Wednesday, February 06, 2013
Here is a open letter I would like to send to Gov.
Pence.
R.C.
Dear Governor Pence:
In my many years of working with the seriously mentally ill
[SMI], there have many periods of public outrage because of the actions of a
psychotic individual. John Lennon was shot. President Reagan was shot.
There were random and nonsensical murders all across the country. And of course
there is the recent massacre of children at the Sandy Hook school. All
committed by the mentally ill. With each tragedy there is a public outcry
to supervise the mentally ill better. To provide better treatment. To provide
better supervision. To do a better job of protecting the public. I
would like to help with this.
Most of my 35 plus years of working in social services has
been working with the dangerous and serious mentally ill. I have been
responsible for monitoring 600 [of a possible 1000 or so] mental patients who
live in the community [in Marion County] and who were under court orders and
civil commitment to comply with treatment. I worked with the mental health
court to try to bring recalcitrant patients in compliance with their court
orders.
At any given time, while supervising these patients,
approximately 50% were non-compliant either by not taking their medications,
missing appointments, or by substance abuse. The court had very few tools to
force compliance.
It was very frequent that we would see the arrest of one of
our patients for a notorious crime and then it made headlines all over the
media. It was sad that we could not have prevented this. It was sad that
we could not share with the criminal court information about the patients civil
commitment nor his mental history. There is no sharing of this vital info with
any agency.
There are many problems with the supervision of dangerously
mentally ill. I believe with my experience from working with the Marion County
Prosecutor’s Office, the Public Defenders’ Agency, the Marion County Court
System, the Marion County Jail, and the Marion County Community Corrections
that I have knowledge and experience which would be helpful. In the past
I have help develop the PAIR Mental Health Diversion Program. I served on Mayor
Goldsmith’s Task Force on the Dangerous Mentally Ill. I served on Prosecutor
Newman advisory panel on the Incarcerated Mentally Ill. And I served on
the advisory committee for DOC under Commissioner Cohen.
I believe with rational planning and action, we can prevent
many tragic crimes committed by the dangerous and serious mentally ill.
I would like to again work on this problem. I am
willing to be part of a advisory committee to explore these issues. I am also
willing to serve on the Governor’s Commission on Mental Health.
Please advise me if I can be of service. I can be reached at
ph. 317-354-6668.
Sincerely,
Robert Cardwell, LSW
January 31, 2013
