The Washington Post has been at the forefront of writing about police involved shooting deaths and last week, reporters Cheryl W. Thompson and Mark Berman cast a much needed spotlight on the use of Tasers. At least one person a week dies in the U.S. after being stunned with a Taser and more than half of them had a mental illness or illegal drugs in their system, according to their research.

The Post undertook its investigation after Natasha McKenna, a 37-year old African American woman who’d been diagnosed with schizophrenia, died in Fairfax County, Virginia. She had been shot four times with a Taser by deputies while restrained in jail. This exhaustive news story ends with a quote from me about McKenna’s death: “Having a mental illness shouldn’t be a death sentence, and that’s what this was.”

TASERS — IMPROPER TECHNIQUES, INCREASED RISKS

By Cheryl W. Thompson and Mark Berman, The Washington Post, 11-27-15

Mathew Ajibade had been acting strangely shortly before Savannah, Ga., police officers arrested him on suspicion of hitting his girlfriend outside a convenience store last New Year’s Day.

Officers said he was combative, so after booking the 21-year-old Wells Fargo bank employee into the Chatham County Detention Center, a sheriff’s deputy Tasered Ajibade’s abdominal area after he was handcuffed with his ankles bound. They left him in an isolation cell and didn’t check on him for at least 90 minutes, in violation of department policy. When they did, he was dead.

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Each year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, our mail box fills with pleas from mental health groups seeking much needed contributions. Before Patti and I begin writing checks, I review how much these non-profits bring in each year and how much they pay their top executives. Thanks to GUIDESTAR, checking the IRS 990 Forms for non-profits is easy.

In the Washington D.C. area, the Judge David L Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law provides the most generous compensation among mental health groups for its president, according to IRS filings. It paid a salary of $247,980 and an additional $29,415 for a total of $277,395, according to its 2013 filing. It listed its gross receipts at $4,713,817. (Note: additional pay is generally retirement and/or bonus.)

The National Alliance on Mental Illness, which is the largest grassroots mental health organization, paid its executive director $207,045 and an additional $26,170 for a total of $233,215, according to its 2013 report. (It has changed directors since this filing.) It listed gross receipts of $10,912,588.

Mental Health America, which is the oldest consumer organization, paid $202,004 to its president, but those funds covered the salaries of its outgoing president and incoming one (who later left), according to its 2013 report. It reported gross receipts of $3,755,173.

The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance is considered the third largest national mental health grassroots group. It reported gross receipts of $3,158,542 in its 2013 report and paid total compensation of  $112,458 to its president.

So are those compensation figures too much or too little?  For the answer, I consulted Charity Navigator .

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( From My Files Friday: This Thanksgiving marks the beginning of my son’s eighth year in recovery! I am grateful to the many people who helped him and am proud of him for finally accepting his illness and taking steps to recover. I realize, however, there are many who are very sick and for their loved ones, Thanksgiving can be a difficult time. A year ago, I published a powerful blog by Joanne Kelly about her son, Jay. I recently asked if Jay’s situation had improved and, sadly, the answer was no. Joanne, please know that you and Jay are in our thoughts and prayers. You are why we must continue our fight for a better system. No one should be left behind.)

Please God Keep Jay Safe For Another Week: A Mother’s Ritual

          RITUALS   —   By Joanne Kelly

If you are an astute observer and you stand in the courtyard of my son’s apartment building, you might notice that everyone’s window blinds are white except Jay’s. The blinds in his windows are a golden brown, the outward manifestation of a two-packs-a-day smoking habit multiplied by four years of occupancy in this particular apartment. 

Today is pretty typical of my visits over the last few months. Jay hasn’t answered any of my phone calls this week. It is 4:00 in the afternoon on a sunny day in late November. I knock. I wait. I knock again. I wait some more. Finally I hear him unlock the deadbolt. He opens the door looking disheveled and groggy. Obviously, I have interrupted his sleep.

