[AkAngel]

I looked for an emotional puking forum but couldn’t find one; I hope this forum works. Sorry it’s so long.

My wife is in prison; her sentence ended December 1st 2009 but she remains there. The parole board was given new powers a few years back that allow them to keep someone in if they either 1) have a poor parole plan, 2) have been a disciplinary problem while in prison or 3) are a continued present danger to themselves or society. They used door number three to keep her locked up. They determined, despite two independent psych reports to the contrary, that she remained a danger to herself or society. There was one psych report, done by the department of corrections psychologist that said she remained a danger. This psychologist has seen her twice, once twenty-three years ago for an hour when she was locked up, and once last year when she was about to be released. It’s political; if they release her and she does something wrong, it could end their career – if she is fine and they continue to keep her, it doesn’t touch them. Anyway, they told her to continue working on childhood issues that the DOC psychologist said in his report are ‘not conducive to insight related therapies’.

The DOC has no real budget for psychiatric care. Their policy is that they have many programs available as well as emergency care designed to take care of all of a persons needs but the reality of the situation is that her ‘recidivism score’ which is designed to determine her likelihood of re-offending is so low that she doesn’t qualify for any program she has not already taken and one on one care is reserved for those inmates who are in crisis which is defined as ‘a present danger to themselves or others’ and those one on one meetings are limited to only five sessions.

So here’s the thing, the parole board decides she can’t come home because she needs to work on these issues that make her a danger to herself or society but the institution decided that she doesn’t qualify for mental health care because she is not a present danger to herself or others. So now, in eleven months, she goes back in front of the parole board and hasn’t done what they told her to do. So, we decided to hire an outside psychiatrist to come in once a week during visiting and see her. It’s expensive, it’s costing a hour of therapy time plus an hour travel time and we’ve no insurance for this but we think it’s worth it. We found a doctor, she submitted a visiting form and was called down to an administrative office two days ago to be informed, “This isn’t going to happen.”

They are refusing mental health care and they are refusing to allow a doctor to come in as a visitor to see her and work on those remaining issues that would make her, according to them, a continued and present danger to society. Seriously?! So I call our attorney. He asks us to get it in writing. I make the call and the request, it’ll be another two weeks before she can go through the channels herself and we have been working on this for six months – time is running out. I say, pleasantly enough – we’ve been at this a long time and I know to be pleasant: “We understand that you are not going to allow an outside doctor to come in to work with her but I spoke with an (he is not technically ‘our’ attorney at this point. While he has done work for us before, we have not hired him for this yet) attorney and he asked if we could get the denial in writing. He responded, “Why are you both trying to cause so much trouble for yourselves? It’s all a waste of time and money if she is in seg.”

Seg is short for segregation, which is where inmates are sent for serious disciplinary infractions. His message was clear. If we pursue her rights through an attorney (there is a federal law allowing for ‘purchase of care’) then she will find herself with a serious disciplinary infraction that will prevent her from being paroled anyway. I hate these people.

[purple_fins]

So here’s the thing, the parole board decides she can’t come home because she needs to work on these issues that make her a danger to herself or society but the institution decided that she doesn’t qualify for mental health care because she is not a present danger to herself or others.

this is sounding much like being caught in a tornado-- it's enough to make one dizzy. It must be all so frustrating. I know there is very little mental help in the prison system... makes me sad... that is what is needed so so much.

I hope and wish that things will work out for you and your wife.

best to you

fins

[Shangrala]

This is horrible. I'm..what's the words..disgusted..appalled...livid and very familiar to how our system reams us.

My God, AA. Isn't there something that can be done..like a petition? I'd be the first to sign..(other than yourself, of course).

I don't know what to say....other than I am so very sorry for you both.

MAJOR 's.

Shangrala

[Rhiannonsmoon]

**Trigger**?

((((AK))))

This must be so frustrating and it seems so obstructional; is there something that someone is not telling you do you think? They may be keeping her in because of the indication of her needing to be in segregation? I know my sisters loser bf (put in for beating her up), whom she insisted on visting via a 300mile round trip every weekend was denied full visiting privilages because he was in seg for beating other inmates.

I would push for the denial in writing though, because the govener of the prison is supposed to be able to make those decisions on a case by case basis aren't they? I'm not aware of the system so I am taking a stab in the dark...

Either way just wanted to let you know I support you,

Rhiannon

[rat58]

My prayers are with you and your wife, that by some miracle she can be paroled. Your wife is fortunate to have such a caring husband. As long as you have faith there is hope. God bless.

Try the Prisontalk.com website I think i might have already mentioned to you, but cannot remember for sure. They have TONS of people who have great insight and experience into these things.

Can they refuse her mental health care? Or demand it of her then refuse it? That seems like a human rights issue to not have access to medical treatment. You are in the USA right?

