{"id":1589,"date":"2022-04-13T22:55:11","date_gmt":"2022-04-14T05:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1589"},"modified":"2022-04-13T22:55:11","modified_gmt":"2022-04-14T05:55:11","slug":"idaho-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1589","title":{"rendered":"Idaho Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a>
Francisco Goya, painted 1812-1819<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This article <\/a>inspired this post. The paywall might block your reading of it, but I paste the text below the post. I saw similar problems in the 15 years I worked as the “jail doctor” in Latah County, so the story didn’t surprise me. We can’t always find a clear border between criminality and insanity. Justice demands we provide for all whom we have deprived their freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***************************************************************************************<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine yourself in a brutal domestic argument. Your spouse, maybe a relative threatens you and you respond with violence. You are arrested and charged for your crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now imagine further you have deep personal demons. Maybe you\u2019ve struggled with them your whole life, managed them the best you could. Maybe such turmoil contributed to your domestic conflict, maybe it bounced you from job to job and kept you on a financial cliff. Your car is broken down and the boss fired you a few weeks back. Now, though, those problems sit with you in the county jail. They accompany just you to your arraignment where your right to freedom is removed. They do not testify on your behalf. Instead, they mock and deride you from inside your skull. The courtroom may be the picture of order, the bailiff stands, and the judge sits and the lawyers for the state and for you, banter about bail and risk. You are sent back to jail to await your trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trial is speedy and definitive. You must serve time in the custody of the Idaho Department of Corrections. You have lost your freedom in this country where we say we respect \u201cthe rule of law\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the demons begin to win inside your small hard skull. You find no meaning to this life you have struggled through for maybe too long. Your brain stops telling you what to do. The jail deputy notices you don\u2019t get up for breakfast. You have soiled yourself. You do not respond to the deputy\u2019s speech. You stop responding to everything. The demons murmur or screech and you have retreated as far away as you can go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The jail deputies ask for help. You are examined by professionals and deemed unable to care for yourself, indeed a risk to yourself and maybe a risk to others, given the history of violence presented at your trial. The county jail and the county sheriff ask for help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professionals have determined you need medical and psychiatric assistance. The Idaho Department of Corrections asks the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to help. They do their evaluation. They determine you need care that the DOC cannot provide, but you are too great a risk to go to a state mental hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the days go by in the county lockup, your freedom long gone, and your mind possessed of demons and doubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This movie you have obligingly created in your mind at my request is not over. In fact, this is just episode one of the first season. It is an ongoing series. Idaho could make this a Netflix drama with little production cost. This happens every month in a different county in this wonderful state. Idaho Justice would be an excellent title, don\u2019t you think?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not justice for the convicted and the severely mentally ill. This is not justice for the sheriff or deputies who swear to protect the convicted, now denied their freedom, but in their charge. This is not justice for the officers of the court, the judge and the lawyers who swear to serve. This is not justice for you and me who should know that this travesty is happening in our counties, in our state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you doubt that this is not just a mental Netflix series, ask to have a conversation with your local elected county sheriff. Ask them if such a scenario has occurred under their watch. See if they shift and deflect. It is a painful truth we all do not want to face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For how we each define justice, for ourselves, and for those we have allowed \u201cthe rule of law\u201d to deprive of their freedom is a telling definition. Please search your soul. I believe we can do better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

************************************************************************************8<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lewiston Tribune article, April 9, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plight of an inmate who has languished at the Idaho County Jail for months highlights the critical lack of mental health treatment options on the Camas Prairie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A group of about 36 county and state officials met Thursday at the Soltman Center in Grange-ville to discuss taking the first steps toward establishing mental health services for Idaho and Lewis counties. A recovery, crisis or outreach center likely would be modeled after such facilities currently operating in Lewiston, Moscow and Orofino.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That future plan, however, doesn\u2019t help an inmate currently being held at the Idaho County Jail. The man was convicted in January during a court trial of multiple felonies, including attempted strangulation. Shortly after the conviction but before sentencing, the inmate became suddenly incapacitated, or \u201ccatatonic,\u201d meaning he stopped eating, drinking, moving voluntarily, speaking and taking care of personal hygiene functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ongoing care of the inmate, along with what sheriff\u2019s officials believe is stonewalling by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to find a mental health facility where the inmate can be treated, has created what Idaho County Sheriff Doug Ulmer believes is a dangerous situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur job is to protect the community and protect the people in our jail,\u201d Ulmer said during an interview at his office Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis person needs help. He had a bed (in a mental health facility) to go to in Boise. Health and Welfare