Transcript
Perditionistic Correctional-Concentration Camps: Oblivious Caducity or Malefactor Hedonism? By: William A. Larson, MDOC [ID] What actually causes dysfunctional criminal behavior, by the mentally-challenged? That is a question that most of society's criminal experts, seem to avoid. The State of Missouri deals with its mentally-challenged citizens with its edacious lock-them-up, then-forget-about-them, ostrichism. Is criminal behavior, in and of itself, a form of mental-illness (chemical imbalance of the brain), or simply an abnormal reaction to a person's surrounding environment? I have yet to find any self-anointed experts, who can agree on this subject. No-one seems to have a rational or humane manner in which to treat the mentally-challenged individual, who unwittingly violates a criminal statute. In the mid-60's, Missouri closed down numerous mental-health facilities. This directly caused the local communities to begin using their city/county jails, as surrogate mental-health holding-pens. This eventually led numerous mental-health ex-residents, who had been physically thrown out onto the streets, to prison; when they were unable to conform to society's rules. [1] I once read that: "We see not with our eyes, but with our brains - same for hearing, touch, smell and taste - our conversations with others are carried out entirely in our heads. None of our senses mean anything until the sensation is relayed to the brain and interpreted. We literally live out our lives in magnificent isolation, a universe within our skulls." I shamefully do not remember who wrote: "Prisoners of our Physical Body". It has always guided my cogitation, when dealing with prison staff. I, personally, defined this as we are all slaves to the chemical induced operation of our physical brains, without getting into specific biological details. The body produces various chemicals, which in turn, causes the brain to function. Unless my chemically induced process has totally misinterpreted what I have exposed it to. Albeit, one could argue, that there isn't any such intellectual function as, "free-will". The manner in which our brain functions, determines who we are, what we believe in, and how we react to the environment around us. The brain also protects us from self-harm, sort of like a defensive shield, if we take the time to pay attention to it. I was born with Aspergers. I didn't find this out until later in my life. I always was fully aware that I was different. I simply did things differently, in contrast to other children. My parents took me to a mental-health clinic near Barnes Hospital, in St. Louis. The abecedary mental-health experts, of the time, simply assured my parents that I "would out-grown it". Paralogistic political correctness has coerced everyone into assimilating those who are "different", and pretend they are just another normal person. If there really is such a person. A recent case in Springfield, is the exemplar of the problem. The mother of a mentally-dysfunctional young man, found out he was purchasing weapons and keeping them at a friend's house. He had a well-established history of mental-health problems. In the attempt to get her son proper mental-health assistance, she went to the local authorities. Instead of providing her son with mental-health assistance, they tricked him into admitting he was thinking about harming people. They then charged him with "criminal thoughts". He is now in the loving care of the MDOC. His mother will never trust the authorities again. She regrets trusting them in the first place. [2] I can understand why the ill-fated, mentally-challenged, are forced to roam the streets, when family and friends are reluctant to go to those in authority, seeking help for them. Who wants to be responsible for getting their loved-ones placed into a prison-kennel, as if they were some rabid dog running loose on the streets. To exacerbate matters, Missouri authorities are infamously renown for taking unfair advantage of people with mental-dysfunctions; such as hebetude paedomorphism, or schizophrenia. GA, who suffered with schizophrenia and paedomorphism, was charged with the brutal murder of a well-known female reporter, in St. Louis (1981). The police authorities took advantage of GA's child-like demeanor and fabricated a false case against him. The prosecutor deliberately withheld direct evidence that pointed to another party committing the infamous crime, to prevent GA from having a viable defense. [3] In 2012, thanks to the Innocent Project, this was finally exposed. GA was released after 30 years of inhumane-torturous incarceration. Sadly, GA died after only enjoying four years