[AkAngel]

Originally Posted by Rainbowzz

Try the Prisontalk.com website I think i might have already mentioned to you, but cannot remember for sure. They have TONS of people who have great insight and experience into these things.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by Rainbowzz

Can they refuse her mental health care? Or demand it of her then refuse it? That seems like a human rights issue to not have access to medical treatment. You are in the USA right?

No, legally they can not; in practice they can. It's sort of like asking if your parents can abuse you. The law protects children but you have to have someone believe you first and if they don't and yur parents catch wind of it - you are screwed. Today there are more protections for children but go back 50-60 years and it was almost better for a child to be silent than try to get help. It's kind of the same thing here.

Yes, I'm in the US...but that's the thing - they don't deny her medical care. Technically she's a ward of the state. Therefore, if the state says she doesn't need medical treatment, then she doesn't get medical treatment. They're not denying it, they simply say she is healthy and doesn't need it. Then, if another agency, however related (like the parole board) says she needs medical care, they send her back, they re-evaluate and then decide she doesn't need it after all - then she doesn't get it.

Is online therapy an option? Can the documents of the institution and those who made them be subpoenaed to show she is not a danger at the hearing? Can the parole board's lackey be cross examined? Has your wife been in segregation at any time while there?

My thought is to talk to your congressional delegation to explain the catch 22. The Parole Board is allowed to ignore the expert testimony you presented and the findings of the institution. Seems arbitrary and capricious at best. There is something very wrong when your wife has no way to comply with what the parole board deems deficient when rejecting her release. The laws need to changed. The delegation should be outraged, but I would not hold my breath.

I wish you well.

[AkAngel]

Hi Byz, thanks for weighing in.

Originally Posted by TheByzantine

Is online therapy an option?

No, there is no way for an inmate to access the internet.

Originally Posted by TheByzantine

Can the documents of the institution and those who made them be subpoenaed to show she is not a danger at the hearing?

Well, depends what we are referring to when you say documents. I have asked for the denial in writnig and been put off with the thinly veiled threat I mentioned in the original post. As for documentation that she is not in need of mental health care... that's tricky. Her AKER score (which calculates her likelihood of reoffending) is a 1, which is as low as it goes. That in itself is a pretty good implication that she is not a priority for mental health care, though we could all probably use at least a mental health check-up from time to time.

The psychiatrist who agreed to go see her spoke with a friend of his who works there and had seen my wife many years ago and his friend was excited about the prospect saying that it would be invaluable for my wife to work through some childhood issues. That would indicate that she is in need of mental health care but it was a private conversation (that was shared with me by one of the participants) but probably shouldn't have happened and so there will be no record of that.

I have seen a copy of her mental health records and it really is just twenty-three years of documentation of having checked in on her once every six months or so or refilled such an such medication (clonopin, prozac, etc.) Nothing that could be used as overwhelming evidence that she either needs continuing and ongoing psychiatric care or doesn't. It would have to be an overwhelmingly obvious notation in her chart for the parole board to accpet its validity over what you havecorrectly termed 'the parole board's lackey'.

Originally Posted by TheByzantine

Can the parole board's lackey be cross examined?

No. He is not present at the hearing. It is notable that both independent psychiatrists called into question his methods but their objections were ignored.

Originally Posted by TheByzantine

Has your wife been in segregation at any time while there?

Yes but it has been many, many years. Over ten years ago anyway. She was working in the photo program, her co-worker was making extra copies of photo's for friends. She was put in seg for stealing and my wife was put in seg for not telling on her.

Originally Posted by TheByzantine

My thought is to talk to your congressional delegation to explain the catch 22. The Parole Board is allowed to ignore the expert testimony you presented and the findings of the institution. Seems arbitrary and capricious at best. There is something very wrong when your wife has no way to comply with what the parole board deems deficient when rejecting her release. The laws need to changed. The delegation should be outraged, but I would not hold my breath.

I wish you well.

That is my next step although I am not looking forward to doing so. At the moment the doctor who was going to see her has written an e-mail to the mental health coordinator for the statewide prison system asking for clarity and an explanation. We are hoping that this yields something positive but if it does not I will be talking to the congressman next. Thanks.

[sunrise]

How about contacting one of those projects run out of law schools, that tries to bring justice to people without resources and who have been unfairly accused? They are called things like "the innocence project." It seems they usually work on cases where they believe people were wrongly convicted, but what you describe sounds like a travesty of justice also, and these projects seem to really like to expose flaws in corruption in the system. If they don't take on this kind of case, maybe they would have advice on where to turn.
http://www.innocenceproject.org/

Best of luck to you and your wife.

[perpetuallysad]

Hey Ak, I am sorry you are going through this and I am sincerely sorry for your wife. How very awful it must be to remain imprisoned for so very long. If I remember correctly, it seems like she shouldn't have ever been in prison, or certainly not for this long. I have no good advice, though you have gotten some good advice already.

I just wanted to give you my support. Rant away any time you need it.