VOICES OF THE GULAG

The Saints Who Stole Christmas!

2011-12-24T00:37:00.001-08:00

Last Friday (December 16) the Coalinga State Hospital Administration delivered Unit 10's annual Christmas tree. Afterwards, the Unit Residents, as a group, decorated the tree with plastic ornaments, colored lights and home-made decorations, all provided by the State.

Having completed the tree decoration, they were informed that they would have to take the lights off the tree because it was said to be a "fire hazard".

The consensus amongst the residents of the unit was that if they wanted the lights off the tree, then the Unit Supervisor could "get off her fat ass and do it herself".

So the Unit 10 Unit Supervisor as well as the Unit Supervisor from Unit 11 arrived at Unit 10 with their usual condescending, fake smiles. They then removed the offending lights from the Christmas tree.

At that point, the unit Residents became incensed, took a vote and unanimously decided that the Unit Supervisors should simply take the entire tree away. So, with the assistance of the Residents, the tree was removed entirely and flung down the hallway.

Within the hour, a fresh, natural Christmas tree had been replaced with a quickly improvised 10" green construction paper Christmas tree made by the Residents.

Immediately thereafter, one of the Residents, Mike St. Martin sent Hospital Director, Pam Ahlin, a Christmas card in which he lovingly wrote "Merry Fucking Christmas! I don't need to tell you where you can put your Christmas tree. Year-after-year, you continue to do the same thing and you're shocked when the outcome is the same."

Monday, the Program Director, Frances Hicks, attempted to return the Christmas tree to the unit and the unit unanimously refused to allow the tree to be put back up.

On Wednesday, Acting Unit Supervisor, Patricia Blevens ordered her staff to drag the tree back into Unit 10 and to decorate it but without the lights, still against the continued objections of the Residents. Again, this attempt was quickly aborted .

On Thursday, having finally given up in their attempts to impose the unlit tree upon Unit 10, Hospital staff drug the tree outside and put it into the dumpster.

It must be said that, this was not the first time a Christmas tree had been stripped of its lights in C.S.H.. Each Christmas since the Hospital opened, Hospital staff have carried out their own little unique Christmas ritual which involves visiting all units ands removing, with loving care, each of the little colored lights festooning the Christmas trees.

In so doing, they appear to be earnestly protecting the well-being of their little charges lest any of the trees should catch fire from the lights. This, despite the likely fact that all the loving staff have their own trees at home, brilliantly lit with cascades of brightly glowing, colored lights!

In this way, they demonstrate that they care more for the Hospital's residents than they do for their own children!

It's traditions like that that make Mike St. Martin refer to the D.M.H. as the "Department of Mental Disorder."

Lenore Skenazy: Building Communities, Building Trust, Helping Your Children to Grow

2011-10-17T00:17:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xn6PGYD5pU

Another Unnecessary Death At California's Coalinga State Hospital

2011-03-15T00:23:00.000-07:00

Early Saturday morning, the 5th of March, 2011, Civil Detainee Victor Segovia died in California's Coalinga State Hospital. He had complained to medical staff of chest pains and difficulty breathing earlier in the evening but was left untreated and told to go to bed. Shortly before 4:00 a.m., he collapsed on the bathroom floor and, despite attempts by other Detainees to get him the timely medical attention he desperately needed, he did not receive it and died shortly thereafter.

Illegal Monitoring and Recording of Cordless Phone Conversations in Civil Commitment "Hospitals"

2010-10-14T19:42:00.000-07:00

[Ed: Please note, exceptions granted [below] to "correctional institutions" DO NOT include California's Department of Mental Health Coalinga State Hospital as this is NOT a correctional facility but a "civil detention facility" not for the purpose of punishing or "correcting" those locked-up within.

California Penal Code Section 632.6

http://law.onecle.com/california/penal/632.6.html

(a) Every person who, maliciously and without the consent of
all parties to the communication, intercepts, receives, or assists
in intercepting or receiving a communication transmitted between
cordless telephones as defined in subdivision (c), between any
cordless telephone and a landline telephone, or between a cordless
telephone and a cellular telephone shall be punished by a fine not
exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), by imprisonment
in the county jail not exceeding one year, or in the state prison,
or by both that fine and imprisonment. If the person has been
convicted previously of a violation of Section 631, 632, 632.5,
632.7, or 636, the person shall be punished by a fine not exceeding
ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by imprisonment in the county jail
not exceeding one year, or in the state prison, or by both that fine
and imprisonment.
(b) This section shall not apply in any of the following
instances:
(1) To any public utility engaged in the business of providing
communications services and facilities, or to the officers,
employees, or agents thereof, where the acts otherwise prohibited are
for the purpose of construction, maintenance, conduct, or operation
of the services and facilities of the public utility.
(2) To the use of any instrument, equipment, facility, or service
furnished and used pursuant to the tariffs of the public utility.
(3) To any telephonic communications system used for communication
exclusively within a state, county, city and county, or city
correctional facility.
(c) As used in this section and in Section 635, "cordless
telephone" means a two-way low power communication system consisting
of two parts--a "base" unit which connects to the public switched
telephone network and a handset or "remote" unit--which are connected
by a radio link and authorized by the Federal Communications
Commission to operate in the frequency bandwidths reserved for
cordless telephones.

Interviews of offenders cut sharply

2010-04-05T02:22:00.000-07:00

Critics say the change in policy may be illegal

The mental health experts who help decide whether convicted sex offenders are too dangerous to be released from custody used to rely heavily on face-to-face interviews.

They would travel to the prison, sit across a desk from the inmate in a tiny office and ask deeply personal questions about parents, siblings, puberty, sex. Many say it’s the best way to understand what makes someone tick.

Now the experts are more likely to sit at home and look at an inmate’s records on a computer screen.

That shift in policy may be illegal, critics say. It has prompted a local assemblyman to ask for a government audit and has raised concerns about the effectiveness of a program designed to protect the public from what are known formally as sexually violent predators.

“It’s gone from a very well-functioning program to just a disaster,” said a sex-offender evaluator who has worked on the program since its inception in 1996. She asked to remain anonymous for fear of losing state contracts. “The whole program is in disarray.”

Nancy Kincaid, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Mental Health, which runs the Sex Offender Commitment Program, denied that the new policy is illegal or that it has affected the quality of the evaluations. She said about 40 percent of the inmates refuse to be interviewed anyway.

Questions about the program are mounting in the wake of the slayings of Chelsea King, 17, of Poway and Amber Dubois, 14, of Escondido.

John Albert Gardner III, 30, a convicted sex offender, is charged with raping and killing Chelsea and is a focus of the Amber investigation. He has pleaded not guilty.

Critics say the commitment program is overwhelmed by Jessica’s Law, a crackdown on sex offenders approved by voters in November 2006.

The measure brought a tenfold increase in referrals from the prisons for psychological evaluations. But the number of offenders being sent to mental hospitals rather than being released has gone down, according to a data analysis by The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Now some people want to know why.

“The state’s management of sex offenders has failed countless children over the years. This has to stop,” said Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, R-San Diego, whose district includes Chelsea’s family. He’s calling for a Bureau of State Audits investigation.

Fletcher’s concerns echo earlier complaints lodged by a San Francisco lawyer representing a group of private-contract psychologists and psychiatrists. They say they’re being pressured by program administrators to do cursory evaluations as a way to save money.

Commitment programs began in Washington state in 1990 and have spread to 20 states. California’s began in 1996.

The programs have always been controversial, flying in the face of America’s notion of itself as a land of liberty by locking up people for crimes they might commit.

The programs are expensive, too — roughly four times as costly as prison.

But they’re also popular with a public outraged by repeat offenders, and they’ve withstood legal challenges all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

California’s program requires prison officials to red-flag sexually violent inmates when they’re nearing parole and refer them to the Department of Mental Health for an evaluation by two psychologists or psychiatrists.

A traditional evaluation involves a review of case files, an interview with the inmate in prison and a written report — a process that typically takes 20 to 30 hours, evaluators say.

If the evaluators disagree about an inmate’s prognosis, two more clinicians are brought in. If they also disagree, the offender is paroled.

That, in essence, is what happened with Gardner, although under a different program for mentally disordered offenders. Evaluators disagreed about the threat he posed after his 2000 conviction for molesting a 13-year-old neighbor, and he was released.

Inmates found to be a continuing danger are sent to court in the county where they were last convicted.

A judge or jury decides whether an inmate should be hospitalized.

In 2004 through 2006, there were 2,956 referrals from the prison system for Department of Mental Health evaluations, an average of 82 per month. In that same period, there were 71 commitments.

Jessica’s Law widened the net in late 2006. Only one offense was required to qualify for screening, instead of the previous two. And the number of sex crimes that triggered review grew from nine to 35.

As a result, there were 22,976 referrals in 2007 through 2009, an average of 638 per month. During those three years, there were 59 commitments.

Despite the huge increase in prison referrals, then, commitments have gone down. Why? The Union-Tribune data analysis shows that the rate of cases moved forward by prosecutors and judges has stayed the same, with less than 10 percent of cases rejected.

But the rate of rejection by the Department of Mental Health has gone up significantly.

Before Jessica’s Law, 62 percent of referrals were eliminated in an initial screening. Since then, it has been 79 percent.

Before Jessica’s Law, 81 percent of cases were rejected after the next step, a full evaluation including an interview. Since then, it has been 93 percent.

Kincaid said the rejections went up because many of the new referrals don’t have an underlying mental disorder and a propensity for sexual violence that would qualify them for commitment.

But critics say the program is weeding out more cases at the front end, both to better manage the increased workload and to save money.

The initial screening used to include just a check of whether the inmate had committed a qualifying crime. In 2007, deeper record reviews were added. They call for scrutiny of an inmate’s case files, but no face-to-face interviews, and generally take a few hours.

“We were told it was legal, and if we didn’t do it, some evaluations wouldn’t get done at all, and nobody wants that to happen,” the longtime evaluator said. “We figured it was better than nothing.”

Chris Johnson, the San Francisco lawyer who represents some evaluators in a potential whistle-blower lawsuit against the state, questions whether the change is legal.

He pointed to the state code that governs the program, which says that once a referral comes to the Department of Mental Health, two psychologists or psychiatrists are supposed to do a “full evaluation.” For most professionals, a full evaluation includes an interview, Johnson said.

But Kincaid referred to another code section that calls for a review by prison officials of an inmate’s “social, criminal and institutional history.” Because of its expertise, the Department of Mental Health does that, which is where the record reviews come in, she said.

Johnson said evaluators who refuse to do record reviews on ethical grounds face a backlash. The evaluator said there’s pressure from department administrators to find that an inmate isn’t dangerous.

Kincaid called those allegations “patently false.” She said evaluators are encouraged to get whatever records they need to render an opinion and, if in doubt, can pass an inmate along to the next level of scrutiny, which includes interviews.

The evaluator acknowledged that she stands to gain financially if the program returns to more full evaluations and fewer record reviews. Some did very well under the old system.

In the first year after Jessica’s Law passed, the program raised the flat rate for evaluations from $2,000 to $3,500 to entice the 70 private-contract experts who perform them to do more and reduce a backlog.

About a dozen of them ended up making more than $500,000 that year, and at least one made more than $1 million.

The latest contract still pays about $3,000 for clinical evaluations. The flat rate for a record review is $75.

Staff data specialist Danielle Cervantes contributed to this report. John Wilkens: (619) 293-2236 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (619) 293-2236 end_of_the_skype_highlighting; john.wilkens@uniontrib.com

More mentally ill sex offenders freed on parole

2010-03-31T19:23:00.000-07:00

Lawmakers seek audit of mental health agency

The system that decides whether mentally ill sex offenders are too dangerous to be freed when their prison terms end has seen a tenfold increase in cases since the passage of Jessica’s Law in California three years ago.

But the number of inmates who get committed to an institution has barely budged, according to an analysis of state data by The San Diego Union-Tribune.

One reason is the volume of prison referrals rejected by the California Department of Mental Health. In 2005, the agency approved 45 percent of cases on initial review. That number has fallen steadily, to 17 percent last year.

That trend is one of the reasons a state lawmaker on Tuesday asked for an audit of the government agency responsible for screening offenders.

Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, R-San Diego, said he wants the state Department of Mental Health to explain why so few inmates are ordered into hospitals instead of being released on parole.

“I’ve got serious concerns that (the department) is not fully executing its duty to protect the public from sex offenders,” Fletcher said in a letter sent yesterday to Stephen Mayberg, state mental health director.

Fletcher’s inquiry follows a report in the Union-Tribune on Sunday detailing allegations from child-safety advocate Marc Klaas about the department’s handling of John Albert Gardner III, the convicted sex offender charged with raping and killing Poway teenager Chelsea King.

Klaas, citing department employees who saw Gardner’s psychological evaluations, said prison officials twice recommended Gardner not be released, and twice Department of Mental Health evaluators disagreed.

Placing Gardner in a state hospital rather than releasing him on parole after serving five years for a 2000 conviction for molesting and beating a 13-year-old girl in Rancho Bernardo might have saved Chelsea’s life, Klaas said.

California, like 19 other states, has a civil-commitment procedure that allows officials to keep violent sex offenders in custody past the end of their prison sentences if they have a mental illness that makes them dangerous and requires hospitalization.

When Jessica’s Law passed in November 2006, it changed the criteria for designation as a sexually violent predator from two offenses to one, and lengthened the list of qualifying crimes. The Department of Mental Health caseload exploded.