of freedom with his family anfi friends. The City prosecutor had stolen GA's life from him, and never even apologized. [4] JLW, was arrested for the murcier of a neighbor, whom he did occasional odd-jobs for. He was tricked, by the investigating authorities, when they took unfair advantage of his child-like mentality. Without his parents present, they fed him the facts of the case. Convincing him that eyewitnesses had seen him at the crime scene. They then lied to him, when they assured him he could go home after he signed a confession. JLW signed the statement, prepared by the investigators, that he could barely read, much less comprehend. It took public pressure, led by Rev. Larry Rice, to get the Governor to order an investigation, after the courts had denied JLW, all relief. The Governor's investigator found that JLW was innocent of the murder. The Governor then pardoned JLW. [5] I could list cases endlessly, where people with mental-health frailties, have been wrongfully convicted of major crimes, by the local prosecutors/authorities. The mentally-challenged are the easiest to convict of crimes, regardless of the evidence against them. Who is going to listen to the mentally-ill? In the mid-80's, while at MSP, I had a neighbor (CC), who was incarceratad for the rape of a well-respactad St.. Louis Nun, who worked in an emergency shelter. [6] There was little doubt that CC was severely mentally-challenged. At times he would sit in his cell, holding four-way conversations, with his invisible friends and family members. If I hadn't known better, just listening to him, one would believe there were 3-4 people in his cell, including his mother. When CC would get too far out of control, staff would force him to drink a cup full of Thorazine, to zombify him. Buddy was a few cells down from CC. He would regularly stand out in front of the Captain's office, repetitively removing the ball-cap off and on his head. He started flooding his cell on a regular basis. Staff turned off the water in his cell. Buddy continued to use his toilet, without flushing. One morning there was a myriad of maggots crawling up the walk, from his cell-toilet. Staff made Buddy dip out everything from his toilet, and flush it down another toilet. Staff then turned his water back on, so they could flush his toilet. BM was excellent at calligraphy. He was always getting into trouble for sending the nurses love poems, in his exotic calligraphy style. His body was covered in surgical scars, from removing items he incessantly swallowed. While at PCC, staff gave him a used TV. Within a few weeks, in a fit of uncontrollable rage, he smashed his TV, sat on the floor, and started swallowing parts of it. This obsession finally caused his death. Shortly after I arrived at PCC (1989), there was a severely mentally-challenged prisoner (DF). He never seemed to have anything, other than state issue. Someone found out that DF had never been told that the MDOC was placing a monthly stipend, onto his prison account ($3 prior to June 1989, $7.50 thereafter. The stipend is still $7.50 today, it is intended to pay for hygiene products and writing materials. We didn't know how much DF had accumulated over the years, so RA filled out a small order of smokes, junk food and such, placing it into the canteen mailbox. On canteen day, after we all had received our canteen items, staff pages DF over the intercom, and gave him his order. DF had no idea why they gave him the canteen items, and he didn't ask. He then tried to share his mother-load with everyone. We made sure no-one took him up on his charity. The next week, we did the same thing. This continued until DF finally ran out of money. RA then explained to him how to order his $7.50 worth of canteen, each month. While I was a guest of SCCC's Super-Max (2009), staff placed a prisoner into the "suicide strip-cell", across from my cell. The only name I knew him by was Muhammad. He was placed in strip-cell status, not because he was suicidal; but because he was refusing to take his mental-health medications. They would take him from the cell, place him into a phone-booth sized cage, then inject him with the various drugs. Muhammad was rather up-beat, despite the treatment he was receiving. His 12/12th outdate had arrived and he was going home. The mental-health observer would stop by his cell, periodically, and talk to him about his release. On the day he was supposed to be released, he kept asking them when they were letting him out of his cell. Late that afternoon, after he had been screaming for awhile, one of the mental-health observers, stopped by his cell and informed him he wasn't getting released. The MDOC