Please Note there is a Significant Warning before going online and reading the article, it includes
At least six people experiencing homelessness died during the winter storm. That number could rise.
Homeless, Mentally Ill and Dead in Jail
Let’s look at His word as we start today:
Micah 6: 8
He has shown you Oh mortal what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God
Matthew 25: 42, 43 & 45
For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty and you didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked and you didn’t give me clothing, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.
And He will answer, “I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help Me.:
What say you…
Well efforts were made, for days, I mean if they refused, it’s their fault if they die out there, we tried, right, efforts were made, right, we did not just leave them out there…
Electric failed, pipes burst, homes flooded, buildings failed, we all suffered, no difference, we die, they die, the cycle of life, if effort was made, that is enough they should have responded
Introduction
This is one of the toughest blogs I have engaged, however, it is vitally important for the great implications that it carries within its traffic ending. Mentally ill, poor education, black, unemployed, minor criminal record, non-violent, and no family for support, a complete package for tragedy.
The question remains, how did it happen, why and can it be prevented that is why we are looking at this man’s terrible death and suffering. Again, the warning is made, this is one that will upset and disturb you, so be prepared.
Mr. Peirce Who Was He
Look at who he is described to be in the article, black, mentally ill with schizophrenia and bipolar also with developmental delays while growing up in school. The entire police department had known him for years and he was Never violent, so when they arrested him for “Terroristic Threatening,” after he pointed a finger at them in the shape of a gun during a serious mental health crisis, it was unusual, and they went for a felony charge/
Then when he could not make the $100.00, he ended up in isolation for over a year, off his medications because he refused them once and there was no follow-up, he could not make the bail because he was homeless with no family. He never went to court for his case, he was never convicted or sentenced. What was missed?
He died waiting for trial but never received legal assistance and the final blow, this giant of a man into jail at 180 pounds died weighing 90 pounds. Now that is a lot of information, it is all in the article in more depth and detail, but the horror of what he suffered is unacceptable and immoral and should never happen. This is one of the core problems of homelessness, the people are considered disposable!
Now all of this as part of the start is not normal for my blog style, but something must shake people to the reality that homeless people are people and they are struggling, suffering, and going through unthinkable things because too many will not consider them as worthy of assistance and intervention, and many will even refuse to think of them as human!
Implications are National and Criminal
Although nothing criminal was found in a detailed investigation after his death, there is still much to be learned. Three aspects of this case scream the loudest, first is the $100.00 bail, second the severity of the charges, and the inattentiveness to his care needs after one single refusal of medications.
How is it possible that no bail bond agent or something along that line was not able to be contacted and brought to bear to get him out of jail? Here may be part of the reason, the criminal was overcharged by the police. He was charged with a felony. They knew him, had arrested him, and knew he was mentally ill and non-violent. It was like that day they had had enough and arrested him and just assessed a heavy charge so they would not have to deal with him for a while. They made a willful decision to overcharge, and it cost him his life.
There is also an entire year where he had no medical care or medications, and no records exist. They state he refused, really? Since when does a mentally ill person make their own decisions about care? How did one refusal of medications turn into a year of complete abandonment and death?
National implication, how many other mentally ill and unstable men, women, and young adults are in jails across this nation and in isolation, dying due to lack of care? The reason it is not a national outcry, they are merely homeless persons! They are off the streets, they are not impacting taxpayers in a direct way anymore., the tourists can spend their money freely and the streets and sidewalks are cleaner, all is well. So, on a criminal basis maybe all is well, but on a moral and ethical basis where do we stand? We as a nation have blood and lives on our hands.
Safety Net Fail
Now I have not taken the time, the effort, and the screening work to write this simply to offend you, the reader, it is to highlight the failures of an overworked, broken system. There are other Mr. Pierce’s out there, hopefully, few others have died as he has, but they exist, and it should not be. There is supposed to be a safety net in place, right? So how did the safety fail here in this terrible case, even though it is stated and known that no criminal charges will ever be filed, it was still a massive fail.