It went from 636 referrals in 2006 to 6,705 last year, according to the Union-Tribune data analysis.

The referrals originate with prison officials, who evaluate the offenders as they are nearing the end of their terms.

Department of Mental Health psychologists and psychiatrists then look at the cases and decide which ones should get additional screening. That round of screening determines which of those candidates will be sent to local district attorneys for civil-commitment trials.

The number finally placed in hospitals statewide after that process was 23 in 2006, and grew only to 27 last year despite the high number of referrals, the data review found.

A San Francisco attorney who represents a group of current and former Department of Mental Health sex-offender evaluators in a possible whistle-blower suit against the state said the trends are largely due to the state shifting more to “paper screenings” — reviews of written records instead of face-to-face interviews by two separate evaluators.

That has allowed the department to manage the flood of cases and cut costs amid a severe state budget crisis, said the attorney, Chris Johnson. But he believes it’s against the law, which requires a “full evaluation.” To most mental health professionals, doing a full evaluation involves a personal interview, he said.

“Everybody understands the state is having financial difficulties, but if they want to change the law, they should ask Californians to agree, and not do it on the backs of crime victims,” Johnson said. “We already voted on it, with Jessica’s Law.”

A Mental Health department spokeswoman did not respond to phone and e-mail requests for comment yesterday. In response to an earlier story addressing similar concerns, the spokeswoman said the department’s screening process “exceeds all statutory requirements” and the evaluators “always err on the side of caution.”

In his letter yesterday to Mayberg, Fletcher asked how often the department does “paper screenings” and under what statutory authority.

“I am asking you to help me in this process and to be part of the solution to ensure the safety of our children from sexual predators,” Fletcher wrote.

The assemblyman, who last week announced plans for a Chelsea’s Law to crack down on sex offenders, also wants the Bureau of State Audits to examine the Mental Health Department’s practices.

Trula LaCalle, executive director of the California office of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said she could not speak to Fletcher’s concerns because she has no firsthand knowledge of interactions between prison and mental-health officials.

But “the Department of Mental Health is overwhelmed in all areas,” LaCalle said. “Mental Health has been underfunded in this state for decades. The laws themselves may not be the problem. The problem is implementation.”

An Employee of C.S.H. Voices Frustration

2009-06-30T19:41:00.000-07:00

NOTE: This message appeared on a discussion board at ALLNURSES.COM:

Default Re: Anyone Start at Coalinga State Hospital May 4th?
COALINGA STATE HOSPITAL is the most ________ up place to work at...excuse my language....I'm soooo upset..I work on a RRU and my psych tech supervisor (i didnt mind they were in charge but after their non medical thinking I'm angry!!!) told me the old nurse i work with didnt have to help me do sick call, she didnt have to float, and i had to do 50 monthly summaries while the other nurse was on leave....all that other nurse has to do is the 50 WRP's!!!...but anyways...my US straight up told me, the people in administration...does not really care about the patients medical problems and all they care about is their enhancement plan!! and that sick call is not that important...i realize we are working with SVP's, population full or rapists and child molesters but I'M NOT THEIR JUDGE
, I'M A NURSE!!! I truly believe in giving equal care to everybody, maybe if me or my family were victims i'd think different but it's inhumane for EVERYONE to treat them all like garbage!!!.....if i didnt need this job for my daughter i'd get the hecc outta here!!!!!!!! My supervisor said only I can float to another unit, the other nurse doesnt have to!!! because of this paperwork....and that if i float, i have to come back to our own unit and do sick call....what if their is an emergency on the other unit and they ask where their nurse is, I'm suppose to be floating not covering!! theres a difference....from what I know all us RN's signed the same duty statement.....my program even had an RN meeting on teamwork, RN's do all roles sick call/monthlys/wrp's etc etc....if my unit is exempt I want that in writing....so I won't be in trouble for them saying....it was all this RN's fault cuz she's the only one who can do medical care and the other nurse only has paperwork...thats BS!!! I'm new to the state and everyone knows everyone there and you can't get any help unless you know people......I just dont know what to do....I have to keep this job for my daughter!! (I drive every week from the bay area live out here when i work and go back home to my daughter, fam and friends)... but at the same time, I know when I go higher in the chain of command nothing will get solved...it's mostly psych techs and people that are all buddies....I already knew nothing was gonna happen when i talked to my supervisor today....but I still tried....i want everyone who is thinking about working here to think twice, three times, four times etc!! if you are new to the state they treat you like a dog!! if your a new RN, they'll treat you like a dog....I'm grateful I have a job since it's scarce out there, i'm really venting because I'm gonna do my job which is to help provide medical care!!! it's my own license on the line, I can only do so much, i'll work hard and get the satisfaction from me being a good person, which is not being lazy or cruel!! that i'm doing what a RN is suppose to do ...I didnt want to start drama or a war on my unit, it's not like that, I've done what they asked me to do...all I'm asking is for help and I can't even get that from my supervisor or the other RN.....coalinga state hospital is a bunch of no good politics, it's not a hospital at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:down :

Mike St. Martin Loses Bid For Release From California's Gulag

2009-05-10T22:54:00.000-07:00

Mike St. Martin lost his "civil" commitment case this past week in San Diego county. He is now a "lifetime" commitment to California's Department of Mental Health, Coalinga State Hospital (the "Gulag") .

The San Diego County Prosecutor managed to convince the jury that St. Martin poses a continued risk to California's children and should be locked-up for life as a "Sexually Violent Predator". It is worth noting that the word "violent" in this case does not mean "violent" in the sense that most intelligent and informed people would use the term. Instead, "sexual violence" has been redefined by the State of California and most other states as a means of branding individuals who have had sexual contact of one kind or another with someone under the age of fourteen, regardless if force, coercion, or actual violence were employed in this sexual contact. And, of course, it serves to inflame the public who, after all, can hardly be blamed for not wanting "sexually violent predators" loosed on society.

Mike is preparing a piece recounting this most recent outrage in this ongoing travesty and we will post it here as soon as it is available.

Worth noting, however, is the apparent outrage expressed by the State at Mike's vocal advocacy of his and other Detainee's rights and his audacity to describe in detail the circumstances of their continued imprisonment and cynical mistreatment by the State of California. That Mike St. Martin will describe in detail the myriad legal and constitutional violations perpetrated by the State, communicating these to civil liberties advocates on the outside who then reprint his statements on this and other blogs, seemed to bother them, and Channel 10 of San Diego, the most.

The news report is available here and, were it not with such terrible consequences, would be laughable for its complete lack of any journalistic standards. The "victim's advocate" interviewed as part of this piece gets the final word, suggesting that by his participation in disseminating the truth about Coalinga, St. Martin is "re-victimizing" his victims and "drowning-out" competing voices! This absurd position can only be interpreted as code for: "he shouldn't be allowed to speak to the public".

Victim's Advocate Says Sex Offender's Blog Posts Hurts Victims

Urge C.S.H. Director Mayburg To Lift Computer Moratorium

2008-11-15T20:26:00.000-08:00

Please write, email or call:
Stephen W. Mayberg, Ph. D.
Department of Mental Health
1600 9th Street
Sacramento, CA 95814

Email: stephen.mayberg@dmh.ca.gov
Tel: (916) 654-2309

Dear Mr. Mayberg,

Administrative Directive 654 established the ability for Residents of Coalinga State Hospital to purchase and possess personal laptop computers. Many individuals availed themselves of this opportunity by buying their own computers, and this subpopulation retains them to this day.

On February 28, 2007, an unsigned memo was published and circulated that placed a temporary "moratorium" on the further purchase of these items until details regarding their use were addressed. A few months later, the population of residents at C.S.H. were informed that the process had been taken over by Sacramento at the Departmental level, and that we would be advised as to consequent policies. In the ensuing months, there have been repeated attempts to obtain information regarding this process. To date, the response has been completely uninformative, though rumors abound.

This ongoing moratorium has created two groups of residents at this facility which cannot otherwise be distinguished one from the other. Some have had computers for around two years, while the rest are being prevented from purchasing their own. Even those who do have computers are finding it difficult to replace worn-out components or to obtain the software they need. Some originally opted to temporarily forgo purchasing needed software (intending to obtain such software later) in order to obtain the best computer for the money. Now however, they have their computers but not the software they need.

Legislators have been able to craft, vote upon, and signed into law major legislation during the same period of time that this so-called committee has been looking at what computers and peripherals might be allowed-twenty-one months!

We want to know why it is taking so long to develop a simple set of standards.

Any standard at which the committee arrives constitutes a shot at a moving target; computer technology changes every 18 months or so, and you've had 21 months to pull the trigger without any results. It appears to us that this committee, if it really does exist, is simply accomplishing through moratorium that which they cannot by other means achieve lawfully, not to say that an unsigned memo is lawful.

Why are we not being kept informed of its progress? We are, after all, the ones who are most interested in these decisions: residents of C.S.H., family members, and friends of the Residents. Remember, that taxpayers have made computer investments believing that D.M.H. would act in good faith. As people sense that they have been deceived there has been growing unrest. There are many who are contemplating legal remedies; while others clamor for more direct action. For all of us both inside and outside of C.S.H. the claim that this moratorium is "temporary" has become unreasonable.

It's time to end this phoney moratorium. Direct the people in your Department to do their jobs.

Thank you.

Lawsuits target ventilation systems at Coalinga State Hospital

2008-11-11T14:09:00.000-08:00

By Chris Collins / The Fresno Bee

The air conditioning and ventilation systems at Coalinga State Hospital are in disrepair and have endangered the health of the facility's patients, according to two recent lawsuits.

One suit says that dead birds were found in the ventilation system.

The lawsuits raise questions about California's newest mental health hospital, a $388 million facility that opened in 2005 and houses sexually violent predators.

The lawsuits, both filed by Santa Monica attorney David Feldman in September in Fresno County Superior Court, say the hospital's ventilation system does not allow clean air to circulate and hospital staffers have failed to conduct necessary inspections.

Hospital spokeswoman Deborah Ireland said Monday that she could not comment on the lawsuits.

In the first lawsuit, patient Dougal Samuels, a 55-year-old man with an unspecified mental disease, says he began coughing, losing his appetite and having chills in April 2006. Four months later, after his condition worsened, a hospital doctor diagnosed him with Valley fever.

Samuels was later diagnosed with pneumonia. X-rays showed a large black mass in his right lung area. The hospital scheduled an MRI, but one was never done, according to the lawsuit.

In April 2007, Samuels told staffers that he was in so much pain that he could not sit up. Two months later, an MRI at a hospital in San Luis Obispo showed that Samuels' spine was inflamed and was destroying his vertebrae, the lawsuit says.

Samuels needed immediate surgery. He had a disc removed and was put into a body cast.

The lawsuit says that Coalinga State Hospital knew that Valley fever could spread through its ventilation system but did not take necessary precautions.

The second lawsuit says that patient Kurt Parker, a 41-year-old man with an unspecified mental impairment, was one of two patients to contract a dangerous flu that had spread because the ventilation system was not properly maintained.
The lawsuit says that "dead birds were allowed to accumulate in the ventilation system, resulting in the spreading of bacteria."

Also see:
http://www.geocities.com/three_strikes_legal/Mycobacterium_Avium_CSH.html

THE CLINICAL EVALUATORS HANDBOOK and STANDARD ASSESSMENT PROTOCOL DECLARED UNDERGROUND REGULATION BY THE OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

2008-08-18T23:06:00.000-07:00

On Friday, August 15, 2008, the OAL ruled on Michael St.Martin’s petition alleging that the “Evaluators’ Handbook” is an underground regulation. In its holding, the OAL analyzed each and every excuse made by the respondent California Department of Mental Health (“DMH”) and then explained why the proffered defense was totally without merit. The OAL ruling is a 12 page PDF document that you may read or download. Follow the link by clicking on the above title.

Civil Detainees To Lose Pell Grants

2008-08-04T16:00:00.000-07:00

August 1, 2008

Civilly committed sex offenders lose another rehabilitation tool. The ability to obtain a college education will be gone next year. The hardliners in politics apparently would rather throw away the key and house those persons whom are civilly committed for the rest of their lives, at huge costs, instead of spending a much smaller amount of money to educate and rehabilitate this group.

The hardliners targeted prisoners in the 1990s, and took away the ability to obtain a college education from prison inmates. They then spent the next ten years complaining about the high recidivism rates.

A little-noticed provision approved by the House and Senate yesterday makes certain offenders ineligible for Pell Grants starting July 1, 2009. President Bush is expected to sign it into law as part of a broader higher education bill.

Critics of this bill say it will cut off the possibility of higher education to offenders who are trying to rehabilitate themselves.

Opponents to this bill, including civil rights advocates, claim individual abuses of the Pell Grant program should have been dealt with, not a dismantling of the program for an entire class of citizens.

Those who are civilly committed complain that they supposedly still have their civil rights, and in fact, many of them are registered voters. Yet, society continues to punish them. The words of congressman Keller, and others like him, support the civil detainees claims that their detention is punitive - not civil.

"Today, the most insane wasteful spending program in America comes to an end," Rep. Ric Keller, a Florida Republican, said on the House floor on Thursday before his plan won approval.

Keller cited the AP report that some of the offenders were putting the financial aid to questionable use by buying clothes, DVD players and music CDS - sometimes after they dropped their classes.

The Associated Press reported in March that dozens of rapists and child molesters, including some in Wisconsin, have taken classes at taxpayer expense while confined by the courts to treatment centers. Critics say they are exploiting a loophole to receive Pell Grants, which are meant for low-income students.