had civilly committed him, because he would not take his mental-health medications. Muhammad was transferred to a mental-health facility shortly after that. RB, has serious mental-health problems, complicated by a terminal medical condition. He was assigned to the SCCC ECU (Enhanced Care Unit) after being in the infirmary for almost two years. On August 27, 2017, he was assaulted in his cell (166), by one of the hand-picked prisoners, who were assigned to the ECU, to assist those who need daily assistance (DLA). They were both injured seriously, requiring hospitalization. SCCC staff are refusing to return RB to the ECU, to cover-up the assault. Suicide really isn't that common in prison, but does happen from time to time. Irish, in his late 20's, received a visit from his girlfriend. His girlfriend informed him she was not going to wait for him. He calmly came back to his cell, and hung himself, which seems to be the preferred method. If done right, it is painless. They simply affix the handmade rope, made out of whatever, to a higher object. They then place the rope around their necks, in such a fashion that it cuts the blood flow off to the brain (in professional wrestling, it is called the "sleeper hold"). They then pass out, without initiating the normal panic-mode, in the brain, that stops most people who try to commit suicide. As they pass out, the body slumps downward, tightening the rope around the neck, stopping the airflow. The entire process, if done right, takes 5-10 minutes. By then you are too far gone to resuscitate. Staff usually checks the cells every 30-40 minutes, if they feel like doing it at all. To be fair, in today's prison systems, it is physically impossible to prevent suicides. Two-man cells are one of the primary reasons suicides are so low. Suicides are more difficult to accomplish, when you have someone watching you. One of my other neighbors, when I was in Super-Max, successfully committed suicide my "cheeking" his mental-health medications; even though he was on watch/take by the nurses. Somehow he saved up enough of them to overdose, in 2009. One of the primary reasons Missouri prisons are filled to capacity, is due to the influx of pedophiles and other sexual predators. Various sexual predators are overwhelming the entire penal/court system. I really can not understand how this all started (maybe everyone started eating subway sandwiches). In the 60's, when I first started doing time, I do not remember ANY pedophiles. Even in the early 80's, they were as rare as a T-Bone steak, in our dining rooms. This sexual-predators epidemic, seems to have erupted in the 90's. Just to satisfy my perpetual curiosity, I used the law computers to do a quasi-scientific research project, on the subject matter. I randomly picked the month of July, and looked for appellate cases (our computers will not register any case that has not been appealed, quite a few sexual-offenders never appeal) on pedophilia, rape or abuse of anyone under 17. I then included standard sexual-predators, cases involving victims 18 years and older. As a balance, I included infant murders. I started in July of 1963, the first year I did time, then jumped 10 years, until I reached 2013, then went to 2017. In 1963, there was one rape case of a 17 year old, 11 adult rape cases, and one infant murder. In 1973, there were no pedophile cases, 12 adult rapes, and one infant murder. In 1983, there were 3 pedophile cases, 16 adult rape cases, and two infant murders. In 1993, there were 41 pedophile cases, 23 adult rape cases, and one infant murder. In 2003, there were 61 pedophile cases, 38 adult rape cases, and one infant murder. In 2013, there were 65 pedophile cases, 31 adult rapes, and two infant murders. In 2017, there were 59 pedophile cases, 26 adult rapes, no infant murders. With a few exceptions of juvenile-aged pedophiles, that mostly molest their siblings [7], the largest percentage of pedophiles are "white", in the age grouping of 40 to 70 years of age. They, up until the time of their arrest, worked normal occupations, such as: teachers, coaches, truck drivers, businessmen and even correctional staff/police authorities. In the mid-80's, Captain Luten, at MSP, committed suicide after his two daughters accused him of molesting them for years. As I am preparing this essay, a local jail CO has just been arrested for having sexual contact with a child under 12. A Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper has been arrested/charged with enticing a child over the internet. Most of these individuals do not exactly fit the profile of: "Chester the Molester". Has something just snapped in their brain, that turned