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My good friend, Miami-Dade Judge Steve Leifman, received one of the highest honors awarded to a jurist during a recent ceremony held at the U.S. Supreme Court. I was privileged to be his guest and sit with his family when he received the William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence from U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts. The award recognizes a judge each year who exemplifies judicial excellence, integrity, fairness, and professional ethics.

Judge Leifman was honored by his peers because of his tireless efforts to improve the lives of Americans with severe mental illnesses. True to form, he made an impassioned plea to his fellow judges during his acceptance speech, asking them to join him in diverting persons with mental disorders out of the criminal justice system and into community treatment.

If you have read my book, CRAZY: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness, you will recall that it was Judge Leifman who arranged for me to spend ten months inside the Miami-Dade detention center following persons with severe mental illnesses through the criminal justice system out onto the streets. I had not planned on doing research in Miami, but the Los Angeles jail kicked me out after two days, claiming that I was violating HIPAA. (That was simply an excuse to keep me from documenting the dreadful conditions I was seeing there.) I tried to visit jails in Chicago, New York, Baltimore and Washington D.C. but none of them would allow me access. I would not have been able to write my book had it not been for Judge Leifman who invited me to Miami.

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From My Files Friday: A year ago, I published an email from Anne Francisco whose adult son, Josh,  ended his life in a jail cell.  Her account led to several newspaper articles in Missouri about how persons with mental illnesses are treated in jails. A network news program also expressed interest and last week, Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) showed a photo of Josh and mentioned his death during the markup session of his Helping Families In Mental Health Crisis Act. Anne told me this week that a St. Louis civil rights lawyer has stepped forward to file a lawsuit for better mental health services in Missouri.

My Son Killed Himself: Josh Deserved Better!

Dear Pete,

My 39-year old son killed himself today.

Josh hung himself in a solitary confinement cell in a prison south of St. Louis, Missouri.   He died alone, afraid, and powerless. Josh needed help. Instead, he got punishment.

Like all mothers, I had dreams for my children — dreams that didn’t include mental illness or prison. My husband and I knew very little about mental illness until four years ago when we received a long distance phone call from our daughter-in-law telling us that Josh’s behavior had changed and she needed our help to convince him that he should enter a hospital for psychiatric treatment. She explained that Josh was sleeping very little and was having racing thoughts. He’d become hyper-vigilant about national/government affairs and hyper-religious, praying in strange tongues. Josh was 35 years old at the time — a handsome and energetic young man who adored his wife and two children. Always ready to lend a helping hand, Josh would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. He had a special place in his heart for people who were hurting.

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I had lunch Monday with Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Tx) who has introduced the Mental Health and Safe Communities Act, which will fund mental health courts and crisis intervention team training, among other things. (More about that bill in future blogs.) On Friday, I will be speaking at a morning conference on Capitol Hill sponsored by House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) entitled Addressing Over-incarceration of the Seriously Mentally Ill As Part of Criminal Justice Reform. 

In a press release, Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) whose Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, is awaiting further markup, noted that House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wi) said Sunday during an interview on 60 Minutes that our mental health system needs attention.

“The other issue we need to take a look at, and I’m pushing this in the Commerce committee, is Congressman Murphy’s legislation on mental health,” said Ryan. “I think we need to improve our mental health laws so we can address these problems before they get out of control because mental health is a component of these shootings that I think we have not looked at seriously enough. So I think that’s an area that we’re going to be taking a deep look at. We’re moving legislation right now in the House Commerce committee.” 

Clearly, mental health reform is an issue on our elected leaders’ minds, spurred partially because of front page news stories such as this one, which my alma mater, The Washington Post, printed today. 

How one of the nation’s most promising basketball players became homeless

By Terrence McCoy, The Washington Post

On a summer day in 2012, a basketball superstar walked into Jimmy John’s in downtown Washington just as employees were attempting to kick out a homeless woman. Chamique Holdsclaw, who was drafted first overall in 1999 by the Washington Mystics and played in six all-star games, tried to ignore the commotion until she suddenly became part of it.

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