In California, 125 patients at Coalinga State Hospital are receiving Pell Grants to take correspondence courses through Coastline Community College. The school doesn't know how many of the grant recipients are committed sex offenders, who take up two-thirds of the mental hospital's 1,500 beds, Coastline spokeswoman Michelle Ma said.

"We're certainly watching to see what impact this is going to have," she said. "We don't know if this is going to hurt our enrollment."

Some of the provisions of the Bill:

(E) in paragraph (7) (as designated by subparagraph (B)), by inserting before the period the following: `or who is subject to an involuntary civil commitment upon completion of a period of incarceration for a forcible or nonforcible sexual offense (as determined in accordance with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program)'; and
================================

`(e) Student Eligibility- An incarcerated individual who has obtained a secondary school diploma or its recognized equivalent shall be eligible for participation in a program receiving a grant under this section if such individual--

`(1) is eligible to be released within seven years (including an incarcerated individual who is eligible for parole within such time);

`(2) is 35 years of age or younger; and

`(3) has not been convicted of--

`(A) a `criminal offense against a victim who is a minor' or a `sexually violent offense', as such terms are defined in the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act (42 U.S.C. 14071 et seq.); or

`(B) murder, as described in section 1111 of title 18, United States Code.

`(f) Length of Participation- A State correctional education agency receiving a grant under this section shall provide educational and related services to each participating incarcerated individual for a period not to exceed seven years, not more than two years of which may be devoted to study in a graduate education degree program or to coursework to prepare such individuals to take college level courses. Educational and related services shall start during the period of incarceration in prison or prerelease, and the related services may continue for not more than two years after release from confinement.

`(g) Education Delivery Systems- State correctional education agencies and cooperating institutions shall, to the extent practicable, use high-tech applications in developing programs to meet the requirements and goals of this section.

`(h) Allocation of Funds- From the funds appropriated pursuant to subsection (i) for each fiscal year, the Secretary shall allot to each State an amount that bears the same relationship to such funds as the total number of students eligible under subsection (e) in such State bears to the total number of such students in all States.

Cynthia Radavsky Joins The Circle Of Avoidance

2008-08-04T14:42:00.000-07:00

Cynthia Radavsky, Deputy Director, Long Term Care Services, the person who supposedly oversees all of the State Hospitals in the California Department of Mental Health system, apparently has washed her hands of Michael St Martin’s allegations of a conspiracy to "smoke his chart." Instead of dealing with the situation and doing an independent investigation, she has instead referred St.Martin’s "concerns to the Administration at Coalinga State Hospital."

Once again, the Circle of Avoidance is in full operation. The Deputy Director has simply referred St.Martin’s concerns back to the people against whom the original complaint was made. It apparently is the "whose policing the police" scenario, as those accused will again investigate themselves.

Click on the Title to view Cynthia Radavsky’s letter.

Michael St.Martin fights back!

2008-08-01T17:07:00.000-07:00

Michael St.Martin fights back against an alleged conspiracy to "smoke" his medical chart. A group of women employees at Coalinga State Hospital have made unsubstantiated allegations against St.Martin in retaliation for his activism. Read the nonsense they have written in his medical chart and his letters of response. Click on the title to access the St.Martin pdf document.

Mike St. Martin Accused Of "Predorizing" C.S.H. Staff

2008-07-11T21:16:00.000-07:00

"Smoking the Charts"! Mike St. Martin illustrates the consequences for Civil Detainees who go public in exposing the California Department of Mental Health's Coalinga State Hospital.

CIVIL DETAINEES TAKE ON DMH "UNDERGROUND REGULATIONS"

2008-05-09T14:56:00.000-07:00

Department of Mental Health Underground Regulations: Evaluator's Handbook Not Being Promulgated.

http://www.oal.ca.gov/pdfs/notice/16z-2008.pdf (go to page 27)

Department of Mental Health Underground Regulation 818 Dealing with Contraband

http://www.oal.ca.gov/pdfs/notice/18z-2008.pdf (go to page 14)

Department of Mental Health Underground Regulation 624 Dealing with Mail and Packages

http://www.oal.ca.gov/pdfs/notice/19z-2008.pdf (go to page 27)

(Administrative Directives can be viewed at http://www.caldmh.wordpress.com)

Patient's killing shocks state hospital

2008-04-04T17:41:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles Times

Already under pressure to make reforms, the Atascadero facility is now dealing with the death of Lawrence Paul Rael. Another patient has been charged with murder. (full story)

Sex predator accused of killing inmate

2008-04-02T02:38:00.000-07:00

Two men were serving time in the same unit at Atascadero State Hospital
By John Simerman

A sexually violent predator committed to Atascadero State Hospital was found dead Sunday morning and another man in the same unit was arrested on suspicion of murder, a hospital spokesman said Monday.

Spokesman Craig Dacus said he thought it would be the first patient homicide in the 54-year history of a facility that houses about 1,000 patients near Highway 101 south of Paso Robles.

The body of Lawrence Rael, 37, was found in his bed about 8 a.m., Dacus said. Police arrested Richard McKee, 44, a sexually violent predator who was committed to the state hospital in 2005.

Dacus said he did not know if a weapon was used, but McKee also was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon for a separate incident with a different victim the same day. An investigation into Rael's death continued Monday.

"How that dead body got there we can't definitely say," Dacus said. "We're waiting for the investigation to pan out."

Court records show that McKee of San Diego was convicted in 1991 of lewd acts against an 11-year-old baby sitter and in 1998 for lewd acts against his 8-year-old niece. According to the Megan's Law Web site, Rael also was convicted for lewd acts with a child younger than 14.

McKee was originally admitted as a mentally disordered offender, then in August was reclassified as a sexually violent predator, or SVP, and switched units.

Both men were housed with other SVPs in Unit 22, where each patient lives in his own narrow room. Only the
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units themselves, and not the rooms, are locked at night, Dacus said.

Only 36 SVPs are left at Atascadero, with more than 400 having moved to Coalinga State Hospital, which opened in 2005. Peter Tolles, a former Unit 22 patient now at Coalinga, said that those remaining at Atascadero were held in two units, with Unit 22 designated for more "dysfunctional men that have both medical and emotional problems."

Tolles said his complaints about fights in the unit went ignored. Nancy Kincaid of the state Department of Mental Health said she could not document the unit's history of assaults Monday, but she reiterated that the agency investigates all complaints and allegations.

Tolles said he knew Rael as "Shaky," for his frequent shaking, even in his sleep. Rael entered Atascadero in 1998. "He was a pretty happy-go-lucky, jovial individual in comparison to many of the men on the unit," Tolles said.

McKee was being held Monday at San Luis Obispo County Jail. After they found the body, officials placed the state hospital on lockdown for most of the day Sunday, Dacus said.

Reach John Simerman at 925-943-8072 or jsimerman@bayareanewsgroup.com.

2008-04-02T02:20:00.000-07:00

Murdered ASH patient worried about alleged killer who just lost major court appeal

2008-04-01T17:59:00.000-07:00

By DANIEL BLACKBURN

The man suspected of strangling a fellow Atascadero State Hospital (ASH) patient to death with a towel over the weekend was on the losing end of an important, recent California Fourth District Court of Appeal decision upholding the constitutionality of Proposition 83, the so-called Jessica’s Law.

Also, hospital officials reportedly ignored at least a week of repeated warnings from patients about violent and threatening behavior by the man, Richard Earl McKee, now held on suspicion in the slaying of Lawrence Paul “Shaky” Rael late Saturday or early Sunday. And the victim’s father told several patients he was initially informed by hospital officials that his son “had hanged himself.”

Rael, found in his bed Sunday morning by hospital employees, was killed sometime after 10:30 p.m. Saturday, after he talked on the telephone to another patient and was said to have expressed his increasing fear of McKee.

A second victim, Raymond Chester, was injured in the attack and was discovered unconscious in his own bed after suffering damage to his limbs and ribs, according to witnesses. No further report on his condition was immediately available.

The murder and assault occurred as a federal judge in another case was demanding ASH officials show cause why they should not be held in contempt of court in the aftermath of a finding that two employees violated the civil rights of a patient.

According to a woman who answered the phone at ASH, no spokesperson would be available to talk to media on Monday regarding any issue because it is a state holiday, Caesar Chavez Day. She additionally declined to identify, or to put UncoveredSLO.com in touch with, the hospital’s on-call medical director for comment.

Suspect McKee until recently was considered by the California Department of Mental Health to be a mentally disordered offender (MDO). As such, he would by law be separated from other patients in the facility not similarly designated. But in mid-March, McKee was reclassified for inclusion in the sexually violent predator (SVP) program and became, in hospital lexicon, a dual-confinement patient.

McKee, 35, originally imprisoned for lewd acts on children, had sought to be released from state custody by claiming he was not dangerous to the public. McKee argued that provisions of Proposition 83, the so-called Jessica’s Law, were inadequate to insure that only those persons with a diagnosed, current mental illness -- one making them dangerous to the public -- could continue to be confined.

The Court of Appeal decision confirmed McKee’s involuntary commitment at ASH March 21.

Immediately after that court decision, McKee was placed in Unit 22 at ASH, and others in the SVP program said they began to inform staff that McKee was bullying and threatening people in the unit, and becoming increasingly aggressive and violent. Their claims went unheeded, according to one patient, Peter Tolls.

Rael talked on the telephone to his friend, fellow patient Ron “Bear” Barrett, according to Tolls, at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday, sounding upbeat on the one hand but also expressing fear of McKee.

In a prior case involving a similar failure to protect a patient, a federal judge ruled that two ASH employees violated one patient’s civil rights and ordered the pair to pay $1,000 to that SVP patient. The judge now wants to know why the ASH employees have not yet done so.

U.S. Central District Judge S. James Sotero ruled in December that employees Melissa A. Roper and Michael C. Groom were found to have made “a substantial departure from professional judgment, practice and standards” and thus were responsible for injuries suffered by patient Theodric Van Smith in assaults on him by other two patients.

ASH officials in that case also had been repeatedly warned, by patients, staff and state and federal law enforcement agencies that Smith might become a target of attack for his testimony against two Pelican Bay State Prison guards. Peggy Phaklides, a litigation manager for ASH, said in January the hospital is considering appealing Smith’s civil judgment.

ASH patient arrested for allegedly killing fellow patient

2008-04-01T13:27:00.000-07:00

by Stephen Curran

A patient at Atascadero State Hospital has been arrested in connection with the death of another man in the facility’s custody Sunday.

Richard McKee, 44, is accused of killing Lawrence Rael, a fellow patient on Unit 22. McKee was also charged with assault with a deadly weapon in connection with an unrelated assault, hospital spokesman Craig Dacus said.

Rael, 37, had been a patient at ASH since 1998, Dacus said.

McKee has been a patient at ASH since 2005, Dacus said. According to the Megan’s Law database, McKee was convicted of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14.

Rael’s death remained under investigation this afternoon, Dacus said. No additional details have been released.

Sex Offender Murdered At Atascadero State Hospital This Morning

2008-03-30T16:50:00.000-07:00

One sex offender is dead and another is in critical condition after another Hospital Patient, Richard McKee, went on an early-morning rampage Sunday at Atascadero State Hospital.

Early reports say that the dead victim, Lawrence Real, was beaten and strangled to death while the other victim, whose name has not yet been confirmed, suffered broken arms, legs, and ribs during the attack.

McKee had just recently (March 21, 2008) lost an appeal in San Diego Superior Court (see story) in which Judge Peter L. Gallagher upheld the constitutionality of the 2006 amendments to the act passed as Jessica’s Law, which provided in part that an individual committed under the act would remain in custody until he could prove that he no longer met the definition of a sexually violent predator. McKee's failed appeal had asserted that his federal constitutional rights to due process, equal protection under the law, and the ban against ex post facto laws had been violated.

These are preliminary reports and have not yet been confirmed by multiple sources.

An unnamed Hospital spokesperson, in speaking with a television reporter earlier today, denied that any such incident occurred.

We will provide further details as we learn more.

Petition to Repeal Jessica's Law and California Welfare & Institutions Code, §6600

2008-03-28T23:50:00.000-07:00

Please go to the following to sign the Repeal Jessica's Law and California Welfare & Institutions Code, §6600 Petition.

When you do, please elect to provide Friends & Family of California Civil Detainees with your email address (you don't have to make it public). This will enable us to keep you informed of developments with this petition as well as with other news related to the Civil Detainees in Coalinga. Your information will be kept in strict confidence and will not be shared with anyone else. Thanks!

Video Coverage of the Rally in Front of C.S.H.

2008-03-13T02:40:00.000-07:00

The following video clips were recorded Sunday, March 3, 2008, at the rally held jointly by "Friends & Family of California Civil Detainees" and "Reform of Sex Offender Laws" in front of Coalinga State Hospital in Coalinga, California.

The demonstration was held to protest the laws which punish sex offenders twice for the same crime by holding them as "Civil Detainees" in this purpose-built modern gulag in the hinterlands of California as well as the conditions of their confinement.

Our next protest will occur at the Statehouse in Sacramento sometime this summer. We need your help and your presence to make our voices heard! Please contact us at: detainees@gmail.com to learn more.

