(June 19,2015) During America’s colonial days, there were three ways that individuals with mental illnesses were commonly treated. If they were lucky, their families took care of them. If not, they were locked in jail where they often were mistreated, or they were “warned out,” which meant a local constable escorted them to the county line and told them to start walking and never come back.
Two horrific stories sent to me by readers this week illustrate that more than 200 years later, we are still mistreating many persons whose real crime is that they got sick.
Police in Kentucky Put Mentally Ill Man On Bus To Florida, Defying Judge’s Order, Send Him Off With $18
CARROLLTON, Ky.—Adam Horine leaned on the courtroom podium, wept and begged.
He called himself “crazy,” but insisted that he could represent himself. He said he was dying.
The hearing before Carroll District Judge Elizabeth Chandler stood out from Horine’s many other court appearances over the years for an array of mostly minor offenses. In a rambling, sometimes confusing dialogue with the judge, the 31-year-old defendant said, his voice cracking, that he loved Kentucky but “they are trying to force me out.”
Horine was absolutely right. Just hours later, he’d be embarking — alone — on a 900-mile, one-way bus trip to Florida, courtesy of the Carrollton Police Department.
“I should be in the hospital,” Horine had pleaded with the judge during the hearing. “I have mental illness and I say things I shouldn’t say. But I would never hurt anybody. I never have.”
