Michigan’s Mental Health Courts Depending On Community Based Programs Like AA Meetings

More and more mental health courts are popping up. It is wonderful they are trying to help the mentally ill. Yet the courts should not be mandating Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings, where they are often told not to take there meds and make disparaging remarks about the mental health field.AA has no training to deal with paranoid schizophrenics or suicidal people.

Mental Health Court

Michigan’s treatment of mentally ill people has disgraced the state, as hundreds of thousands have gone without treatment and ended up in county jails and state prisons, warehoused at a cost to taxpayers of $35,000 a year each.

It’s a common and tragic story: Mentally ill defendants — often abusing drugs — cycle through the criminal justice system repeatedly for petty offenses until they are slapped with lengthy prison sentences as repeat offenders.

Since 2008, however, eight mental health court pilot programs, now serving nearly 700 people a year, have given hope to mentally ill offenders like Angela DeCant, 35; Henry Smith, 47; and Steven Townsend, 52. Wayne County Circuit Judge Timothy Kenny and others who preside over the courts have the option of sentencing them to 18 months of intensely supervised probation and treatment.

Working with community-based nonprofits like Detroit Central City Community Mental Health, participants get medications, attend relapse prevention classes and group therapy, meet with psychiatrists, undergo residential treatment, and talk with job and housing specialists to get their lives on track.

The pilot courts work at a fraction of the cost of incarceration. But they will end Sept. 30, when the annual $1.65-million federal grant expires, unless the governor and state Legislature find another way to pay for them.

For starters, Gov. Rick Snyder has put $1 million for the mental health courts in his 2013 budget, but legislators must do even better. With county jails and state prisons becoming Michigan’s largest mental health institutions, this is no time to end a rare success story.

Salvaging lives
Over the last two decades, mental health care in Michigan has eroded, leaving hundreds of thousands without treatment and pushing many of them into county jails and state prisons.

http://www.freep.com/article/20120304/OPINION02/203040478/SALVAGING-LIVES-SAVING-MONEY-Eight-pilot-courts-that-divert-mentally-ill-offenders-from-prison-to-treatment-are-showing-promising-results-It-s-time-to-expand-the-experiment-?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE

Woman Stabbed At Court Mandated Anger Management Class Sues

Maybe suing the courts, the class providers, Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, Cocaine Anonymous Groups, (including Corporate AA/NA/CA) might get their attention finally, now that victims are holding them accountable for not protecting people at their meetings. They have full knowledge how dangerous many of them are. Corporate AA/NA is also aware of the many crimes against men,women and children that have already taken place. Many people that are mandated to Anger Management classes are also mandated to AA or NA because many violent crimes are committed while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. 

Glad to see Luna Oraivej is fighting back with a lawsuit against Court Services Institute! A felony warrant is out for Faribah Maradiaga 19, who stabbed her who failed to show up to court. Check out the link to read the actual lawsuit below and link to photos of incident. There are 3 different stories about this – dont miss them!

AngerManagement

by LINDA BYRON / KING 5 News

Updated Monday, Dec 5 at 11:08 PM

Related:

ISSAQUAH, Wash. — Luna Oraivej, 37, admits she got angry and broke a DVD player during an argument at home.

“I was wrong, I did something wrong,” Oraivej said. “I was being honest with police. I said ‘Yes, I stepped on it,’ but nobody touched each other, there was no physical violence.”

Because it was a domestic violence dispute, Issaquah Police arrested Oraivej for malicious mischief.

“When he [the officer] told me I had to go to jail for that, it really took me by surprise,” Oraivej said.

Oraivej was booked into the city jail and charged with a criminal misdemeanor. Her attorney and the prosecutor worked out a deal and when she got to court, the judge informed Oraivej that there was a way to make the criminal charge go away — pay a fine and attend anger management classes.

Oraivej said on her way out of court, she picked up paperwork from a judicial clerk directing her to Court Services Institute. She said she thought it was a court sponsored program and she wasn’t given any other options.

“No, I was given this one place, this one number, call them up and they’ll tell you when to show up,” Oraivej said.

http://www.king5.com/news/investigators/Investigators-Anger-Management-135058318.html

Claim: Lack of security by private anger management class provider allowed for attack

By LEVI PULKKINEN, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF
Published 08:22 p.m., Sunday, December 11, 2011

An Issaquah woman stabbed during a court-ordered anger management class has filed a lawsuit claiming the class provider failed to protect her from others there.

Stabbed during an October 2010 class operated by the Court Services Institute, Luna Oraivej, 37, claims the for-profit company didn’t do enough to ensure her safety as she gathered with others accused of low-level crimes to learn to manage their anger.

Writing in the lawsuit filed earlier this month in King County Superior Court, Oraivej’s attorneys claimed the Institute misled Oraivej into believing the anger management classes were taught by trained mental health professionals, and that she’d be safe there.

“With the extensive court and law enforcement expertise CSI advertises, CSI agents and employees are well aware that courts order individuals to attend anger management classes because they have a history of not being able to control their anger – anger that, in most instances, led to violence against others,” the attorneys said in the civil suit.

“Nevertheless, CSI has no security policies or procedures to protect its business patrons from one another. CSI takes no precautions to avoid allowing deadly weapons into its anger management classes.”

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Issaquah-woman-stabbed-in-anger-management-

class-2393215.php

Inside Edition snip

Luna Oraivej was in an anger management class when, incredibly, she says she was stabbbed by an out-of-control classmate.

“I couldn’t stop saying, I can’t believe she just stabbed me,” said Oraivej.

The attack happened at a Bellevue, Washington, building. Oraivej said she was stabbed three times. Afterwards she dialed 911 as blood was streaming down her arm.

Even while calling 911, her alleged attacker was so out of control she continued screaming in the lobby.

With guns drawn, police took the alleged stabber, Faribah Maradiaga into custody. She had been sent to anger management class because police say she had assaulted a teacher. Oraijev was ordered to attend the class for breaking a DVD player during an argument with her husband.

http://www.insideedition.com/news/7339/woman-stabbed-in-anger-management-class.aspx