Features and News

(June 1, 2015) Diagnosed with schizophrenia, Shannon King sits in a jail cell in South Dakota awaiting trial on charges of burglary and assaulting his mother, Suzy, last April (“Mother: My son needs treatment, not jail time,” Argus Leader, May 26).

Suzy said her son attacked her during a schizophrenic episode at their home, and then dragged her eight blocks away across gravel to a local beauty salon. Once there, King kicked in the salon’s door, pulled Suzy inside, lay down on the floor, and went to sleep.

But Suzy blames the attack on the illness, not her son.

"How do you punish a person like that?" Suzy said. "He doesn't even understand what he's done."

Advocates say King’s case further highlights the need for change in the way the courts handle criminal cases involving defendants with mental illness.

"We are long overdue for a mental health court in our state and community," said Phyllis Arends, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Sioux Falls.

Many mentally ill defendants like King find themselves in a cycle of entering and exiting jails and prisons, without ever being fully stabilized and rehabilitated, Arends said.

Mental health courts offer one possible solution. They are designed to get treatment for those who might otherwise land behind bars, and possibly help them regain their lives.

"I think there is beginning to be a consensus that there needs to be a better way to deal with this specific group," said Judge Hoffman of Sioux Falls Second Circuit. Hoffman is working to build support for “an alternative court that would focus on rehabilitating mentally ill defendants rather than locking them up.”

Hoffman is headed in the right direction. Read the Treatment Advocacy Center’s study on the prevalence of mental health diversion practices to learn more about ways to provide treatment before a person with severe mental illness ends up in the criminal justice system.

(Photo: Joe Ahlquist/Argus Leader)

To comment, visit our Facebook page. 
Visit our blog archive to read all our recent posts.