Indefinite Detention for Black Mental Patients

Two black men were denied a speedy trial in Mississippi for seven and eight years because they are African Americans with brain issues who lack wealth - the triple whammy. They are lucky to be alive, unlike many black mental patients who were killed during arrest attempts.

"Marktain Kilpatrick Simmons, 43 (pictured above), and Lee Vernel Knight, 47, both have mental issues and have been waiting years for a their day in court. Both Simmons and Knight are being held at the Hinds County Detention Center." This injustice was reported by "Your Black World" in an article at the link below

http://www.yourblackworld.net/2014/04/uncategorized/two-mississippi-inmates-are-still-awaiting-trial-after-7-and-8-years-breakingbrown-com/

Laws protecting citizens' rights don't necessarily apply to African Americans or the mentally ill of any race. Lengthy imprisonment with trials denied is a common practice in the USA, regardless of the "speedy trial" constitutional guarantee. Terrell Scott, a Pennsylvania mental patient, was imprisoned for 4.5 years with trial denied. He would undoubtedly still be incarcerated today if he had not finally agreed to make a false confession and accept a plea deal. Shannon Nyamodi, 20, has been incarcerated for nearly two years on false charges in North Carolina - most of the time in solitary confinement to torture him into making a false confession. Nyamodi is not mentally ill, but like mental patients, children are often intimidated into making false confessions. Nyamodi was arrested shortly after his 18th birthday, possibly to protect the real robber and shooter in his case, who is reportedly a white youth.
See "Maitri Klinkosum Blocks Shannon Nyamodi's Trial"
http://freespeakblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/maitri-klinkosum-blocks-nyamodi-trial.html

Americans are innocent until PROVED guilty in courts of law. There is obviously something wrong with the prosecutors' cases against the Mississippi men held indefinitely without trials, which is why trial is denied for them like it was for Terrell Scott. He was made a white woman's sex slave at the age of 17, then imprisoned on her false allegations when he left her and reported her neglect and abuse of her young children. Scott's child endangerment report was investigated, found credible, and Crystal's children were removed from her custody. Months later, Crystal retaliated by making a false criminal report against Scott, and justice officials gladly made a media event of Scott's arrest during an election year. Terrell Scott's real "crime was miscegenation (race mixing).

See "Teen Sex Slave Wrongly Arrested in PA"
http://dogjusticeformentallyill.blogspot.com/2013/11/teen-sex-slave-wrongly-arrested-in-pa.html

Many mentally ill Americans of all races either plea bargain or are tried and found guilty of crimes every year, then join 1.25 million other mentally ill people imprisoned in this country. The mentally ill should not be brutalized or killed while incarcerated in America's prisons and jails, either. But brutality and deaths are common among mentally ill people before and after incarceration. Three examples are below:

1) Terrell Scott endured brutal imprisonment for nearly five years while denied a trial. He lost his eyesight in one eye, hearing in one ear, and his jaw bone is misaligned from beatings by inmates. His front teeth were knocked out, and he was imprisoned in solitary confinement after his suicide attempt, which followed his rape and brutality that exposed him to HIV. Upon his release from prison, a reign of terror started against Scott's family. Because Scott finally confessed to having molested Crystal's children after he saw he would never be allowed to defend himself against the false charges in a trial, Pennsylvania decided to remove Scott's 10-year-old brother from his home to "protect" him from Scott. The family is currently fighting in family court for the right to remain an intact family. Can't the State realize it already has its pound of flesh? Terrell lived for four years with a white woman, but at this point, he's paid enough for his miscegenation.

