This happened after duh DCF was given tons
of scientific references which show that not only are all psychotropics brain
damaging, but they actually CAUSE agitation and violence - AKATHISIA.
They were given the data Nov 20, 2003.
What people don't understand is that
the "mental health system" and
DCF are every bit as dangerously stupid
and punitive as "corrections."
"Burgos was placed
in numerous treatment centers, hospitals
and shelters over the past few years
as state officials tried to find
programs to help him, sources familiar
with his case said."--
-- "Treatment" causing the "disorder."
===============================
courant.com
http://www.courant.com/hc-mansonhang0726.artjul26,0,7637789.story
Teen's Prison Suicide Draws Outrage
As Probes Begin, Advocates Contend
Again: Youths Don't Belong In Adult
System
By COLIN POITRAS,
DIANE STRUZZI And HILDA MUÑOZ Courant
Staff Writers
July 26 2005
A 17-year-old's suicide at a state
prison Sunday is causing a furor among
child and mental health advocates who
have been fighting for years to get
troubled youths out of the state's adult
prison system.
"This is a terrible tragedy and our
office has begun an investigation,"
state Child Advocate
Jeanne
Milstein said.
Milstein's comments came the day
after David Burgos of Bristol hanged
himself with a bed sheet at the Manson
Youth Institution in Cheshire,
the state's high-security prison for
young men aged 14 to 21.
One child advocate questioned whether
the conditions of Burgos' pretrial
confinement were a violation of his
constitutional rights.
Burgos had a history of mental
illness and struggled with bipolar
disorder and attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder, relatives said.
He was sent to Manson in March for
violating his probation after allegedly
being caught stealing, his paternal aunt
Neomi Perry said.
Burgos' mother, Diana Gonzalez, said
Monday that she doesn't understand why
state officials allowed her son to sign
himself out of DCF custody when he
turned 16. Burgos had been under DCF
custody and guardianship
since he was 10.
He was "a special DCF case, a kid
with a lot of needs," Gonzalez said as
she prepared for her son's funeral.
"That's why I was surprised when
DCF let him sign off at 16. Those are
the questions and answers I want."
State officials are looking into
Burgos' death, and several agencies
began taking immediate steps Monday to
ensure that other incarcerated
children are safe.
The state Department of Correction,
the Department of Children and Families,
the Office of Protection and Advocacy
and the Office of the
Child Advocate are all launching
investigations into Burgos' death.
"This individual was not convicted of
a crime," said James McGaughey,
executive director of the Office of
Protection and Advocacy. "You have
to wonder if there were alternatives
available instead of sending him to
jail. That's of greater concern to me
... How does a kid this age
wind up there, particularly someone with
a history of mental illness?"
Relatives described Burgos as a
charming teen, rambunctious at times,
who loved playing the clown and dreamed
of becoming a crocodile hunter or pro
basketball player.
"He was a typical youth, always
joking," Perry said. "He was a lot like
my father; he had a joke to everything.
He was a loving kid, the illnesses that
he had didn't help him and it overtook
him."
Burgos was placed in numerous
treatment centers, hospitals and
shelters over the past few years as
state officials tried to find programs
to
help him, sources familiar with his case
said.
"Undoubtedly this is a real tragedy
and it gives us all an ...occasion to
think about how to better help
vulnerable young people," said Gary
Kleeblatt, a DCF spokesman.
In response to Burgos' death,
Kleeblatt said, DCF is sending social
workers and mental health staff to
Manson this week to make sure other
children are safe and to help them cope
with the suicide.
Of the 644 inmates housed at Manson
on Monday, 18 were victims of abuse
and neglect who were committed to DCF
and are considered wards of the
state. An additional 112 boys came from
families with active abuse and
neglect cases, Kleeblatt said.
Kleeblatt said DCF has been working
with correction officials in recent
months to improve how incarcerated
children are served, including
allowing more DCF involvement in case
conferences and discharge
planning.
But
Milstein and others say they are
very concerned about how the
children are being treated and they
question whether they belong in an
adult prison in the first place.
"I'm very concerned about this
issue,"
Milstein said. "There is an
increase in the number of children
ending up in the adult criminal
system ...," she said. "The adult
criminal system is becoming another
layer of the children's mental health
safety net."
Martha Stone, executive director of
the Center for Children's Advocacy
in Hartford, said she visited Manson
twice in the past two weeks and is
deeply concerned about conditions there
and how the boys are being
treated.
Stone said she was especially
concerned about the prison's practice of
keeping pretrial youths locked in their
cells 21½ hours a day during a
two-week orientation after they first
arrive.
In a letter Monday to Correction
Commissioner Theresa C. Lantz, Stone
said the forced segregation may be a
violation of the youths'
constitutional rights.
She urged Lantz to seek the immediate
services of a national expert to
assess the adolescents' needs with the
intent of finding more
appropriate conditions and programs for
them.
Correction department spokesman Brian
Garnett said the agency worked
with national experts last year after
nine suicides prompted Lantz to
order a review of state prison policies
and procedures.
As a result, state prisons now use
orientation units to reduce the
opportunity for self-harm, Garnett said.
When a person first comes into
the prison system, he is subject to
15-minute checks by guards and is
made to wear slip-on sneakers instead of
sneakers with laces, he said.
"We do as much as humanly possible to
protect these individuals from
themselves," Garnett said.
Garnett said Burgos was not under a
suicide watch Sunday.
During an unrelated bill-signing
Monday in Hartford, Gov. M. Jodi Rell,
who spoke to Lantz Sunday night,
expressed distress over Burgos' death.
Responding to questions from the media,
Rell said she was told that
Burgos was on a 15-minute watch and took
his life during one of the
15-minute intermissions. She said Lantz
assured her that all protocols
had been followed.
"It is just absolutely unfortunate,"
Rell said.
Burgos' death is refocusing attention
on Connecticut's juvenile laws.
Connecticut is one of three states
that treat youths as young as 16 as
adults in their court system. The others
are New York and North
Carolina.
A measure to increase the age limit
for juvenile offenders from 16 to
18 failed in the state legislature this
year, as have similar measures
before. The main problem, opponents say,
is cost. Officials say it
would be hugely expensive - tens of
millions of dollars - to expand the
juvenile court system to handle the
extra caseload.
But advocates say the juvenile court
system - with its focus on
personal responsibility and
rehabilitation rather than punishment -
is
more suitable for children and youths up
to age 18 because of their
different developmental and mental
health needs.
"How many more kids have to die
before we say we can't do this to
children?" asked Sheila Amdur, a
longtime mental health advocate and
past president of the Connecticut
chapter of the National Alliance for
the Mentally Ill.
Courant Staff Writer Christopher
Keating contributed to this story.
Copyright 2005, Hartford Courant