The videos include:

Tom Madison Keynote Speech
Paul Shannon Speaks To Civil Detainees & Their Supporters from Boston
Jammye Stallworth, Wife Of A Civil Detainees
"Starchild", Libertarian and Human Rights activist, discusses the urgent need for building coalitions amongst civil libertarians and the disenfranchised to combat oppressive government before it is too late.
Jeff Griffin of the "Citizens Committee on Human Rights" examines the motivations behind government, the mental health community, and the pharmaceuticals industry in promulgating public terror, pseudo-diagnostics and mechanisms for the destruction of liberty.
Tom Madison: Update on the Detainee rally going on INSIDE Coalinga State Hospital

Brief Interview: "Lt. Wilson Explains Why Visiting Is Shut Down" for four days which coincided with the rally

Speeches by Detainees for the Demonstration outside of C.S.H. :

A word of thanks to our supporters!
LANCE PURCELL: Crime & Punishment or Mental Illness & Treatment
Mike St. Martin Speaks by Telephone to the Demonstrators
DETAINEE ANTHONY CARLIN: The New "Disappeared"
DETAINEE “Y”.: Challenging Professional Integrity of "Therapists" in C.S.H.
DETAINEE LANCE PURCELL: Diagnosing a Deeply Disordered Department
DETAINEE LANCE PURCELL: C.S.H. Cannot Trust Its Own Best Efforts
DETAINEE LANCE PURCELL: Smaller Crimes
DETAINEE ANTHONY CARLIN: No Viable Exit Program
Detainee “X”: Deaths in C.S.H.
Detainee “X”: David Smith
Detainee “X”: C.S.H. Fact Sheet
DETAINEE MICHAEL SEATON: Thanks from P.C.D.G.
DETAINEE “X”: SUMMARY

Tom Madison Keynote Speech at Coalinga State Hospital

2008-03-13T02:09:00.000-07:00

Tom Madison, President S.O. Clear, delivers the opening speech at the rally held by Friends & Family of California Civil Detainees Tom Madison, President S.O. Clear, delivers the opening speech at the rally held by Friends & Family of California Civil Detainees and Reform of Sex Offender Laws in front Coalinga State Hospital where sex offenders are civilly confined after serving their terms in prison.

Paul Shannon Speaks To Civil Detainees & Their Supporters from Boston

2008-03-13T01:30:00.000-07:00

Paul Shannon, Reform of Sex Offender Laws ( http://www.rsol.org ) Speaks To Civil Detainees & Their Supporters from Boston.

"Starchild", Libertarian and Human Rights activist

2008-03-13T01:29:00.001-07:00

"Starchild", Libertarian and Human Rights activist, discusses the urgent need for building coalitions amongst civil libertarians and the disenfranchised to combat oppressive government before it is too late.

Jeff Griffin of the "Citizens Committee on Human Rights"

2008-03-13T01:28:00.000-07:00

Jeff Griffin of the "Citizens Committee on Human Rights" examines the motivations behind government, the mental health community, and the pharmaceuticals industry in promulgating public terror, pseudo-diagnostics and mechanisms for the destruction of liberty.

Jammye Stallworth, Wife Of A Civil Detainee

2008-03-13T01:00:00.000-07:00

Jammye Stallworth, the wife of a Civil Detainee, speaks at the rally held by Friends & Family of California Civil Detainees and Reform of Sex Offender Laws in front of Coalinga State Hospital where sex offenders are civilly confined after serving their terms in prison.

Update on the Detainee rally going on INSIDE Coalinga State Hospital

2008-03-12T21:24:00.000-07:00

Tom Madison, provides an update on the Detainee rally going on INSIDE Coalinga State Hospital at the same time that others are protesting on their behalf OUTSIDE of the Hospital. He also urges supporters to take action to secure the rights of ALL Americans and to hold politicians responsible for the damage they have inflicted on civil liberties in the United States.

VIDEO: Why Visiting Was Closed During The Demonstration

2008-03-07T17:20:00.000-08:00

Lieutenant Wilson explains why there is to be no visiting during the Demonstration, contradicting the Administration's claims that it is unrelated to the Demonstration and due to an investigation of "smuggling" into the institution. Detainees and their families insist that visiting was cancelled by the Administration as a means of punishing both Detainees and family/friends for exercising their 1st Amendment rights in holding the rally. It should be noted that Coalinga is very remote from the major population centers in California and most family and friends of Detainees had to travel for hours in order to be at the rally with the expectation that they would also be able to visit Detainees. While the rally was held on Sunday, March 2, visiting was closed from Friday through Monday.

The speakers are Lt. Wilson, Tom Madison (S.O. Clear) and Jeff Griffin (Citizen's Committee on Human Rights).

EXCERPT:
TM: IS TODAY NOT A VISITING DAY?
LT. WILSON: IT WOULD BE NORMALLY, YES.
JG: WHY IS IT NOT?
LT. WILSON: IT HAS BEEN SUSPENDED DUE TO THE OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES.
JG: I SEE. IS THAT NOT A TOTAL VIOLATION OF THE WELFARE AND INSTITUTIONS...?
LT. WILSON: NO, IT IS NOT. IT IS A SUSPENSION OF PRIVILEGES.

Speeches by Detainees for the Demonstration outside of C.S.H.

2008-03-05T00:55:00.000-08:00

The following fourteen speeches were delivered by telephone by Civil Detainees locked-up in Coalinga State Hospital to the Demonstrators who had gathered on their behalf Sunday, March 2, 2008.

A word of thanks to our supporters!

2008-03-05T00:30:00.000-08:00

Detainee “X” needs to remain anonymous because of the realities of retribution by Administration.

LANCE PURCELL: Crime & Punishment or Mental Illness & Treatment

2008-03-05T00:29:00.000-08:00

Lance Purcell left D.M.H.'s treatment program because of the ethical compromises it demanded.

Mike St. Martin Speaks by Telephone to the Demonstrators

2008-03-05T00:28:00.000-08:00

Mike St. Martin speaks here of a “cynical system”.

DETAINEE ANTHONY CARLIN: The New "Disappeared"

2008-03-05T00:27:00.000-08:00

DETAINEE “Y”.: Challenging Professional Integrity of "Therapists" in C.S.H.

2008-03-05T00:26:00.002-08:00

DETAINEE LANCE PURCELL: Diagnosing a Deeply Disordered Department

2008-03-05T00:26:00.001-08:00

DETAINEE LANCE PURCELL: C.S.H. Cannot Trust Its Own Best Efforts

2008-03-05T00:25:00.002-08:00

DETAINEE LANCE PURCELL: Smaller Crimes

2008-03-05T00:25:00.001-08:00

DETAINEE ANTHONY CARLIN: No Viable Exit Program

2008-03-05T00:24:00.001-08:00

Detainee “X”: Deaths in C.S.H.

2008-03-05T00:23:00.002-08:00

Detainee “X”: David Smith

2008-03-05T00:23:00.001-08:00

Detainee “X”: C.S.H. Fact Sheet

2008-03-05T00:21:00.000-08:00

DETAINEE MICHAEL SEATON: Thanks from P.C.D.G.

2008-03-05T00:14:00.001-08:00

DETAINEE “X”: SUMMARY

2008-03-05T00:13:00.000-08:00

Visits resume at state hospital

2008-03-04T21:28:00.000-08:00

Officials in Coalinga won't discuss news report on drug link.
By Eddie Jimenez / The Fresno Bee

Visitation for Coalinga State Hospital residents will resume this morning, four days after visitors were banned from the facility.

A spokeswoman for the hospital for sex offenders would not discuss a news report that visits were curtailed to allow hospital police to investigate claims that visitors were smuggling drugs, electronics and weapons into the hospital.

In an e-mail late Monday afternoon, Deborah Ireland, the hospital's external affairs director, would only confirm that visitations would resume today.

"We cannot discuss hospital security issues," Ireland wrote.

Hospital patient Greg Peters said visitations were banned beginning at midday Friday to punish patients for a planned demonstration by family and friends two days later at the hospital.

The protest involved about 40 relatives and friends who say patients are being held unlawfully, said Jaymmie Stallworth, whose husband, Lavell, is a hospital resident.

The state Department of Mental Health houses sexually violent predators in Coalinga after they finish their prison sentences under a procedure called civil detainment, in which criminals can be held indefinitely after completing their sentences if they're still considered a threat.

"They shut down the hospital because of the protest," Jaymmie Stallworth said.

She believes the smuggling allegations were a smokescreen.

Peters agreed, saying, "Put two and two together. The demonstration was Sunday." The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Many Possible Explanations For No Visiting During the Demonstration at C.S.H.

2008-03-04T04:30:00.000-08:00

We read today, via the Associated Press, that "State officials say they are banning relatives from visiting a state hospital that treats sex offenders while police investigate reports of 'smuggling' (source)".

That's a good one. Previously, we have heard, variously, that visiting was closed due to:
A. The need to clean the visiting room (it must have been awfully dirty!)
B. That the camera in the visiting center was broken.
C. That a "shank" had been found buried in the yard.
D. Lost keys (yes, again with the lost keys!)
E. "The outside activities planned for this weekend"

The last explanation, and the one I am most inclined to believe, came directly to us from a Lieutenant Walters (sp?) who, when asked by demonstrators why visiting had been suspended, offered just that, referring directly to the demonstration which had nearly wrapped-up by 2:00 p.m. Sunday, March 2nd.

Immediately after the rally, several carloads of demonstrators as well as two or three local t.v. news crews attempted to gain access to the facility grounds with the intention of interviewing whichever administrators might be available. While no one had high hopes of actually entering the facility, as expected they did get to verbally engage with the Hospital police who blocked them from venturing beyond the parking lot, at which time the Lieutenant offered the sole plausible explanation for closing all visiting of Detainees by their family and friends from Friday afternoon until Tuesday morning.

Less convincingly, he asserted that the "Patient's privileges" had been temporarily suspended for this reason. When challenged by one of the demonstrators who reminded him that visiting was not a "privilege" but a "right" (indeed, the Detainees are Civil Detainees who are assured by the U.S. Supreme Court that they are not being punished but instead retain their civil liberties) he seemed unprepared to respond and instead turned and walked away.

It is reported that several Detainees' families are considering legal remedy to compensate them for the long trips they made to Coalinga and the C.S.H. only to be refused the right to visit their family members.

The unavoidable impression we are left with is this: Executive Director Norm Kramer decided to punish the Detainees as well as their family/friends for exercising their Constitutional rights to assemble and to speak on their own behalf. This impulse towards "group punishment" and "message control" comes easily to the Department of Mental Health as it is a habit exercised daily in their administration of C.S.H.

We do commend Lieutenant Walters for his candor and to assure him that the whole criminal/civil distinction thing is dreadfully confusing when discussing the laws under which California's sex offender Civil Detainees are held. So it is not surprising to us that he, too, should blur those lines.

Perhaps Nancy Kincaid (C.S.H. media flack) should lead a workshop for C.S.H. employees on just that topic. She has, so far, been able to convince the credulous media that Coalinga's Detainees are uniformly "the worst of the worst" and "sexually violent predators". I believe that will begin to change, and rather soon.

Public Demonstration To Protest Against Coalinga State Hospital

2008-02-16T21:19:00.000-08:00

WHERE: In front of Coalinga State Hospital, 24511 West Jayne Ave., Coalinga, CA
(see maps, below)

WHEN: Sunday, March 2, 2008 at NOON

MAPS (2):
California, showing routes and distances to Coalinga from major cities / Coalinga area (detail)

ORGANIZERS:

Demonstration Coordinator: Jaymmie Stallworth, Friends & Family of California Civil Detainees
Tel: (916) 628-7201, (916) 670-0022

Detainee Spokesman: Mike St. Martin, Tel: 559-934-0391 / 559-934-0392

Friends & Family Spokesperson: Allan Marshall, Tel: 702-421-0467

Anyone needing transportation may be able to carpool. Please let Jaymmie Stallworth know if you need a ride and she will try to provide it. Also, she can provide any recommendations about hotel/motel accommodations or any logistical questions.

This is a non-violent demonstration. It will be a peaceable event to show solidarity with those being wrongly held in C.S.H. and to communicate the conditions under which they are held. Please do not attend this event if you are unable to abide by accepted rules of civility.

We do request that you email or call us to let us know if you can attend but you do not have to provide your name. This is only to help us better plan the event, you can remain entirely anonymous. If you cannot contact us ahead of time, that's fine, too.

We look forwarding to seeing you there. More importantly, this event will give an enormous boost to the spirits of the Detainees who have little to hope for. Indeed, the anticipation of this demonstration has already had a dramatic effect on their morale. Please attend the demonstration and show you care!

Thank you!
Allan Marshall

Jan. 11, 2008 Press Release, C.S.H. Civil Detainees

2008-01-13T15:55:00.000-08:00

California Department Of Mental Health Explains Why Gang Members Who Rape Women Do Not Need Treatment

For Immediate Release, January 11, 2008

Coalinga State Hospital Detainee, John Lofton, spoke by phone with Brenda Epperly-Ellis, Chief of the Sexual Offender Commitment Program, from her office in the California Department of Mental Health in Sacramento on November 19, 2007.

Lofton had called Epperly-Ellis to discuss D.M.H. criteria for selecting candidates for involuntary civil confinement after completing their prison sentences. His question to her follows:

"Of those people who are detained here under the S.V.P.A. (Sexually Violent Predator Act) since 1996, its year of enactment, it has become clear that there are few, if any, gang members convicted of sex crimes within our commitment, despite high rates of sexual offense among gang members.

Why are gang members, who usually are violent, excluded from S.V.P.? Instead, sex offenders with gang affiliation are free to return home after serving their prison terms while we face lifetime confinement in the Department of Mental Health even though many here are not violent at all?