2)  James Embry, Kentucky State Penn Inmate STARVES to death ~ "James Kenneth Embry, 57 and with just three years left on a nine-year sentence for drug offenses, began to spiral out of control in the spring of 2013 after he stopped taking anti-anxiety medication. Seven months later, in December, after weeks of erratic behavior — from telling prison staff he felt anxious and paranoid to banging his head on his cell door — Embry eventually refused most of his meals. By the time of his death in January of this year, he had shed more than 30 pounds on his 6-foot frame and died weighing just 138 pounds, according to documents reviewed by the AP."
http://news.yahoo.com/ap-exclusive-kentucky-inmate-starves-death-160028075.html

3) Larry Neal was a mentally ill heart patient who was secretly arrested in mid-July 2003 and detained until his death on August 1, 2003. Neither Shelby County Jail nor the United States Department of Justice release records and information to explain this kidnapping and murder. Prior to Larry’s final incarceration, whenever he was arrested on public nuisance charges and other misdemeanors related to his handicap, the police would contact his social worker or family and Larry would be released into their care. Given the long history Larry had with Memphis Police, it is impossible for Larry’s family to believe that Shelby County Jail did not know that Larry was under arrest during the nearly three weeks that his family agonized over his whereabouts. The police repeatedly denied having Larry in custody but did nothing to help search for the mentally ill heart patient precisely because police knew that no search was necessary. Fingerprinting for accurate identification is a routine part of arrest procedures. Yet, Larry’s family was allowed to spend weeks looking for Larry while he suffered and died in jail. One would assume that police became weary of their enforced role as caretaker to this man who would stand and sing loud on street corners, bother pedestrians for handouts, eat in grocery stores without paying first, etc., and decided to rid themselves of a "nuisance." His murder remains a national cover-up that the media will not report and the government will not address. See "Wrongful Death of Larry Neal" http://Wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com

In addition to Sixth Amendment rights being set aside for mental ill Americans, so are other due process of law provisions. Mentally ill people's murders behind bars should be reported immediately to their families, unlike the family of Jerome Murdough, who was baked to death in Riker's Island prison. A reporter from Associated Press informed his family weeks after his death when he sought an interview. Neither Murdough's lawyer nor prison or state officials had informed his survivors of his demise. Cover-ups are common to hide murders and brutal treatment of mentally ill Americans under incarceration. See
APNEWSBREAK: NYC INMATE 'BAKED TO DEATH' IN CELL
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/apnewsbreak-nyc-inmate-baked-death-cell

Politicians who continually usurp funding for psychiatric treatment in order to keep the mentally ill revolving in and out of prisons and jails should not be reelected. Please see other stories about abuses of civil and human rights of America's mentally ill people in the index at Dog Justice blog on the right margin at http://DogJusticeforMentallyIll.blogspot.com

The Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial should apply to every defendant and not be denied to persons based on race and health status. Laws against kidnapping and murder should not be set aside in cases of mentally ill victims. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "All we say to America is, 'Be true to what you said on paper.'" That has forever been a problem, especially regarding people of color.

Hear voices in support of H.R.3717 "Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act" that were recorded at "Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill" Blogtalkradio show on February 12 and at
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nnia1/2014/02/13/assistance-to-the-incarcerated-mentally-ill

JAIL IS THE LAST THING THAT MENTAL PATIENTS NEED, AND TOO OFTEN, IT IS THE VERY LAST THING THEY EXPERIENCE. Please join our effort to decriminalize mental illness. No one deserves to be punished for having a disability.

Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill. Mary Neal, director.
http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/aimi

It would be illegal to keep a dog in a tight space 23 hours a day and gas or Taser him for barking. It would be illegal to put a dog into a deadly restraint chair for control. But this happens to mentally ill Americans routinely in the nation's jails and prisons. What happened to Larry Neal? He was a black disabled man, and his wrongful death in police custody is covered-up rather than treated with due process of law because crisis intervention training started in Memphis, Tennessee, where Larry Neal was kidnapped and murdered in 2003. This proves that crisis intervention teams (CIT) alone will NOT prevent brutality and deaths, neither will CIT prevent people with serious mental illness from going into crisis and being arrested. ONLY treatment can help reduce the great number of mentally ill people and drug addicts revolving in and out of America's prisons and jails. Treatment is needed for persons with acute mental illness whether or not they agree to treatment. Assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) programs provide for mentally disabled people's subsistence assistance (food, housing) and mandate continuous mental health care.

Dog Justice for Mentally Ill
http://dogjusticeformentallyill.blogspot.com
Wrongful Death of Larry Neal
http://WrongfulDeathofLarryNeal.com

Mentally Ill Americans Need Dog Justice. Treat mental illness medically, not legally. Advocate for U.S. Congress to pass H.R.3717 - Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act