Letter to Senator Dubrin-Criminalization of Asperger Syndrome and Mental Illness

Letter to Senator Durbin – Daniel Back in Jail

The text of a letter I wrote to request a meeting with Senator Durbin to discuss the incarceration of the mentally ill (including my son)...

Honorable Senator Durbin:

I am requesting a meeting with you to discuss the incarceration of my son Daniel S. Jason who has Asperger Syndrome and is non-violent and also the incarceration of the mentally ill in jails and prisons.

I know that you are knowledgeable about the plight of the mentally ill who are incarcerated since you had a hearing on it. Daniel had been living in my house for the last four and a half months. I got him on SSI and he worked a couple of jobs briefly. He mostly stayed in his room. He was embarrassed to see family and relatives due to having been in jail and prison for over 5 years.

On Monday, October 15, 2012 , the Buffalo Grove police department arrested my son at home. There was a nationwide fugitive status alert. Iowa has charged him with felony stalking and since this is the third crime, he is looking at life imprisonment. It appears he contacted his ex-girlfriend a few times, but none of the contacts were threatening.

The first time he contacted her was on June 8th because he was upset that our dog Rody had to be put down due to a tumor of the brain. My son has always been non-violent. I have a forensic report to that affect.

Daniel is presently in Illinois in Lake County Jail with hard core criminals and will be extradited to Iowa. Iowa has a lynch mob waiting for him. They only believe that punishment will deter future crimes. This nightmare has been going on since 2007.  I pray you have some suggestions and a way to help. Whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world. We all must find a way out of the darkness of how our mentally ill family members are incarcerated.

The following are ideas I presented to House Representative Dold last year:

Ideas by Joseph M. Jason, President NAMI BA

Presented to Representative Robert J. Dold on October 10, 2011

Improving the criminal justice system for people who have Asperger Syndrome and mental illness.

I have begun my quest in advocating for my son and others like him who are part of the criminalization of the mentally ill in the United States by visiting members of Congress and the Senate.

Here are some of my ideas for improvements for people in the legal system who have Asperger Syndrome and mental illness.

1) There must be fair treatment by the criminal justice system for people who have autism.

The Autism Society of America believes the following:

What ASA and the Criminal Justice Action Committee is calling for is fair treatment by the criminal justice system for people who have autism. Specifically, ASA and the Criminal Justice Action Committee are calling for the following:

• All individuals with autism must have the right to have the condition of autism be considered first, and the implications of having autism be considered primary to any action taken by the criminal justice system prior to prosecution.

• Individuals with autism must have the right to free and appropriate individualized resources (FAIR) to enable them to receive appropriate education and training in order that they not develop nor continue behavior that may be viewed as illegal.

• Proper training in the issues associated with the syndrome of autism must be provided to all individuals associated with the criminal justice system, including judges, juries, prosecutors, defense lawyers, law enforcement personnel, and any other forensic science investigators associated with a criminal justice action.

• Individuals with autism must have the right to have expert witnesses, who understand the disability of autism, available to them in a court of law.

• If prosecuted, an individual with autism must have his disability considered primary when sentencing is handed out, e.g., consideration of a secure residential autism treatment agency if incarceration is indicated.

• The criminal justice system must ensure the protection of the civil rights of the individual with autism should the individual be incarcerated in a correctional institution or other human service agency.

• Individuals with autism must be protected under the American's with Disabilities

Act ensuring that their autism is not the reason for the conviction in a criminal justice action.

2) Educate mental health courts-I recently provided articles about Asperger Syndrome to a new mental health court judge in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. I also gave her a summary of the trials and tribulations of my family. We were one of many groups that met with her.  My dream is that mental health courts will include people with Asperger Syndrome in the future. At present, they do not because of lack of resources.

3) There is a need for mental health courts for federal matters. The fact that people with Asperger Syndrome are getting sentences of 27 months to 8 years in federal prison raises alarm bells. I know of a person who has been threatened with 30 years. We need to find out if this is just happening in Iowa or the whole country. To have to serve years for non-violent crimes and only get a reduction of 15% time is a grave injustice.

4) Forensic diversion program-See article by Aaron Levin

http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/46/18/8.1.full

The American Psychiatric Foundation (PF) will use a $1.3 million grant from the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation to help develop a program for the mentally ill people in the criminal-justice system in Miami/Dade County, Fla.

The program will operate in the nation’s first forensic diversion facility, now under construction and scheduled for completion by the end of 2012.

The site will be part jail, part short-term residence program, and part crisis-stabilization center. It will be a national model for courtrooms and communities. Implementation of the program is expected to help people with serious mental illnesses in the criminal justice system into recovery. Increase public safety, and save tax dollars.  The combination of deinstitutionalization and a failure to develop adequate community based services has led to increased incarceration of people with mental illnesses, said Steven Leifman, J.D., a Miami Judge and a member of the APF board.

“This is an outrageous and an offensive situation,” Leifman told Psychiatric News.

I look forward to meeting you and discussing these matters.

Sincerely,

Joseph M. Jason