(Epperly-Ellis letter: http://detainees.googlepages.com/BrendaEpperly-Ellis_LTR.gif )

November 26, 2007

To: John Lofton
Coalinga State Hospital
24511 West Jayne Avenue
Coalinga, CA 93210

From: Brenda Epperly-Ellis, S.O.C.P.

Subject: SVP/Gang Affiliation

Dear Mr. Lofton,

I am writing to you in regards to the questions we discussed by telephone regarding gang members in the Sexual Offender Commitment Program. I have checked with both our Legal Department and our experienced evaluators to provide a response to your concern.

There are no statutes that protect gang members from a sexually violent predator commitment. Gang affiliation is considered in the evaluation because it is a significant risk factor for sexual re-offense. The sexual offenses of gang members are one of many types of criminal offenses they commit. Gang members often commit a rape in concert and it is motivated by violence not by deviance. Generally, this is not due to a mental disorder and they stop doing those types of offenses as they get older.

I hope this letter has addressed your concerns. If you have any further questions please feel free to contact me via mail at the address above.

Sincerely,

Brenda Epperly-Ellis, Chief
Sexual Offender Commitment Program, 1600 9th Street, RM 250, Sacramento, CA 95814, 916-653-1843

Response From Detainee Mike St. Martin to Brenda Epperly-Ellis:

Statistics consistently show that our rate of reoffense goes down with age, too. But that doesn't keep you from holding us here until our 70's or 80's while gang members often get out of prison while still in their 20's or 30's. And gang members have a rate of recidivism of more than 70% while ours are less than 5%. What's more, the average age of Detainees here is nearly 60 and most committed their crimes more than twenty years ago. Thirty people have died in custody, three times as many as the courts have released after completion of the program.

So how is it that those gang affiliated sex offenders with a documented history of violence who have raped and abused women are not considered "Sexually Violent Predators"?"

It's very telling that you find “deviance” to be more of a threat to society than “violence”. The public has been lead to believe that the offender profile most to be feared is that of the socially isolated sex offender, not of the violent gangster who, amongst all other things, is a rapist.

By excluding the “violent” and focusing on “the deviant”, you simultaneously appease the public and avoid the difficult custody problems encountered by the Department of Corrections when incarcerating gang members.

Those not conforming to your preferred offender profiles find no place in your program and do not appear in the statistics which purport to demonstrate its value. Indeed, it has been suggested that you would find their introduction to be a contamination of your narrowly-focused study of offenders, although I find the suggestion that your treatment teams are capable of conducting any “scientific study” laughable on its face.

The demonstrated statistical reality is that the dangerousness of gang members who rape is far greater than that of the individual pedophile who, alarming headlines to the contrary, is rarely violent. But keeping gang members in cages is far more difficult, isn't it?

The California Legislature's Greatly Revised Dictionary of the English Language (Abridged)

Prisoners in California's Department of Corrections, upon completion of their prison sentences for sexually related crimes, are evaluated for consideration as "Sexually Violent Predators". At that point, State Evaluators make a recommendation to have the individual detained in Civil Confinement under the authority of the Department of Mental Health if they consider him to be “S.V.P.”, or to be allowed to leave the prison system onto parole and out into the community if they do not.

What is a "Sexually Violent Predator (S.V.P.)" under California law? The State's criteria for determining "Sexual Violence" is very different from the definition for the word "violent" found in any dictionary or any reasonable person's understanding of the term. As it is now defined, neither actual violence nor coercion is needed for a crime to meet the statutory definition of "sexually violent" under California law. In the case of child sex offenders, all that is needed to classify an offender as "violent" is that they have “substantial sexual contact” with a person under the age of 14, regardless of consent. Even if the "victim" had been perfectly willing to engage in sexual contact with the "perpetrator", he will be considered, for the purposes of classification and consideration for lifetime commitment, a "sexually violent predator".

What's more, "Sexual contact" can consist of mere touching, even through clothing and even if what is being touched is not genitalia (such as feet or back or shoulders). In this case, the "thoughts" of the perpetrator are what matter, since any physical contact whatsoever is a felony given "sexual intent". "Thought Crimes" are punishable under California Criminal Code 288 with the very real possibility of a life sentence!

The term "predator" itself is also intended to mislead. According to California's "dictionary" a "predator" need not employ actual violence, force or coercion. In this context, a "predator" may simply be someone who is unrelated as family to the "victim", such as a friend or "casual acquaintance". It is for this reason that those convicted of incest are less likely to find themselves being civilly committed after serving their prison sentence than those who had a friendship (a voluntary relationship) with their "victims".

The "Static 99" is a scoring system which purports to estimate risk for reoffense and is used in further determining eligibility for civil confinement. In practice, it especially penalizes men (and it's only used on men) who are unmarried and homosexual (with male "victims") and not related by family to their "victims". Such an offender will receive two additional "points" indicating reoffense risk. He will receive one more point if he has not known his "victim" for at least 24 hours before sexual contact. The maximum number of points that can be scored on the Static 99 is only 12.

Ironically, one of the definitions for "violent" which is found in Webster's dictionary is the following: "of, pertaining to, or constituting a distortion of meaning or fact." Does this sound like a Legislature we know?
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Contact:

Civil Detainee Spokesperson:
Mike St. Martin
CO-414-3, Unit 7
P.O . BOX 5003
Coalinga , CA 93210-5003
Telephone: 559-934-0391 / 559-934-0392
email: michaelst.martin@hotmail.com

this document is also available from: http://detainees.googlepages.com/whygangmemberswhorapewomendonotneedtreat

Friends & Family Brochure (downloadable)

2008-01-10T13:45:00.000-08:00

download brochure

Coalinga State Hospital Refuses U.S. Mail To Detainee

2008-01-09T16:35:00.001-08:00

**UPDATE**: Coalinga State Hospital has today (Jan. 11, 2008) released the brochures without comment to Mike St. Martin (see below)

Administration has Civil Detainee, Mike St. Martin, reports today that Hospital administration has refused to give him brochures from Friends & Family of California Civil Detainees sent by the U.S. Mail. (download brochure)

He was told that his mail would have to be further "reviewed" by the Administration before a determination could be made if he would be allowed to receive it.

The ostensible reason for this "review" was stated by Officer Wallace to be that the words "Coalinga State Hospital" and a stylized depiction of the institution (which is part of the "Friends & Family" logo) appear in the brochure.

"This is an ongoing policy of the Hospital which claims that Detainees have no civil rights and that we only have the civil rights that they (the Hospital) gives us', said St. Martin. "This is according to Lieutenant Sharon Rogers and previous Clinical Director Gary Renzaglia."

"Hospital administration is having a really hard time coming to grips with the fact that we DO possess civil rights including the right to send and receive mail and to keep it from being read without a court warrant. The U.S. Supreme Court has clearly stated that we are not to be punished and that we are to be held in the least restrictive manner possible. What part of 'No, you won't abrogate our rights' don't they understand?".

Not only is this latest abridgment of Detainee civil rights in contravention of U.S. Federal Statutes but is also in defiance of California Department of Mental Health's own rules governing mail:

"Unit staff will deliver the mail to the Individual to whom it is addressed and, in accordance with the hospital's rules, open and inspect incoming mail for contraband, without reading written material, and in the presence of the Individual". California Department of Mental Health Administrative Directive: "SUPPORTIVE SERVICES ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTIVE NO. 624

The Federal Law on the subject reads as follows:

"Whoever takes any letter, postal card, or package out of any post office or any authorized depository for mail matter, or from any letter or mail carrier, or which has been in any post office or authorized depository, or in the custody of any letter or mail carrier, before it has been delivered to the person to whom it was directed, with design to obstruct the correspondence, or to pry into the business or secrets of another, or opens, secretes, embezzles, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both." TITLE 18, PART I, CHAPTER 83, § 1702 Obstruction of correspondence

As of this writing, Executive Director Norm Kramer could not be reached for comment.

Valley Fever Outbreak Blamed On Coalinga State Hospital

2007-12-29T13:55:00.000-08:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/us/30inmates.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

December 30, 2007
Infection Hits a California Prison Hard
By JESSE McKINLEY

COALINGA, Calif. — When any of the 5,300 inmates at Pleasant Valley State Prison begin coughing and running a fever, doctors do not think flu, bronchitis or even the common cold.

They think valley fever; and, more often than they would like, they are right.

In the past three years, more than 900 inmates at the prison have contracted the fever, a fungal infection that has been both widespread and lethal.

At least a dozen inmates here in Central California have died from the disease, which is on the rise in other Western states, including Arizona, where the health department declared an epidemic after more than 5,500 cases were reported in 2006, including 33 deaths.

Endemic to parts of the Southwest, valley fever has been reported in recent years in a widening belt from South Texas to Northern California. The disease has infected archaeologists digging at the Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and dogs that have inhaled the spores while sniffing for illegal drugs along the Mexican border.

In most cases, the infection starts in the lungs and is usually handled by the body without permanent damage. But serious complications can arise, including meningitis; and, at Pleasant Valley, the scope of the outbreak has left some inmates permanently disabled, confined to wheelchairs and interned in expensive long-term hospital stays.

About 80 prison employees have also contracted the fever, Pleasant Valley officials say, including a corrections officer who died of the disease in 2005.

What makes the disease all the more troubling is that its cause is literally underfoot: the spores that cause the infection reside in the region’s soil. When that soil is disturbed, something that happens regularly where houses are being built, crops are being sown and a steady wind churns, those spores are inhaled. The spores can also be kicked up by Mother Nature including earthquakes and dust storms.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re custody staff, it doesn’t matter if you’re a plumber or an electrician,” said James A. Yates, the warden at Pleasant Valley. “You breathe the same air as you walk around out there.”

The epidemic at the prison has led to a clash of priorities for a correctional system that is dealing with below average medical care and chronic overcrowding.

Last fall, heeding advice from local health officials and a federal receiver charged with improving the state’s prison medical care, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation delayed plans to add 600 new beds out of concern that the construction might stir up more spores.

Officials at the prison blame the construction of a state hospital nearby for causing a spike in valley fever. The construction was under way from 2001 to 2005, and valley fever hit its peak here in 2006, when the disease was diagnosed in 514 inmates.

This year, about 300 cases have been diagnosed among inmates at the prison, which sits along a highway lined with almond groves and signs advertising new “semi-custom homes.” Felix Igbinosa, the prison’s medical director, said “the No. 1 reason” was thought to be the soil disturbance from new construction.

The delayed expansion here was part of a $7.9 billion plan signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last summer to relieve overcrowding in the state’s prisons. Pleasant Valley was built in 1994 to house 2,000 inmates.

California reported more than 3,000 cases of valley fever in 2006, the most in a decade. Explanations for the spike have included increased residential development and changes in weather patterns that have resulted in increased blooms of the fungus.

Other prisons in the Central Valley of California have had increases in the number of fever cases in recent years, but in none has the rate of infection been higher than at Pleasant Valley, where about one inmate in 10 tested positive in 2006.

Even allowing for the nearby construction, experts say they do not know why the disease is so rampant here.

“Is the soil surrounding Pleasant Valley different?” asked Dr. Demosthenes Pappagianis of the University of California, Davis.

“There’s a lot we still need to know about it,” said Dr. Pappagianis, a professor of medical microbiology and immunology who has been studying valley fever for more than 50 years.

Early symptoms of the disease, which is clinically known as coccidioidomycosis, mimic the flu, with symptoms that include a cough, lethargy and a fever. Most of those who become infected recover with little or no treatment and are subsequently immune.

In about 2 percent to 3 percent of the cases, the disease spreads from the lungs and can attack the bones, liver, spleen and skin.

For the 11,000 non-inmate residents of Coalinga, about 200 miles southeast of San Francisco, the disease has been a fact of life for generations. “We just deal,” said Trish Hill, the city’s mayor. “You don’t do stupid things like go out on windy days or dig in the dirt.”

Inmates appear to be especially susceptible to the disease, in part because they come from areas all over the state and have not developed an immunity to the disease. California corrections officials are preparing new guidelines for prison design, including ventilation and landscaping.

“Prisons tend to have a lot of bare dirt, and that has some security benefit,” said Deborah Hysen, the corrections department’s deputy secretary of facility planning. “But in the case of valley fever, you want to really contain the soil.”

At Pleasant Valley, officials say the outbreak of valley fever places a burden on the institution, requiring guards to escort inmates to local hospitals, where stays can last months and result in medical and security costs of $1 million and more, said Dr. Igbinosa, the medical director.

The disease also affects inmate morale, doctors say.

Gilbert Galaviz was convicted of murder and is serving a sentence of 25 years to life. Mr. Galaviz had been at Pleasant Valley for a week or so when he started to feel sick. “I couldn’t breathe,” he said. “My chest starting hurting, I had pain all over like somebody beat me up, and I would sweat bad at night.”

The cause was valley fever. After six months, Mr. Galaviz is still weak, having lost 30 pounds, and is barely able to complete a lap in the prison yard. Earlier this month, he was attacked and his jaw broken.

“It wouldn’t have been like that if it hadn’t been for valley fever,” Mr. Galaviz said, his jaw still wired shut. “They wouldn’t have got me. It would have been the other way around.”

Dan Barry is off. Beginning Jan. 14, the “This Land” column will appear on Mondays.