did their interview and said he did not meet their criteria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe roadblocks are being thrown up, in my opinion, by the Health and Welfare mental health group and their process. We are not set up to deal with his situation at all. It takes 24 hours a day, seven days a week checking on this person. It\u2019s a constant pull and there\u2019s no light at the end of the tunnel. We just keep getting this runaround from Health and Welfare. \u2026 This person shouldn\u2019t be in our facility; he should be in a hospital and getting the help he needs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Wraith, program manager for Health and Welfare\u2019s Regions 1 and 2 Behavioral Health program at Coeur d\u2019Alene, said he couldn\u2019t comment on the specifics of any case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking in general about the department\u2019s policies, however, Wraith said \u201cthere are a lot of nuances that come into every case that\u2019s committed to us. Medical complications are one of the primary issues. \u2026 Sometimes, if a person is dangerously mentally ill, it slows down the process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the Idaho County inmate was evaluated by a licensed psychologist following a court order, Wraith said his department has to have additional evaluations if there are complications to a case, such as medical problems or someone who is dangerously mentally ill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That, apparently, is what has happened in the Idaho County case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brian Hewson, chief deputy for the Idaho County Sheriff\u2019s Office, said shortly after the court-ordered evaluation of the inmate, he made contact with the Idaho Department of Correction in Boise to let people there know Idaho County would be sending down the inmate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI told (the person he contacted), \u2018We\u2019re getting ready to load him up and we\u2019re getting ready to transport him to you, like the court order states,\u2019 \u201d Hewson said. \u201cHe says, \u2018Hold your brakes, it doesn\u2019t work that way. We have the ability to not go by a judge\u2019s order.\u2019 He said, \u2018Judges don\u2019t like it, but that\u2019s the way it is.\u2019 I go, \u2018OK, that\u2019s a new one to me, right?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hewson continued: \u201cHe said, \u2018What we need is, we need Health and Welfare to evaluate him because we go by Health and Welfare\u2019s determination.\u2019 (The inmate) had already been evaluated by doctors, psychologists, but that\u2019s not good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two workers from Health and Welfare showed up at the Idaho County Jail a couple of days later, Hewson said, and spent 10 to 15 minutes with the inmate. There was no interaction with him at all, and the workers left and filed a report for the Department of Correction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Department of Correction says he does not meet their criteria because he\u2019s not a dangerous individual,\u201d Hewson said, pointing out that the inmate had been convicted of attempted strangulation and assault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have concerns. He\u2019s been convicted, so if he goes to a state hospital with lower security, my concern is that he is now a flight risk because he has not been sentenced yet. \u2026 We have had him at St. Joe\u2019s several days. He was evaluated and they said he should be hospitalized but they didn\u2019t have a bed for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know where to turn,\u201d Hewson said. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen roadblocks like this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wraith said his department tries to have transparent communication with other agencies, but sheriff\u2019s officers said that has not happened in this case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur commitment process in general is a complicated system,\u201d Wraith said. \u201cSo it\u2019s not something (where) we\u2019re intentionally creating barriers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAny patient that is committed to us gets placed into an appropriate facility as soon as possible,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ulmer acknowledged that even if a recovery or crisis center was available in Idaho County it probably wouldn\u2019t have helped out in this particular case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there are other examples of why the Camas Prairie needs places for people who are having behavioral health crises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have people we deal with all the time,\u201d Ulmer said. \u201cHow many times a deputy or a policeman opens his billfold to buy somebody lunch that can\u2019t (afford it). These people are just wandering and they have issues. They\u2019re hungry and they need food (and shelter).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe work with these people all the time,\u201d Ulmer said. \u201cSo if there was an avenue we could take these people to, to get them help, that would be huge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hewson added, \u201cThere\u2019s people out there wandering around who don\u2019t meet that criteria of being a danger to the public or themselves. And the services that we were talking about (in the resource and crisis center meeting), that would work for them if there were contacts that we could call or steer them in that direction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ulmer said his office supports the idea of a behavioral health resource or crisis center in Idaho County, \u201cbut if it comes with the red tape Health and Welfare has made, we don\u2019t want to be involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe try to help people out and it kind of feels like you\u2019re failing miserably because you keep running into this wall,\u201d the sheriff said. \u201cThis person (the inmate) remains in our facility that we are not in any way, shape or form able to deal with. We deal with his needs because we have to, because the people who should be dealing with him aren\u2019t. It\u2019s aggravating.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article inspired this post. The paywall might block your reading of it, but I paste the text below the post. I saw similar problems in the 15 years I worked as the “jail doctor” in Latah County, so the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1589"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1589"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1591,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1589\/revisions\/1591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}