them into sexual predators of children? You can not turn on the evening news without seeing, at least, one person accused of pedophilia. Far too many of them are educators - professional people. Is this a natural part of male-menopause? There doesn't seem to be any rational explanation for this nation-wide epidemic. In place of Missouri treating this sexual-predator epidemic as a mental-health issue, the local prosecutors turn this hellacious epidemic into a criminal matter. [8] A few years ago (2013), a 72 year old prisoner (Franz) was moved into my wing (6C). He was in prison for having sexual-relations with his 15 year old grand-daughter. He was well-educated, and had worked hard all of his life. He had no prior history of pedophilia. According to him, it just happened, he literally could not explain it. His family was destroyed over it. At this time, an ex-school teacher/coach is going to trial for the kidnapping-rape-murder of a 10 year old girl. The girl's mother and step-father have been active in creating a revised state law, that enhances the present-day notification of the public, when a child goes missing, "Hailey's Law". Ironically the step-father, has been indicted, by the local Federal Prosecutor, for possessing and distributing child pornography. His charges are not related to his step-daughter. In the past few weeks, just in the Licking area, where this institution is located, three men have been arrested on pedophilia charges. Two were 70 years old, and the third was 68. The cases are not related. Two were incest with family members, and the third was against his neighbor's children. RC was convicted of several pedophilia charges. He consistently protested his innocence. Which is common for convicted pedophiles. He attempted suicide several times. Once CO found him two times, and prevented his death. Once when he tried to hang himself, and another when he cut his wrists. Whole in the honor-hours, he was assigned to work in the kitchen. He refused and was placed in Sad. Seg. until he agreed to work, in the kitchen. A prisoner refused to cell with him because he was a convicted child-molester, commonly referred to as a "chomo". Shortly thereafter, he was found dead in his cell. He had hung himself successfully, this time. I guess mental-health forgot about him. With RC's extensive history of suicide attempts, he should have been on the top of mental-health's watch-list. NS, at JCCC, was a frequent writ-writer, and grievance filer. He was convicted of child-molestation. He had filed several grievances and a CRA §1983 Complaint, alleging that he was being double-celled with prisoners who were threatening to harm him. He was placed in Sad. Seg.; his cell-mate strangled him to death. Unlike what most people are told, not all pedophiles have a hard time in prison. There simply are too many of them. Most of them receive the preferred higher paying jobs. This is mostly due to them being far better educated, than the rest of the prison's semi-literate population. At SCCC, they hold the majority of the population in MVE (industry), and the canteen. Those are the highest paying positions, paying $60 to $100, per month. Most SCCC work positions pay $10 to $20, per month. The school tutors, chapel clerks, library workers, are mostly various sex offenders. Staff seems more comfortable around them, than the "violent" prisoner. But then they don't bring their children to work. Sex offenders, are an anomaly within the prison system. They are the majority of the prisoners who sign up for the institution's pseudo-programs. They fill the chapel with their bron-againisms, and are the majority in the SCCC honor house (H.U.3). The MDOC has created programs, such as MOSOP (Missouri Sexual Offender Program) [9], and SORTS (Sexual Offender Rehabilitation and Treatment Services Unit). [10] Sex offenders are not allowed to attend these programs until after they are transferred to a lower-security institution, such as Pacific, Farmington and Moberly CC's. They sit around, in a group, and discuss their sexual perversions, sort of like AA. MDOC staff, rather than educated professionals, hold these talk sessions. Sexual offenders do not receive professional mental-health treatment until they enter civil-commitment, under the SVPA (Sexual Violent Predator Act). The Act is inclusive of a prisoner who "suffers from a mental abnormality", that "makes a person more likely than not to engage in predatory acts of violence if not confined in a secure facility". [11] Under Missouri State Statute: "A person is not responsible for criminal conduct if, at the time of such conduct, as a result of mental disease or defect such person