C.S.H. Civil Detainees Press Release

2007-11-23T22:40:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, November 23, 2007

Under Increasing Public Scrutiny, Coalinga State Hospital Shifts Into Crisis Mode

Since Thursday's Los Angeles Times article¹ on deficient medical care and the denial of basic civil rights to Detainees being confined in Coalinga State Hospital, its Administration has moved fully into crisis mode, confidential sources from within staff report.

They report that the Hospital, unable to attract and retain employees in the drastically understaffed facility, have been hiring “temp agency psychologists” at up to three times the current going rate just to get “warm bodies” into the facility.

In addition to investigators and auditors from Sacramento who have begun to descend upon the Hospital, two representatives from Protection and Advocacy, Sean Rashkis and an assistant arrived at C.S.H. Friday to investigate the circumstances into Detainee Frank Valado's death [Detainees allege that he was left untreated on the gymnasium floor] and to interview patients regarding their medical treatment, including David Smith. Smith, who has alleged that he was denied tests and treatment over a number of months despite disturbing medical symptoms, was ultimately diagnosed with cancer of the larynx. Since its removal, he has also been diagnosed with two brain tumors.

The day after the L.A.Times article appeared, staff arrived at the the gym to install a defibrillator but then discovered that there was already one behind a locked door to the gym, as had been reported by Mike St. Martin in our press release of the week before. Also since Valado's death, Kathy Bryant has made a point of showing Detainees her “Mouth Guard” for use in performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, claiming that she had had it all along. By this, she clearly wishes to refute the allegation by Detainees witnessing Valado's death that she had said “I'm not putting my mouth on his mouth” in reference to performing mouth-to-mouth upon Valado. Other mouth guards suddenly appeared in the gym itself but, strangely, then disappeared again soon after.

Detainees were encouraged when Hospital Director Norm Kramer agreed to meet with representatives of the Detainee Strike Committee and acknowledged in that meeting that Hospital medical care has been substandard, pledging to create a database to track patient illnesses and to begin performing triage. He asked Detainees to bring forward those Patients with immediate medical needs for treatment consideration.

Deirdre D'Orazio, Director of Program Development and Evaluation Services at C.S.H. was quoted extensively in both the Times article as well as in the KSEE-24 segment which aired later that same day. D'Orazio, with a Ph.D. In Clinical Psychology with a proficiency in Forensic Psychology from “Alliant” University, oversees Coalinga's S.O.C.P. (Sex Offender Commitment Program also known as the “Phase” Program) arguably one of the largest and most expensive sex offender treatment programs in the world. She helped to open C.S.H. in September 2005 having just received her license by the State of California in December 2004.

A search using “Google Scholar” and “BASE” for locating published works in academic journals failed to produce any evidence of her scholarship in any area of psychology.

In September of this year, she told the Ventura County Star² that the five-phase treatment program created in 1996 is too young to determine its long-term effect and that the number of patients is too small to have statistical value, hardly a ringing endorsement for a program costing taxpayers upwards of $200,000 per year per patient.

The centerpiece of this treatment modality is what D'Orazio refers to as "a psychological autopsy." Patients describe this process as part of an overall “deconstruction” of the individual, in which past events or fantasies are recounted endlessly-literally for years-by the Patient at the insistence of therapists. This approach is said to be nothing more than a “recycled” version of the failed “S.O.T.E.P.” program, dismantled years ago, and which was itself a replacement for the failed “M.D.S.O.” program.

Amongst therapists facilitating this process are self-proclaimed “survivors” of sexual abuse who, Detainees report, abuse their positions of power to exact revenge against sex offenders as a class.

As reported in the San Diego Union Tribune³, May 22, 2006, Dr. Gabrielle Paladino, a psychiatrist at Atascadero State Hospital, the facility which housed all Civilly Committed Sex Offenders before the completion of C.S.H. said, "The odds that a participant will be judged suitable for release are greater than 100 to 1.” Those who decline treatment and seek judicial release stand a better chance of winning their freedom.

Nationally recognized experts in sex offending such as Fred Berlin, Robert Prentky and Canada's Karl Hanson, have been scathing in their criticism of state treatment programs, including California's, and its civil commitment laws. One leading expert, well-acquainted with California's S.O.C.P., has described it as “miserable”.

Michael Feer, a psychiatric social worker with more than three decades of experience and who worked at Coalinga until earlier this spring, stated “The Hospital is a setup. Ostensibly, it is a treatment hospital but one built with a wink to a public that has little compunction about locking up sex offenders forever”. Feer said that he believes that many Detainees held in C.S.H. would pose no threat to the public if released.¹

Marita Mayer, a Contra Costa public defender, compares the predator law to the 2002 film "Minority Report," in which people were imprisoned for future crimes envisioned by women with a gift for prophecy. “We have lowered the standard so much that we are locking up people who probably won't recommit because of a few who might." ⁴

According to Detainee Spokesman Michael St. Martin, an Atascadero Psychiatric Technician, Lana Garcia, once told him that she was appointed by God to punish him. “But the more serious reality is this”, he added, “I'm being held for a crime I might commit in the future by people who are committing crimes in the present.”

Howard Zonana, a Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University and Spokesperson for the American Psychiatric Association has said, “S.V.P. laws are not an attempt to gain treatment or anything close to that... What it really is is an attempt to extend prison sentences.”

"They are using a psychiatric facility to pursue a legal end," said, Mark Graff, a San Fernando Valley psychiatrist who led efforts by the California Psychiatric Association to oppose the sexually violent predator law. The law is about punishment, punishment, punishment.“ ⁵

Civil Detainee Spokesperson: Mike St. Martin, CO-414-3, Unit 7, P.O . BOX 5003, Coalinga , CA 93210-5003 Telephone: 559-934-0391 / 559-934-0392 email: michaelst.martin@hotmail.com

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^1.The Los Angeles Times, November 15, 2007
^2.Ventura County Star¹ September 2, 2007
^3.San Diego Union Tribune, May 22, 2006

^4.San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, July 11, 2004
^5.Contra Costa Times, Sunday, Oct. 10, 2004

L.A Times Letter to the Editor From Mike St. Martin

2007-11-23T21:07:00.000-08:00

To the Editor,

While I believe the piece was, overall, even handed and objective, I do need to take exception to several points in your Thursday, November 15 article "Turmoil Replaces Treatment at Coalinga State Hospital". As one of the people forced to live the nightmare of confinement in C.S.H. and as one of the sources contributing to this story, I know that the paper checked and rechecked the information I, and other Detainees, provided. However, the same diligence does not appear to have been applied in investigating either the backgrounds of, or statements by, Department of Mental Health employees.

Dr. Deirdre D'Orazio was quoted as saying that she believed in her program at C.S.H. and that she wouldn't be working there if it were a scam. However, a more thorough investigation would have revealed that Dr. D'Orazio had, at the time of her appointment to head C.S.H.'s Sex Offender Treatment Program, less than one year of experience following receipt of her Psychologist's license from the State of California. Her Ph.D. is from "Alliant University".

It should be noted that the program of which she is in charge must certainly be one of the largest such sex offender treatment programs in the world. How is it, then, that Dr. D'Orazio emerged as the leading candidate to assume such an important position? What are her unique qualifications which set her apart from a field of candidates, some of whom were educated in institutions whose names we are likely to recognize?

I would like to propose a possible answer to this question: Dr. Deirdre D'Orazio was willing to work for an organization from which highly respected, and self-respecting, psychologists and psychiatrists flee in horror, its abysmal reputation within the psychotherapeutic community dissuading any but the most desperate. As examples of such desperation: those with significant malpractice histories; nationals from India who can tolerate much to gain U.S. Residency; and grossly under-qualified (and in some cases completely un-credentialed) individuals who will, in desperation, jump at the opportunity for a professional-sounding title and salaries at multiples of what they could possibly earn in the private sector.

Having said that, I feel a little bad for appearing to single out Dr. D'Orazio so let me be clear: she is not an exception within C.S.H.; she IS the Rule. Most people working here are grossly unqualified for their positions. We have executive level administrators with final decision-making and policy-setting latitude who possess no more than high school diplomas.

Dr. Mayberg, Head of D.M.H., has stated, "Undertaking something of this magnitude is a growing and learning experience. Where we are right now is a move in the right direction." Only in the D.M.H. can four directors in two years, one-third of the required staff, patients on strike and refusing to participate in treatment, newspapers, t.v. and radio reporting on the death of a patient who was left to die on the floor of a gymnasium for want of medical attention while staff looked on, can such a reality be considered "a move in the right direction."

He also stated that he is disappointed that so few patients choose not to participate in the "Treatment" program but that he also thinks that this is indicative of our illness. In other words, if you don't agree with me, you're sick.

Of course, Dr. D'Orazio's enthusiasm for conducting "psychological autopsies" on still-living patients has nothing to do with our unwillingness to engage in treatment which has itself been roundly derided by leading sexual abuse researchers. No, it must be symptomatic of "our illness".

This isn't the first time Dr. Mayberg has failed to rouse himself to a state of appropriate response. Last year, in testimony before the State Senate following the Justice Department's scathing report on Napa and Metropolitan Hospitals, he stated , "I also noticed that we had a problem about 12 years ago and I've been working on it."

In September of this year, D'Orazio told the Ventura County Star2 that the five-phase treatment program created in 1996 is "too young to determine its long-term effect and that the number of patients is too small to have statistical value", hardly a ringing endorsement for a program costing taxpayers upwards of $200,000 per year per patient.

Coalinga Administration still insists that there is a clear path to release. Yet of the over 800 patients under the law, the courts have only released, on average, one patient every two years. At this rate, it will take about 1,500 years for everyone to get out. But then, that's the idea, isn't it? As Michael Feer stated in your article, C.S.H. "is a treatment hospital built with a wink to the public." D.M.H. has a vested interest in this program never working.

This is a hospital on paper only - it doesn’t treat patients, but warehouses them indefinitely after they’ve completed their prison sentences. Joseph Stalin would be proud of your accomplishment.

Mike St. Martin,
"Hosprisoner"

Letter from Robert Bates to Los Angeles Times

2007-11-23T20:21:00.000-08:00

Re: Turmoil Replaces Treatment at Coalinga State Hospital

As one of the named sources in your piece, I must object to the following statement, one which you did not attribute to any particular source, so that I must conclude that you wish to present it as commonly accepted and factually correct information: “sex offenders tend to be manipulative and charismatic”

It should be noted that, in repeated studies of sex offenders, they (we) do not possess any particular set of personality characteristics. Law enforcement officials have informed the public that a sex offender can be anyone.

Secondly, we have never asked for internet access! Why did you report that it was among our demands as part of the strike?

What we have asked for is:

Basic medical care
Accurate Mental Health Diagnosis and truthful, unfalsified, mental health records
Hospital regulations that are in compliance with Federal and State regulations
Fundamental Civil Rights
Food that is at least as good as that you would feed your dog

We are, after all, civil detainees, not prisoners (even Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has said as much). As such, we are not being punished (wink, wink) so how is that asking too much?

Taxpayers should also demand some results from their greater than $1 Billion investment.

Robert Bates
Unit 6, P.O. Box 5003
Coalinga, CA 93210-5003

Thanks To Our Supporters!

2007-11-22T14:22:00.000-08:00

Voices of the Gulag would like to thank the people who have contributed to the early successes enjoyed on behalf of those being held in California's "Hosprisons".

We especially wish to thank those D.M.H. Staff who have taken a courageous stand to defend civil liberty and to uphold their professional standards. We are in your debt. Thank you so much for your help!

We also wish to thank those journalists who have, or are in the process of, shining light on the dark corridors of civil confinement in California and beyond. Reporting the truth in the midst of a witch hunt is what most distinguishes real journalists from the rest. Thank you for your brave reporting!

And we would also like to thank the family members and friends of those Civil Detainees who refuse to leave their loved ones to suffer alone in endless confinement. Without you, there would be little hope. Thanks!

At this time next year, we would like very much to be able to thank political office holders and judges for standing up to hysteria in the face of ignorance, hatred and fear. We remain hopeful that such thanks will be their due.

We would also like to thank those who have publicly advanced the cause of civil liberty for those labeled as sex offenders and for their generosity, encouragement and support. They are, in alphabetical order:

Michael Aye, Robert Baker, Alexander Cockburn, Paul Eberle, Shirley Eberle, Judith Levine, Elizabeth Loftus, Shirley Lowery, Laura Mansnerus, Alex Marbury, Marita Mayer, Malcolm McGrath, Todd Melnik, Debbie Nathan, Richard Ofshe, Camille Paglia, Mark Pendergrast, Dorothy Rabinowitz, Susan Robbins, Michael Snedeker, and Gore Vidal. Thanks!

Lawrence "Rudy" Kirk Discusses Brutal Attack In C.S.H.

2007-11-21T19:53:00.000-08:00

Rudy Kirk recounts the severe beating that could have cost him his life and which did cause lasting, permanent neural damage. Staff did nothing to stop the attack. Now he's won a lawsuit against the State, but what's his future? He suffered nerve damage as the result of severe head injuries; this has affected his speech.

California Healthline

2007-11-21T19:50:00.000-08:00

Hospital News Roundup for November 16, 2007
Coalinga State Hospital

Patients and some employees at Coalinga State Hospital say staffing shortages and standoffs between patients and administrators are impeding psychiatric and medical care at the facility, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The hospital was opened in 2005 to treat high-risk sex offenders who have completed their sentences but were not released because of perceived mental illnesses.

