watchers, that commitment could have gone through as usual in a half-hour. We came back the following Monday and they had found a witness to go on the stand. The woman accused disputed her testimony but she had no say. We have never seen the court-appointed defense attorney provide an adequate defense. One wonders what would happen if they did. No one else is allowed to talk. She was sent to a treatment place. While there, she was brought to see an attorney who advised her to drop the restraining order or she wouldn't be able to have her children back for another ten years yet. She dropped it. She was returned to her same household with her abusive husband in charge. No one could live under those conditions and no one should be expected to. She is still "the bad guy" in this case. Don't Hennepin County people know about battered women? When they first started opening the shelters in the late 1970s, some people were saying that there was "something wrong" with those women who were battered. However, those who were close to what was going on said there was no difference between those women and other women. The only difference was in the men they married. Somebody needs to tell Hennepin County that. The judge to watch is Judge Patricia Belois. The number to call to find out when the courts will be held is 348-3137. Call me for the names of people who have asked for our help. 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. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
