I participated in my very first press conference yesterday about the failure of the jail system in treating the mentally ill. The system doesn't have the training, experience, or facilities to treat the mentally ill. They belong in hospitals or other health care facilities. Nancy Speer whose son Ben Warren has been incarcerated in the Santa Barbara jail for eleven months organized the event and spoke out in front of the jail about her son's treatment and condition he supposedly has self-mutilated himself and has refused food and water. On two occasions he was sent to a local hospital's psych ward and rehydrated but not medicated and brought back to psychological balance. Now he is back in jail in a safety cell naked and only covered with a light quilt. Neither his mother nor his psychiatrist is allowed to visit him. Nancy Speer speaking yesterday in front of the Santa Barbara jail Nancy then introduced me. However, I could not speak from my experience with the inhumane … [Read more...]