Mentally ill and unstable homeless are not the largest number of homeless anymore, but the crisis still exists, how to help them when they have broken the law. At times they are not aware of the violation and may appear incoherent, and irrational, but rarely dangerous. Jail is the absolute worst place for a person in a mental health crisis and that is the very place they are put, often in solitary confinement. Jail staff, assessment officers, are the first line of defense.
For just over 365 days the staff in the solitary confinement unit charted all is well with the cell and inmate. Where were the lawyers, mental health workers, supervisors, and medical personnel as he wasted away from 185 pounds to 90 pounds at death? The safety net never existed for him, he died forgotten and alone, with no care, he was homeless, a ‘threat,’ and had no family, so the safety net did not cover him. He was incompetent and yet he was allowed to refuse care, what!
The Ideal World of Mental Health and Incarceration
Homelessness, Mental Health, and Jails have always been a three-way connection of an unbreakable nature since most mental hospitals were shut down decades ago. However, it is a cost-prohibitive arrangement and ineffective at producing any results or benefits.
The vast majority of the mentally ill homeless are stable, and quiet and do not make trouble while on the streets, but when it is hard to get the medications to them, or a policy is changed, or some such decision, then is when problems start up. But the Industrial Complex does not want to do introspection, they want blame games and answers that fix their problems for them.
Mt. Pierce was known to the police department quite well; he had been arrested many. Many times, they knew of mental health issues and the like. They stated that he was very agitated that day when he came to the police department and began the interaction that would end in his death in just over 365 days. What triggered the officers that day with that set of behaviors for them to decide jail was the best place for him? Yes, words were uttered, a finger pointed, but all knew they were empty, was jail the right place or not?
Now is when we get in the endless loop of what if this or what if that and that could go on forever, but to change that loop fundamentally requires a deep re-set on thinking of the mentally and housing in the local and state jail systems. It is known that they do not handle jail, the noise, confusion, lights, sounds, and such well and yet, that is where they go upon arrest and their trouble intensifies. I guess to ask if incarcerating the mentally ill and risking them dying as Mr. Pierce did, we only have to ask one question, are they humans worthy of mercy?
How Did We Get Here
Let me re-state two things, Mr. Pierce was a non-convicted person waiting for trial and the system failed him and he died a terrible death. Jails were never designed to be used for mental health holding after the removal of mental health hospitals. The one single connector is greed. It is less expensive to incarcerate the mentally ill on minor infractions than to hospitalize and treat them for the underlying illness, which as far as I am concerned, is immoral. I know that Mr. Pierce, although arrested multiple times, was never violent or aggressive and yet ended up arrested on a felony charge; how many more Mr. Pierces are sitting in jail, dying in jail, and totally forgotten about?
From the 1970’s to the 1990’s progressive voices demanded reform and better care and management of the mentally. They demanded that they be able to live free among us and to have it any other way was cruel. Well, I beg to differ, I do not like people living in tough places, but to have mentally unwell people roaming the streets, suffering, and struggling and no one caring for them, that is very cruel indeed. Too often the social reasoning angel gets in the way of our collective common sense, and we make terrible decisions and people suffer from mental health and releasing them to be on their own.
Conclusion
Sadly, the discussion over this case could carry for days and pages, but the end result is this, Love mercy, do justice and walk humbly with your God. The current configuration of mental health care in the United States does not work for any of that. Cruelty, and injustice and suffering are marking the men and women who are mentally ill and homeless frightened and go deep into hiding, away from any help. Reforms, no more Mr. Peirce’s, please.
CTA…
Answer this,
Does a mentally ill, unstable black man have no rights and is he able to legally refuse care, and is he allowed to die with repercussions
In America, the land of the free and the home of the brace, how brace was the response to the perceived threat by a well-known mentally il man to charge him with a felony instead of getting him help
Is this the best we can do in the era after the enclosure of the mental hospitals, to allow men and women to suffer and die in our prisons without care, is that our best in America
