A couple of months ago, one of my posts included information about a person for whom I serve as guardian. Many years ago, this person had a consensual sexual relationship with a woman that, like him, had a developmental disability. The woman did not want to press charges, nor did the woman's family. However, word got to the local district attorney about the situation. The DA brought sexual assault charges. My friend was found guilty. Because of his developmental disability, he was remanded to a state mental health institution for 42 years. Why such a harch sentence? The reasons included: he was a young black male living in a lily white community, he was disabled and poor and the judge was (and is) a complete racist nutbag.
Fortunately, we were able to petition to get my friend into a conditional release program. This is a program that allows certain convicted felons to serve their sentence in a secured community-based setting. It was not easy to convince the same judge to allow this. For many years, my friend did very well. He lived in small group homes and even found a job on his own. His staff said that they had to fight for shifts that included working with my friend.
My friend has had a couple of anger management issues. Last year, he became confrontational with a staff member due to feeling abandoned by his family. My friend began to throw some things around the apartment. Rather than calling other staff for assistnance in "talking down" my friend, staff called police. My friend was taken into custody. Whenever this happens, our friendly judge must be informed. A hearing to revoke his conditional release was held. Several people testified on behalf of my friend and we convinced the judge to give him another chance to continue in conditional release.
A few weeks ago, my friend had another confrontation with staff. Police were not called. However, when word of the confrontation got to my friends parole official, things got blown way out of proportion. A hearing was held last week and my friends conditional release was revoked.
Earlier today, I went to visit my friend in the state mental health institute. When I arrived, I had to tell the guard (behind bullet-proof glass) that I was there to visit my friend. I key with a number was slipped to me through as slot as was a form I had to fill out. The key was for a locker. I had to put everything but my clothes in the locker - no belt, no watch, no keys. I walked through a metal detector to a holding room. A staff member came to get me. We went through two security gates and into the visiting room. While walking, the staff member said he wished all of the institution residents were as easy to work with as my friend is. He questioned why he was at the institution.
The visiting room looked like a classroom. There was a single raised desk in front where two guards kept watch. There were two rows of chairs facing the guards. My friend was sitting on the end of the second row wearing the standard bright yellow institution uniform. There were three other residents meeting with family and friends. My friend was glad to see me. He was very confused as to why he was there. It was tough for me to explain to him why he was there - I am as confused as he is on that issue. However, my friend understood that physical confrontations with staff are inappropriate reactions to frustrations that he has. I mentioned that all of us have frustrations and that we are judged by how we react to those frustrations. I think my friend gets this, but I am not sure. He has often presented himself to be more capable than he really is.
It was a tough visit. My only hope was to let him know that he had friends that would visit him and would actively try to get his conditional release reinstated. I will try to visit him every Saturday from 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm, since he informed me that these are mandatory "quiet hours" during which residents must remain in their rooms unless they have visitors.
So, it is frustrating to see my friend back in the same place where I first began working with him many years ago. However, since that time, he does of a significant history of living successfully in a community-based setting. That gives me some hope that he can repeat his own history - minus the innapropriate reactions to frustrations.
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