Members of Jamycheal Mitchell’s family, wearing shirts with his photograph, pose for a portrait at the home of his aunt in Chesapeake, Va.
(Timothy C. Wright/For the Washington Post)
This appears to be propaganda for the psychiatric and hospital industries, perhaps a talking points memo written by a PR flack for corporate interests. The report notes the gentleman stopped taking psychiatric medications, suggesting that may have caused his erratic behavior. If stopping taking drugs caused bad, or unwanted behavior, why start taking the drugs? His mother explained he was a happy prankster. Any history of violence, or crime, until after he began taking chemicals? The human services industrial complex (MA State Rep. Marie Parente's term), promotes conflating psychiatric diagnoses with crime and violence. They do not provide evidence of any causal connection.
The prison guard explained he was treated the same as other inmates. But he was held because of a psychiatric diagnosis, which placed him in a different category. He had a disability. Why wasn't he provided with reasonable accommodations? The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 were in effect long before his arrest. Why are prisons not held accountable to these settled laws as the homosexual lobby demands for same sex marriage, a case decision, not a statute passed by the U.S. Congress. Instead the focus is on spending more taxpayer funds to incarcerate disabled persons based upon arbitrary standards of psychiatry. This is one more example of misguided corporate interests overriding good sense and human rights. Nowhere in this article, was the concept of the patient having a disability or having any rights, mentioned. Only taxpayer funded treatment is promoted, which benefits the industry. Rights for disabled persons are inconvenient. Seldom are rights recognized for persons with disabilities.
[From article]
Jamycheal Mitchell had stopped taking his schizophrenia medication before he walked into a 7-Eleven near his family’s Portsmouth, Va., home in April and allegedly stole a Mountain Dew, a Snickers bar and a Zebra Cake totaling $5.05.
After the 24-year-old’s arrest, a judge ordered him to a state psychiatric hospital to get help. But like an increasing number of the mentally ill, he sat in jail for months as he waited for a bed to open.
Other inmates said Mitchell paced naked in a cell often covered in his own filth. Family members said they were told he sometimes refused to eat or take medication, and jail records show he manically yelled. He grew gaunt, and by Aug. 19 he was dead, having shed at least 36 pounds.
[. . .]
“Food was delivered to his cell,” said Lt. Col. Eugene Taylor, assistant superintendent at the HRRJ. “He could have flushed meals.” Taylor said the jail could not say for sure that Mitchell was eating, but he also said Mitchell did not complain that he was losing weight.
[. . .]
But Mitchell also struggled with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder for a decade. Adams said her son had to be hospitalized on a handful of occasions and was unable to hold a job.
Mitchell’s family said he was acting increasingly erratic the week before he showed up at the 7-Eleven and had been off his medication for months. He stole the snacks just after midnight on April 22, according to court records, and was arrested and taken to the Portsmouth jail. His weight was listed as 180 pounds on his arrest warrant. He was around 6 feet tall.
In the days after his arrest, Mitchell waived his right to an attorney and appeared “confused” during an interview, according to court records.
Mitchell’s bond was initially set at $3,000 but was later revoked. The court file doesn’t explain why, but Mitchell’s family members said they were told by court officials it was so he could get help.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/man-accused-of-stealing-5-in-snacks-died-in-jail-as-he-waited-for-space-at-mental-hospital/2015/09/29/7ceac8a2-5aff-11e5-9757-e49273f05f65_story.html
By Justin Jouvenal
September 29, 2015 at 1:11 PM
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