He could be your son or brother - Victoria Advocate - Victoria, TX.pdf (151.6 KB)
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Let me know if this doesn’t work on this site.
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This is so very sad. That poor mother who tried to help her son and the aftermath on the family. Would mobile mental health crisis teams be the answer? And lots of them. More hospitals? Both require compassion, volunteers and money. Has anyone seen a plan for reform?
We need mobile health teams and more beds asap. This poor mom had no idea that what little system there was, would be radically different once her son turned 18.
The District Attorney was once quoted (in this same paper) as saying he thought mental health courts were “gimmicks”. Victoria isn’t a small town, while 62,000 isn’t a large population, most of the new Texas money mentioned in the article is only going to larger population areas. Victoria and the rest of us are supposed to be able to access the help available in the large cities. But how on earth does it do this mom any good when Victoria prosecutor and judge are just looking to try her son after he becomes stable on meds?
I am so tired of people with brain diseases being dragged through courtrooms for the entertainment of our society.
She thought she was getting her son help, she just got him into the adult legal system in a backward county.
Its the same mentality as dragging Andrea Yates through the court system after she drowned her children. How horrible it was and people were eager to read the details and hear about her actions in the courtroom as they detailed what had happened to the children in front of Andrea.
How is it any different than the days of Bedlam Asylum back in 1800s England when people came to view the asylum residents as a form of entertainment?
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Hope, you hit the nail on the head with that response. I have a friend who I respect from church and her son has been in the prison and jail system since he was 16 years old. He’s now nearly 30 and has just recently been diagnosed schizophrenic paranoid schizophrenic in fact. I was speaking with her at church and she told me she always slept better when her son was in jail. I don’t want to judge this woman because I know that she’s been through hell and I refuse to go against another mother but I did ask her if she felt she could be an advocate.I can’t imagine how frightening jail would be for someone with schizophrenia, can you? Also you know they must be made fun of by the other inmates.
We have got to quit treating this illness in the penal system. The problem is many of those prisoners are getting medical health treatment for the first time in their lives.
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Husband had pepper spray burns where you don’t want to get pepper spray burns.
It was very bad for him.
Between his physical size, his personal darkness, that he attempted to kill a sheriff (uber serious…he was facing 25 to life)…and his mental state…the guards did what they thought was best.
Pepper spray and isolation.
Sometimes they gave him his meds.
He still has scars…both physical and psychological.
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Thank God is is out of there and I was also touched by your description of his worth to your family. That is really what it all boils down to, isn’t it?
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