However, 75% of the hospital's more than 600 patients refuse to participate in a core treatment program, and not a single patient has completed treatment and been released, according to the latest data from August. Meanwhile, 26 of the hospital's 37 staff psychiatrist positions are vacant, leaving police officers to fill in for roles normally designated for clinicians, the Times reports (Gold/Romney, Los Angeles Times, 11/15).

http://www.californiahealthline.org/articles/2007/11/16/Hospital-News-Roundup-for-November-16-2007.aspx?topicId=47

April 16, 2007 Letter to Attorney General Jerry Brown

2007-11-15T16:23:00.000-08:00

To date, he has not received a reply. Read Letter

Civil Detainee's Death Comes Amid Allegations That Coalinga State Hospital Falls Dangerously Short In Medical Care

2007-11-15T03:21:00.000-08:00

News Blaze
Civil Detainee's Death Comes Amid Allegations That Coalinga State Hospital Falls Dangerously Short In Medical Care

Coalinga State Hospital, California's two year old $388 million facility for confining sex offenders after serving their entire prison sentence, is coming under renewed fire in the wake of Thursday's death of patient Frank Valado, age 45.

Valado collapsed while playing basketball with other Civil Detainees in the institution's gynmasium Thursday evening. Patients witnessing the incident said that Staff response to Valado's collapse was completely inadequate and that, effectively, he received little or no treatment after being stricken.

They reported that an officer present in the gymnasium refused to radio in an alarm, despite their requests that he do so, but instead simply left the room. A Patient got the attention of another officer by pounding on a gymnasium window looking out onto the main courtyard. That officer then radioed the alarm that brought other staff to the scene.

One Patient began performing CPR on Valado and others present confirm that Valado partially regained consciousness. Then, a number of staff entered the gym, including two women, at least one of whom, Kathy Bryant, is a Registered Nurse. Officers ordered Michael Cheeks, who had been administering assistance to Valado, to halt his efforts and, along with the other men in the gym, to get up against the wall.

Bryant was then heard to say "I'm not putting my mouth on that man's mouth!" an apparent reference to her unwillingness to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Valado.
Patients also report that the other (unidentified) woman at the scene was searching for an oxygen tank and mask but which she was unable to locate.

A crash cart was brought into the room but it was discovered that it did not include a defibrillator. Patients later stated that they knew that there was a defibrillator on the other side of an always locked door to the gym but staff made no attempt to retrieve it or any other. Throughout this, Valado remained unassisted on the floor.

The other patients were then ordered to leave the gym and a gurney was brought in and Valado was taken to the Medical unit. However, no doctors were on duty at the time so staff then called a doctor to drive to the facility. However, before the doctor arrived at C.S.H., Frank Valado died.

The "Watch Commander" reportedly ordered all police staff to remain for the next shift, even if it were their third continuous shift on duty. The Administration is said to have been seriously concerned for the possibility of Patient anger and unrest due to the poor response by the hospital in Valado's death.

Mike St. Martin, a Detainee Spokesperson who has actively sought to bring attention to what he sees as grossly negligent standards of medical care, said he was "unsurprised" by the lack of appropriate medical response by C.S.H. Staff, stating that, since the beginning, the Institution had demonstrated an utter disregard for the well-being of Patients in the facility. "The only thing about this place that says "hospital" is the sign out in front. But that sign also says 'No emergency services available'. Well, they got that part right! We refer to this place as a 'hosprison', since that is its primary function, to act as a prison, while pretending to be a hospital. The medical department here is a ticking time bomb with irresponsible delays, incorrect treatment, poor training, and medical care grossly deficient for an aging population. One can only hope that more people don't have to die before sweeping changes can be made".

"I wrote to Attorney General Jerry Brown in April of this year detailing the terrible medical conditions here and, to date, I have not received a response from him or his staff".
Since Executive Director Norm Kramer assumed authority in September, Dr. Peter Bresler has stepped down as Chief Physician and Surgeon while remaining as a staff physician. Patients bitterly complained of their treatment by Bresler, with one saying he had been told by Bresler that treatment for his seriously distended hernia would be considered "cosmetic" and thus not surgery that he would approve. It has been alleged that he was fired from a previous job as a result of "dropping a baby".

Deficient medical care and rubber stamped clinical assessments were amongst some of the chief complaints leading to the still ongoing strike by Civil Detainees, now in its third month.

judythpiazza@newsblaze.com

Copyright © 2007, NewsBlaze, Daily News

Turmoil replaces treatment at Coalinga hospital

2007-11-15T03:05:00.000-08:00

BREAKDOWN: A state facility meant for sexually violent predators gets low marks after two years.
Los Angeles Times, By Scott Gold and Lee Romney
COALINGA, CALIF.

Two years after California opened the nation's largest facility designed to house and treat men who have been declared sexually violent predators, Coalinga State Hospital is described by both patients and staff as an institution in turmoil.

Convinced that they stand little chance of being released and angry about perceived deficiencies at the hospital, patients are engaged in a tense standoff with administrators, according to interviews with more than 40 patients and staff members. ...

Michael Feer, a psychiatric social worker with more than three decades of experience, worked at Coalinga for a year before leaving this spring. He now works in San Diego County with recently paroled sex offenders, men who in some cases committed the same crimes as those at Coalinga but who are being released into the community, he said.

Feer said that although all Coalinga patients qualify as violent predators on paper, he believes that more than a third of them would pose no threat if released.

"They did their time, and suddenly they are picked up again and shipped off to a state hospital for essentially an indeterminate period of time," Feer said. To get out, he added, "they have to demonstrate that they are no longer a risk, which can be a very high standard. So, yeah, they do have grounds to be very upset."

The hospital, Feer said, "is a setup" -- ostensibly a treatment hospital but one built with a wink to a public that has little compunction about locking up sex offenders forever. ...

The core sex offender treatment involves such activities as a "psychological autopsy," a detailed accounting of decisions that preceded an offense. ...

As of August, two years after Coalinga opened, not a single patient had been released because of completion of the treatment program. Of the more than 600 sexually violent predators who'd been committed to the facility as of August, the latest figures available, 17 patients had been released, all of them after petitioning in court. ...

In August, for instance, according to staff members, a group of patients taped small protest fliers to their hospital-issued identification tags. Most read: "When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty." Hospital officials ordered patients to remove them.

"They said they were defacing government property," a clinician said. "But they were just making this up as they go."

It did not end well; officers eventually hauled away one patient who refused to take off his protest flier.

"They made a martyr out of him," the clinician said. "The next day, patients had bigger pieces of paper taped to them that said: 'Please don't hit me because I'm wearing this piece of paper.' " ...

Others, however, have gained the attention of a congressionally charged, federally funded group that advocates on behalf of people with physical and mental health disabilities. Protection & Advocacy Inc. attorney Sean Rashkis said the group was investigating patients' concerns.

"They have done their time and have moved into a civil commitment which is based on treatment," he said. "Some of the patients argue that that's not what they are getting. It may be the case. We'll have to see." Full Story

Trick Or Treatment?

2007-11-14T04:09:00.000-08:00

Lance discusses his decision to not attend regular "Treatment Team" meetings and his reasons for doing so as well as the punishment meted out to those not attending (in contravention of the law).

As Frank Valado Lay Dying...

2007-11-11T00:06:00.001-08:00

Mike St. Martin reports on the death of Frank Valado at Coalinga State Hospital. His report recounts Valado's final moments and the seeming indifference with which his life was regarded by California Department of Mental Health staff.

Denial of Lanterman-Petris Rights to Civil Detainees

2007-11-08T00:24:00.000-08:00

John Discusses His Reasons For Joining the Strike and the Miserable Treatment Program at C.S.H.

2007-11-08T00:05:00.000-08:00

"Lance" Discusses Evaporating Liberties

2007-10-26T16:52:00.001-07:00

Missing "Childrens" Safety Scissors Lockdown & Search

2007-10-23T02:28:00.000-07:00

Coalinga Strike Update: 10/1/2007

2007-10-01T01:52:00.000-07:00

October 1, 2007

Despite Administration assertions to the contrary, Civil Detainees in California's $388 Million Coalinga State Hospital remain on strike in the second month of a non-violent action.

They charge that the Hospital's new Director, Norman Kramer, has also reneged on his recent promises to:

Meet with Representatives of the Detainee Provisional government by Friday of last week.
Transcribe tape recorded minutes of their prevous meeting with him and to make these available to Detainees and the media.
Remove Clinical Director Rocky Spurgeon, one of the primary Defendants in a Detainee lawsuit recently reconfirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit Court and sent back to the Federal District Court for trial (1).

Detainees report that, despite lacking professional qualifications for his position, Spurgeon remains in a position of authority at the Hospital where he is referred to by staff and Detainees alike as "Rocky the Roadblock" for his reputation of deliberately frustrating attempts by Detainees to exercise the few rights they enjoy.

The Administration's repeated denial to media that a Detainee strike is underway at C.S.P. is seen by strike organizers as a means to circumvent adverse press coverage and establish a sense of normality which they hope will prevail by the time of the U.S. Department of Justice's visit there later this month. The scope of the D.O.J. inspection is quite broad and seeks to determine the conditions of confinement and treatment of Detainees in the dramatically understaffed facility. A drastic reshuffling of Administration staff since the strike began including one senior staff member being escorted off the premises by police escort gives little credibility to the Administration's assertion that a strike is neither underway nor having an effect on the Hospital's operations.

Detainees plan further, as yet unspecified, strike actions in the coming weeks.

For background on the strike including the issues leading to it, please go to: http://www.sexgulag.org .

###
Contact:

Friends & Family of California Civil Detainees
Allan Marshall, Director
Tel: 702-421-0467
Email: detainees@gmail.com

Civil Detainee Contact:
Mike St. Martin
CO-414-3, Unit 7
P.O . BOX 5003
Coalinga , CA 93210-5003
Telephone: 559-934-0391 / 559-934-0392

1 Hydrick, et al. v. Schwarzenegger, et al. http://vlex.com/vid/20630509

Coalinga Strike Update: 9/29/2007

2007-09-29T01:50:00.000-07:00

Despite Administration assertions to the contrary, Civil Detainees in California's $388 Million Coalinga State Hospital remain on strike in the second month of a non-violent action.

They charge that the Hospital's new Director, Norman Kramer, has also reneged on his recent promises to:

Meet with Representatives of the Detainee Provisional government by Friday of last week.
Transcribe tape recorded minutes of their prevous meeting with him and to make these available to Detainees and the media.
Remove Clinical Director Rocky Spurgeon, the primary Defendant in a Detainee lawsuit recently reconfirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals, 9^th Circuit Court and sent back to the Federal District Court for trial¹.

Reportedly lacking professional qualifications for his position, Spurgeon remains in a position of authority at the Hospital where he is referred to by staff and Detainees alike as “Rocky the
Roadblock” for his reputation of deliberately frustrating attempts by Detainees to exercise the few rights they enjoy.

The Administration's repeated denial to media that a Detainee strike is underway at C.S.P. is seen by strike organizers as a means to circumvent adverse press coverage and establish a sense of normality which they hope will prevail by the time of the U.S. Department of Justice's visit there later this month. The scope of the D.O.J. inspection is quite broad and seeks to determine the conditions of confinement and treatment of Detainees in the dramatically understaffed facility. A drastic reshuffling of Administration staff since the strike began including one senior staff member escorted off the premises by police escort gives little credibility to the Administration's assertion that a strike is neither underway nor having an effect on the Hospital's operations.

Detainees plan further, as yet unspecified, strike actions in the coming weeks.

¹Hydrick, et al. v. Schwarzenegger, et al. http://vlex.com/vid/20630509

Transcript from a portion of the August 27 edition of the KPFA Evening News

2007-08-27T02:48:00.000-07:00

"Sex offender detainees at Coalinga State Hospital are in the third week of a nonviolent strike seeking restoration of their civil rights. The men have served their prison sentences but authorities have judged them likely to offend again, and they're being kept in preventive detention. The men say they're being treated the same as inmates still serving time.
Wendell Harper reports: More than 600 Department of Corrections prisoners, now civil detainees point to what they say is a staff shakeup of the facility wide shut down as evidence of their strike’s effectiveness and the administration's desperation in containing the revolt. Representing the prisoners on the outside, Friends and Families of California Detainees Director Allan Marshall. He said the former inmates effectively have shut down all sex offender treatment.

Marshall: As it is now, sex offenders are an incredibly wide ranging group of individuals, some of whom, doubtless, are dangerous people. Unfortunately, I'm afraid; almost all of them are being tarred with the same brush. And the term sexually violent predator has come into some popularity in this country and has come to mean something quite different from what any reasonable person would expect sexually violent would mean. Factors such as the age of the victim, the number of the victims and whether they are related or not. Those are factors which they take into consideration in calling someone sexually violent -- not at all what we would typically think of [as] violent. So they have sort of redefined terms which I believe is a means to inflame public opinion, and I think that has resulted in very Draconian, citizen based demand for further punishment of sex offenders.

Wendell Harper: In the Coalinga State Hospital the civil detainees have been on strike since August 6th, demanding the restoration of their civil rights having previously served their entire sentences in prison. These former inmates insist that conditions under which they are being held are unconstitutional and inhumane and go far beyond the narrow constraints under which the laws were enacted.

Michael St. Martin: Our number one issue is the assessments which they have never done on any of us. I’ve been here at this hospital for eleven months and I’ve never seen a psychiatrist. They’ve never done an evaluation to determine where I’m at or what I need for treatment or what’s necessary for me to be released or any of that stuff. They don’t have any staff here. They had 11 psychologists. They’re now down to 8 psychologists because three just left. Of those 8 psychologists, only four of them are licensed so they only have 4 licensed clinicians. They have 3 psychiatrists here at the hospital for about 700 people and those psychiatrists have been brought in from India. The second thing is that we have this huge, huge deficit of doctors here - medical doctors.

