Text 33673, 73 rader
Skriven 2016-06-01 11:28:32 av Allen Prunty (1:2320/100)
  Kommentar till text 33659 av David Drummond (3:640/305)
Ärende: Criminal Justice System
===============================
On June 01, 2016 07:59pm, David Drummond wrote to Allen Prunty:

 DD> On 1/06/2016 10:52 AM, Allen Prunty -> David Drummond wrote:

 DD>>> Are you a qualified psychiatrist?

 AP>> Doesn't matter... a psychologist or psychaitrist can only hold someone
 AP>> for
 DD> so
 AP>> long.  It takes a Judge's order to commit someone to a long term care
 AP>> facility.

 DD> I wasn't referring to holding someone, rather diagnosing them.

Part of what I did in my Law Enforcement Career (mind you I worked higher level
corrections and not as a beat officer) was housing profiling.  I would use my
Psychology training to place inmates in the prisons and facilities where they
belong.  It was NOT an easy job, nut when it comes to committing someone into a
mental health institution it's up to the judge.

There were times Judges would commit someone to a mental health institution and
the mental health staff knew that they were criminal, sane and malingering.
They clearly belonged in the custody of the prison system not the mental health
system and it would often take an escape attempt or harm of a staff member or
other patient to get them back in the right system.

What really pissed me off during my career with corrections is when our doctors
would pull someone off of Xanax (which is one of the most grossly over
prescribed drugs out there) and a judge would send a court order over to
continue the medication.

Most GOOD doctors that work in the corrections system would say "yeah right"
and stick to their guns.  Inevitably the doctor would be called in for a
contempt hearing and we would have to point out that by issuing that court
order the judge was practicing medicine without a license.  They would agree
with the doctor after the doctor presented why the medicine was discontinued.
Then two weeks later issue a court order to give an inmate seroquel or another
drug.  It was an insane cycle.... seroquel was known as "mike tyson" in the
prisons and jails because it "knocks you out" so they can sleep through their
sentence.  Most judges eventually get the manipulations, but every time we get
a new one elected or appointed in... oh boy, here we go again.

Even if you have the degrees and certifications, Judges always have the final
say and often have no knowledge of an inmate's mental health status or medical
status.  Sadly, they make decisions based on a 15 minute encounter in their
courtroom most often without consulting the professionals who would gladly
write a recommendation.

I was not in the state system or the federal system, it's easier once they
reach that point because they are sentenced and serving.  Once they land there
they don't have easy access to the courts.  But at the local county Jail level
(and I worked at a facility that had over 2,500 inmates at any time, one of the
largest in the USA) they have access to the courts and we were ALWAYS having to
contact judges after the fact.

The scary thing is we had a person that was absolutely vocal about killing his
wife... he was HOMICIDAL as hell and he held it together in front of the judge
enough that he got released on his own recognizance.  As we were waiting our
turn to get an audiance with the judge, the Jail processed him out and put him
on the streets.  This person went straight to his wife's house and stabbed her
once in the leg.  I really think God intervened because his heart literally
exploded and he died instantly before he could do anything more than that.  If
he didn't have a massive heart attack he would have killed her while we were in
line to get the judge to remove the ROR order.

I wonder if Norway or other countries have the same issues with medical/mental
health.  Do the Judges override the doctors?  Here they sure try.

Allen

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