Poor Penny. I have written about her before. She is a thirty year old African Amercian woman with developmental disabilities. Although she has such disabilities, she is fairly high functioning.
Penny has been in jail or in a mental health institute since the middle of April. She broke into an apartment to seek things to steal for her "husband". This man is not her husband, but a man that takes advantage of Penny for sex and money. He has a lengthy criminal record. He has treated Penny in every horrendous manner imaginable. Yet, Penny's primary desire is to seek the "love" of this main. In doing so, she has become an addict and a criminal.
When Penny was arrested and jailed over two months ago, there were questions about her competency to stand trial. An outpatient evaluation was ordered by the Court. The "expert" physician could not figure Penny out. So, Penny was shipped of to a state mental health institute for inpatient evaluation. After two weeks, they could not figure her out and asked for another two weeks. The extension was granted. The report for Penny stated that she was incompetent to stand trial, but likely to gain competency with 3 to 6 months of treatment. Along with Penny's attorney, I argued that it was unlikely that Penny would regain any level of competency. The Court agreed, but didn't drop the charges. The prosecuror argued that, if released from custody, Penny posed a significant risk to herself. All of us on Penny's support team agree. Penny has diabetes that is not closely monitored. Penny has refused all efforts to provide her with more community-based supervision (such as living in an adult family home). Because of this, Penny has been languishing in institutions for over two months.
The issue will be addressed at a hearing later today. My hope is that everyone will agree to drop all charges and release Penny from custody with the understanding that, if she ends up in court again, the prosecutor will have no alternative but to petition for an involuntary commitment to a mental institute. To her credit, the primary concern for the prosecutor is Penny's safety. She worries that Penny will end up dead from complications related to diabetes, being shot when breaking into someone's home or from an overdose.
Both the human service system and the criminal justice system have done a tremendous disservice to Penny. Penny does not belong in an institution and she is a huge risk to herself when left unsupervised in the community. Penny rebuffs most of the assistance offered to her. So, Penny falls through the cracks.
I fear that the day will soon come when I get a call that Penny is dead. If that day arrives, the cause of Penny's death won't be diabetes, trauma or an overdose. The cause of death will be chronic asphyxiation by the "system".
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