Wendell Harper: [that was] patient representative Michael St. Martin. The US Supreme Court, according to St. Martin and civil detainee Tom Watson upheld the constitutionality of laws detaining sex offenders beyond their prison terms to protect society and treat offenders. But the Court’s order requires that further detention not have the effect of punishing offenders twice for the same offense. But the detainees have been told, according to the strikers, that they have no rights.

Tom Watson: The patients have got just basically tired of the way they’re being treated. The patients here are civil commitments, and they have been treating them like they were prisoners. So the patients went on strike.

Wendell Harper: During each year for the last generation, Prison Justice Day is observed in Canada as prison rights advocates hold a one-day strike to honor and support inmates in that country.

Woman Reporter: Brenda, a former prisoner - who was not a sex offender but did endure the medical system in a Canadian prison: Even though the Canadian government and the Corrections Service of Canada acknowledges that over-representation, and has made legislation to deal with it through conditional sentencing and alternatives to incarceration, those numbers continue to increase. So today is 1974’s, when Eddie Naylon died in solitary confinement in Millhaven Prison and Eddie was a lifer and he had been on a working unit in the prison. He wanted to transfer to a non-working unit and one of the guards had told him the only way to get a transfer was to sign a [garbled].

Wendell Harper: The Department of Corrections was not available for comment.
The sex offender detainee system is nationwide. As in the state of New York, the National Association of Mental Illness decries the housing of sexually violent former inmates without psychiatric diagnoses in mental health facilities for reasons of cost, capacity, safety and stigma.
Michael St. Martin: One of the major things that needs to be done is Dr. Mayberg needs to be removed as the Director of the Department of Mental Health. He’s been in control of the Department of Mental Health for over 20 years. He made a statement when they had the hearings about two years ago on the Justice Department findings that were scathing, and his response was “well, we noticed we had a problem about 12 years ago and we’ve been working on it.” Well, if anybody in a normal job knew that they had a problem 12 years ago and they continued to fail, none of ‘em would be their position for 12 years to be able to continue to fail. Dr. Mayberg has run a reign over an organization that is almost in total collapse. The medical treatment here is so substandard. The staff shortages in all the hospitals are so far-reaching that people are just in danger for their lives the way that they’re running this place.
Reporting for KPFA News, this is Wendell Harper".

Coalinga Strike Update: 8/27/2007

2007-08-27T01:45:00.000-07:00

Now in the third week of a non-violent strike, Civil Detainees in California's $388 Million Coalinga State Hospital point to a staff shakeup and a facility-wide shutdown as evidence of the strike's effectiveness and the administration's desperation in containing the revolt. Detainees, refusing to participate in most programs during the strike, have effectively shut down all Sex Offender Treatment.
More than 600 Former Department of Corrections prisoners, now being held as Civil Detainees by D.M.H. (Dept. of Mental Health) under California's stringent sex offender laws at Coalinga State Hospital, have been on strike since August 6 to demand the restoration of their civil rights. Having previously served their entire sentences in prison, they insist conditions under which they are being held are unconstitutional and inhumane and go far beyond the narrow constraints under which the laws were enacted. The U.S. Supreme Court, while having upheld the constitutionality of laws detaining sex offenders beyond their prison terms to protect society and treat offenders, requires that further detention not have the effect of punishing offenders twice for the same crime. However, the Hospital's Director, Clinical Administrator, Chief Medical Officer, and Police Lieutenant have all recently informed Detainees "you have no civil rights."

Coalinga Strike Update: 8/23/2007

2007-08-23T01:40:00.000-07:00

Acting Director Rocky Spurgeon and Program Clinical Administrator, Gary Renzaglia resigned but may remain in D.M.H. Nighttime surprise searches, including strip-searches, rousted Detainees from bed-many of them elderly, infirm, or in wheelchairs- and herded them into an inner courtyard outdoors while staff conducted searches.

Coalinga Strike Update: 8/22/2007

2007-08-22T01:37:00.000-07:00

Detainee James Allen Hydrick, 48, was assaulted by Police Staff for refusing to relinquish a protest leaflet. After a tug-of-war for the leaflet, Hydrick was placed in a choke-hold and nearly passed out. Another inmate's medical emergency was ignored by staff who instead insisted that he remove a "protest tag" from his clothing.

Coalinga Strike Update: 8/21/2007

2007-08-21T01:33:00.000-07:00

An unsigned directive to Hospital Police stated "...effective immediately, patients are not to gather in the halls... Patient I.D . tags are to be cleared of any attachments. ...Patients have "no right to assembly" at this time. "Sit-downs" are not allowed."" [NOTE: Many Detainees have been wearing "protest tags" asserting their civil rights since the strike began].

Coalinga Strike Update: 8/17/2007

2007-08-17T01:31:00.000-07:00

Memos issued today from administration state that, effective August 20, those detainees participating in the strike for a total of three days will be dropped from the Sex Offender Treatment Program. Detainees will also lose work assignments for participating in the strike. Since the strike began Detainee spokesperson Niles Carr has reported that the Administration has imposed further restrictions on movement and increased punishment, including loss of work assignment, for many participating in the strike. They have also announced that they will disband RPAC (Resident Policy Advisory Council, elected by Detainees). In response, Detainees Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to retain RPAC and its representatives and to stage two days of "non-movement/non-cooperation" scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, August 20-21.

Coalinga Strike Update: 8/16/2007

2007-08-16T01:26:00.000-07:00

Sex offender Civil Detainees in California's Coalinga State Hospital strike to demand civil rights

Former prisoners now being held as Civil Detainees under California's stringent sex offender laws at Coalinga State Hospital have been on strike since August 6 to demand the restoration of rights denied them since their transfer to that facility. Now classified as "Civil Detainees", having served their entire sentences in the Department of Corrections and placed into the custody of the Department of Mental Health (DMH), they insist that conditions under which they are being held are flagrantly unconstitutional and inhumane. They argue that restrictions and privations imposed upon them go far beyond the narrow constraints under which the laws were enacted. The U.S. Supreme Court, while having upheld the constitutionality of state laws detaining sex offenders beyond their prison terms to protect society and treat offenders, insist that such further detention not have the effect of punishing offenders twice for the same crime.

Despite a $400 million price tag, Coalinga State Hospital is now widely viewed as an ill-conceived failure. The strike, its organizers assert, had become necessary in the face of an administration unaccountable to the rule of law or its mandate from voters. Strike participants seek to expose medical and mental health abuses in excess of those in California prisons, tax funding fraudulently misspent and a mission subverted to the career interests of officials.

Staff who express concern with the facility's management and "counter-therapeutic" treatment programs are seen by residents to leave the institution quickly and this, at a time when DMH acknowledges staff shortage as a major factor in its failure. The decision to build in Coalinga has been criticized by State officials due to difficulty in attracting qualified professionals to the area. Staffing is less than half of that required so half of the Hospital's units remain unopened while the other half is overcrowded, an exigency due to severe understaffing. As in State prisons, recreational areas are converted into makeshift dorms while more recent detainees languish in other DMH facilities or county jails awaiting a bed space in Coalinga.

Detainees allege they have been lured into treatment programs with the false hope that they may one day reenter society, saying that in the eleven years since civil commitment laws were enacted, only two castrated Detainees have won their freedom while several others have been placed in residential treatment programs. All of those released were through court order.

Key issues leading to the strike:

Clinical assessments are rarely performed on individual Detainees. State evaluators whose recommendations are critical in civil commitment trials spend little or no time with detainees before issuing their reports, relying instead on aging court or police records. Lacking current information, test results, or objectivity, their reports are routinely skewed against Detainees, who see them as merely tools for the prosecution.
Abysmal medical care. Life-threatening conditions are often ignored or inadequately treated. Medical staff recommendations for Detainee health are routinely overruled by non-medical staff.
Many program staff have quit. Detainees say that, amongst those few clinicians genuinely interested in providing effective patient treatment, many have left due to encroachment by administration and police staff into the management of treatment.
Conflict of interest. Acting Hospital Director, Rocky Spurgeon (the third Director in a little more than a month), is a defendant in ongoing Detainee lawsuits dating to before his current appointment. Clearly, Detainees seeking legal redress continue to be under the authority of those very individuals from whom they seek relief.
Lack of independent and professional oversight by outside organizations. The Hospital falls short in standards of care and management set by federal guidelines and even by those of California 's Department of Corrections, an agency now under court order to address gross deficiencies in health care, overcrowding, and humane treatment. Coalinga has been left largely unmonitored by either state or federal oversight or by professional organizations, such as the American Psychiatric or Psychological Associations.
Many custody police are compelled to enforce punitive restrictions imposed by administrative officials. Mandatory searches of each detainee's property are conducted weekly without probable cause. One police complained that, having previously worked in California's prisons before coming to DMH, he found the conditions in DMH to be far more restrictive than those imposed on inmates in state prison, despite the emphasis received in his training that "this is a hospital, not a prison".
Nutritional deficiency and dreadful food quality. Coalinga meals are widely regarded as much worse than state prison food, itself known for poor quality. Staff discard extra food but deny seconds to hungry Detainees, despite ever smaller portion sizes. Nutritious food purchased by family and friends on the outside to send in monthly packages are forbidden but junk food-chips, cookies, candy, and ramen-are allowed.
Communication with the outside world. Letters and communications, even those with attorneys, are subject to staff scrutiny. Many believe that staff listen in on phone calls. Staff arbitrarily refuse mail, including treatment and college materials, without notification.
Absence of Detainee rules for conduct and rights under an appeals process. There is nothing equivalent to CDC's Title 15 delineating rules to which inmates must adhere or rights which they possess. Nor are there precedents that actions contravening Detainee rights will result in discipline for staff or Detainee remedy. Instead, rules are issued arbitrarily by individual staff as directives, many of which are mutually contradictory and have no legal basis. Rules from one housing unit to the next differ widely, with Unit Supervisors making abrupt policy decisions without accountability to the law or administration. Property room staff, while allowing one detainee an item, will deny another an identical item, even when on an "approved" list. This, combined with the capricious enforcement of rules as a form of harassment, has created an atmosphere of constant uncertainty and turmoil for Detainees.
Inmate library consists largely of children's books and juvenile-level materials. Titles featuring "Cinderella" are well represented in the library's collection and Detainees who desire more intellectual reading challenges find no support from staff. Beyond the library, censorship to absurd levels is imposed on all books, periodicals, and other media which the Detainee wishes to buy with his own money. Also, all items purchased by inmates must be ordered through a handful of institutionally approved vendors, a selection process without transparency and one which effectively imposes trade restraints on legitimate vendors.
Inmate financial resources, earned as a result of work performed in the prison (averaging about $1.25 a day) are controlled by staff who must approve any expenditure in excess of $100, even if it is cash to be sent to family, and can refuse without explanation. Detainees do not receive interest accrued from their funds.
Complete lack of privacy. Detainees have no privacy in any aspect of their daily lives, save for stall doors in restroom toilets, and they are in continuous view of staff and other Detainees. As Justice Louis Brandeis, in his now-famous dissent in the 1928 Supreme Court decision of Olmstead v. United States articulated: "the right to be let alone is the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men." . How is it then that "Civil Detainees", not being held for the purpose of additional punishment, are shorn of this fundamental right of human dignity?
Inmates are prevented from experiencing the outdoors or seeing beyond the institution walls. The largest accessible "outdoor" area is a tiny inner courtyard referred to by prisoners as "the terrarium".
Despite its stated purpose as a forensic investigatory hospital, DMH has published nothing of their sex offender treatment research in peer-reviewed journals.
Detainee family support. Visitors must be approved by administration and can be denied for any reason. There are very few telephones for use by hundreds of Detainees.
Bingo, conga drumming, mural painting, and popcorn snacking are often shown in reports to be "treatment" in the continuous challenge staff face in justifying the hospital's existence as a treatment facility. While many suspect outright fraud in these "treatment" expenditures, they have received no scrutiny by State regulators or the Legislature.
CDC prisoners , not Civil Detainees, have recently been dumped in Coalinga State Hospital alongside Civil Detainees who, after all, are not there for punishment.
On the use of the term "Sexually Violent Predator " (S.V.P.) to describe Civil Detainees. The term "S.V.P." has a meaning under California law quite distinct from that of any reasonable person. As it is now defined, neither actual violence nor coercion is needed for a crime to meet the statutory definition of "sexually violent". The age of the victim, non-familial victims or past convictions are some criteria useful in branding someone " S.V.P." That this definitional shift has occurred during a period of mass hysteria over sex offenders cannot be seen as coincidental. California prisons and state hospitals have been launched on a wave of distorted public opinion.
Recidivism rates are no higher for Civil Detainees than for other offenders not detained; between four and six percent. If the state is unable to demonstrate a difference in recidivism rates, then the very existence of the Civil Commitment program is called into question. Public safety would be truly served were funds reallocated to programs demonstrating actual success.

Since the strike began Detainee spokesperson Niles Carr has reported that the Administration has imposed further restrictions on movement and increased punishment, including loss of work assignment, for many participating in the strike. They have also announced that they will disband RPAC (Resident Policy Advisory Council, elected by Detainees). In response, Detainees Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to retain RPAC and its representatives and to stage two days of "non-movement/non-cooperation" scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, August 20-21.