was incapable of knowing and appreciating the nature, quality, or wrongfulness of such person's conduct". [12] Which would seem to include such mental-dysfunctions as pedophilia, paedomorphism or schizophrenia. For some inexplicable purpose, state prosecutors/courts seem to ignore this, in their rush to fill these mental-health concentration camps. Is pedophilia, paedomorphism or schizophrenia an uncontrollable mental disease/defect? If the "mental abnormality", as stated in the SVPA doesn't qualify as a mental-disease/defect, what does? The questions that plague this issue are: If a person is mentlaly-ill sufficiently to require civil-commitment, AFTER he serves his criminal sentence; why isn't that person considered too mentally-ill, before trial, to be criminally charged? Why isn't the civil-commitment applied when that person is first arrested/charged? What specific purpose is served by punishing the mentally-ill, with incarceration, for something they do not seem to have any self-control over? Which is specifically what a civil-commitment is designed for. Sounds like putting the cart before the horse. I am not trying to excuse, justify or defend the criminal behavior of the mentally-challeneged. Albeit, to licentiously imprison the mentally-challenged, serves no other purpose than sadistic avengement. The MDOC attempts to provide theoretical mental-health care, for those the courts send them. The alleged mental-health personnel are nothing more than sciolistic caseworkers, who are incognizant of what mentally-dysnfunctional prisoners require for their daily survival. The mentally-challenged, in prison, are callously thrown to the predatory dogs. When I arrived within the loving confines of the MDOC (1983), I was never interviewed by mental-health staff, even though they were fully aware that I was "different". Staff just labeled me a "trouble-makter", and left it at that. At this time, the only medication I am on is Nitroglycerin, for my ischemic heart disease (severe angina-pectoris pain). Over time I found out that nitro has an interesting side-benefit for me. Usually, when I have an angina attack, it is preceded by a clouding of my mind. The nitro, by dilating by blood vessels, increasing my blood flow, almost immediately clears up my mind. Surely, mentally-challenged prisoners have the right, and need, for a proper mental-health assessment? Rather than have some unqualified state factotum making arbitrary judgments about them, without even interviewing the prisoner, in question. In 1983, I was out of my cell, on the walk, when a caseworker started asking who Larson was. I identified myself and asked what he wanted. He had my 6-month evaluation, that I needed to sign. I asked him how he could evaluate me, when he didn't even know who I was? He just laughed and responded that is just the way it is done. Which exemplifies the hypocrisy of the Missouri penal system. In place of properly evaluating prisoners, they just create a false record, to cover their own posteriors. I can not comprehend how this country can squander until billions of tax-dollars on foregin wars. Yet! we can't provide competent mental-health treatment, for our mentally-challenged citizens? Some who are veterans of the same foreign wars? Similar to Nazi Germany, society would rather just lock up the mentally-challenged in modern-day correctional-concentration camps, and just forget about them. Out-of-sight-out-of-mind. Society today, is just too quick to punish - and too apathetic to try to find out what is causing this influx of pedophilia and other associated mental-illnesses. Maybe if someone would connect the dots, they just might find out that most of the problems are simply caused by a chemical imbalance, that can be corrected, with the proper treatment and medications. Years ago, we addressed this problem, by just calling the elderly, "dirty old men", and laughing about it. Could this pedophilia problem, in elderly men, just be a variation of Alzheimers disease, which has also grown expeditiously? Sources of and Additional Information [1] Parkus v Delo 33 F3d 933 (8th Cir 1994) [2] State v Lammers 479 SW3d 624 (SC MO 2016) [3] Mo ex rel Koster v Green 388 SW3d 603 (WD App 2012) [4] Allen v City of St. Louis 2015 US Dist Lexis 67622 [5] Wilson v Lawrence County 260 F3d 946 (8th Cir 2001) [6] State v Collier 624 SW2d 30 (ED App 1981) [7] Sapien v Bowersox 2016 US Dist Lexis 146526 [8] State v Johnson 2017 Mo Lexis 346 (SC Mo 2017) [9] Watson v Lombardi 2016 US Dist Lexis 125495 [10] Doyle v Schmitt 2017 US Dist Lexis 173940 [11] Kirk v State 520 SW3d 443 (SC Mo 2017) [12] State ex rel Strong v Griffith 462 SW3d 732 (SC Mo 2015)
