Danny's Prison
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Prison
I don't remember falling down two
flights of stairs when I was three years old. I don't remember having a
concussion or being in the hospital. I do not remember my real mother.
I can't remember my father or anything
about him. Someone told me he died a few days before I was born. I don't know if
I remember being beaten by my grandmother or being abused by my grandfather.
Maybe I dreamed it
My good memories of being young are of my mom Joan. She protected me. She cared
for me. She always tells me she loves me.
My mom is my birth mother's sister.
She took me away from people who were hurting me.
I love my mom a lot. She legally adopted me when I was 7 years old
I've lived in the Chester Mental Health place for four years--ever since I was
19 years old. I was sent here from Tinley Park because I bit a worker who was
choking me. I never did hurt anyone else. I'm told that my mental age is that of
a 15 or 16 year old. In school I was hyperactive and called a slow learner.
The teachers told mom that I needed to take ritalin because I was disruptive in
class. Here at Chester they give me so much medication that I am always tired
and kind of out of it but my case worker just tells me that I lack motivation.
Mom says taking that much medication is ruining my kidneys. I wet my bed because
I can't wake up and I am just left in bed all night all wet and cold. I get sick
a lot because of that.
I was of legal age at the time of the bite and my mom says I was tricked into
signing a transfer paper that let them send me to Chester. This place is maximum
security. It's just like a prison---with fences that are
15 feet high with locked and guarded doors
At first I was put in the third unit that keeps rapists and other mentally ill
criminals. I was raped the first month I was there in June 1998. My caseworker
at Chester wrote that it was "consensual". I wrote mom a letter telling her how
bad it was and she tried over and over to get them to move me but they didn't. I
was raped two more times the next year and she finally got them to move me to a
better unit. The people aren't as scary here.
Sometimes if I am bad or have an outburst Jim and the others threaten to move me
back. Being bad means I don't take my meds or I get agitated or angry at small
stuff (they call them "trivial matters") or if I am destructive. I've torn some
stuff up.
When I do that they restrain me. When I get agitated or angry they restrain me.
That means I am thrown on a bed and tied down with leather restraints.
But I haven't had to be restrained since January 25 of 2002. My mom keeps
telling me to be good so I can get out of here but sometimes it is really hard
Some of the staff members call me names and make fun of me. It's really boring
here and I don't have much to do or anyone to talk to a lot of the time.
My mom and her friend are trying really hard to get me moved closer to home so
they can visit me more. Right now I'm 5 hours away from them and they can't come
very often. Chester keeps telling us that I cannot be moved to a closer and less
secure place unless I don't have to be restrained for 6 months in a row. That is
really hard since they keep picking on me and taking away priviledges. That
makes me really mad sometimes.
Mom is starting up the Last Resort Animal Rescue team and No-Kill Sanctuary so
that I will have somewhere to work when I get home. We really love animals. I
have one dog named Pepper and 5 cats!
I really miss my Pepper dog. He is really old and I am worried that he will get
sick and die before I get out of here.
You have been reading a true story. Please continue reading---
I met Danny in March 2002 at his quarterly hearing and he is a nice, smart,
polite boy who does NOT belong at Chester with criminals and rapists. They are
ruining him both mentally (abuse, torment, rape) and physically (too many
dangerous medications).
Please go to Congressman Tim Johnson's
web page at our link and request that Danny be released or transferred closer to
home. We have been told that the State of Illinois pays Chester around $130,000
EACH year to keep Danny there. They won't let him go without your help!
Please send this to as many people as possible and ask them to link to Tim
Johnson and help us get Danny home.
Thanks from Joan and Danny's friend,
Patty
Danny's Prison
Chapter 1
The Chester Mental Health Center
March 26, 2002, Tuesday 1 pm
I am driving Danny's mother Joan to the small southern Illinois town of Chester
this afternoon. Tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. we will go to a commitment hearing for
Danny at the Chester Center. He is kept at a maximum security facility that is
five hours from where she lives.
On Joan's other trips she left her home at 2 a.m. on the morning of the hearing.
She would later drive the five hours back after the hearing and her visit with
Danny. It was very hard to be back at work the next morning but she always was.
Last night we got six inches of blowing and drifting snow. I called Joan when I
awoke today and told her that we needed to leave while it is still light outside
since I am not familiar with the roads. It is very important that Joan does not
miss this hearing for Danny so she told me she would be at my house around 1
p.m. This meant we would both be missing four more hours of work but I hadn't
been looking forward to getting up at midnight and driving in the dark anyway.
During our long drive Joan told me a lot about her son's life and herself that I
didn't know.
"I have been trying for over four years to get Danny out of Chester" she told me
with a frown on her face. "At first it was a voluntary placement, although they
would never let him leave when I asked. At each commitment hearing they would
tell me I had to sign papers to keep him there or they would petition to have
him changed to involuntary." As tears rolled down her cheeks she told me "They
threatened me with that so I signed the papers each time. Until last fall when I
told them I wouldn't sign anymore, that I wanted my son home. I hired a lawyer
and we went to the hearing in December."
On December 15, 2001 Joan and her attorney made the long drive to Chester. I
remember how happy and confident she was at work the day before the trip. She
truly believed she would be bringing Danny home with her.
The commitment hearing was held at the Chester facility. It did not go well for
Danny and Joan. She told me that the attorney did make some good arguments but
when it came to Joan's turn to speak the Judge interrupted her and told her he
was not interested in her plan for Danny. Joan had spent a tremendous amount of
time on her computer researching and e-mailing people and asking for their help.
She took three typewritten pages to show the Judge about her plan for Danny
after he got sent home or transferred closer. She thought the Judge would be
impressed with all of her ideas. Instead, she said he was rude and showed no
interest in restoring their lives together.
When Joan returned to work after the hearing we could tell she was heartbroken.
"Danny is supposed to be at Chester voluntarily. I just can't understand why the
Judge would rule against me and be so mean when I tried to talk about my plan
for Danny." She cried while telling us her story. We could tell how sad and
depressed she was. Joan called in sick a few times the next week because she
just couldn't get out of bed.
At that time, last December, I didn't understand why Danny was still there if he
had never committed a crime and she was trying so hard to get him out. I decided
to ask Joan to lunch so that I could find out more of what was going on. It
sounded like I could find someone to get her son released. It took a while
because of the holidays but we finally got our lunch date set for Monday January
7, 2002. Joan and I left work at 2 pm. We wanted to find a place to eat and
talk. I told Joan to bring paperwork on what she had done so far. As I got into
the car I saw stacks of documents, papers, letters, and file folders in the back
seat. "Thats not all of it" she told me. "That's mainly the past year or two but
I did bring some of the older stuff about Danny."
As Joan drove to Chilli's restaurant she told me "Every month they have a
Treatment Plan Review with Danny and I can't be at any of them. It's always on a
Tuesday or Wednesday. I've asked them over and over if I can listen in on the
phone, and be able to talk, but they won't. They won't change it to Friday, my
day off, either. You know I can't take off work and drive down there every
month, so Danny has to go through them alone. I am always there for the
quarterly hearings but I just can't take off each month to be at the review.
When I get the monthly treatment plan review report from Danny's caseworkers it
always says the same things-he got angry once or twice in the past month or two
or he refused his medication so they had to restrain him. How will I ever get
him out of there? Chester told me that if Danny has an outburst or has to be
restrained then he will not be able to even get a transfer to home for another
six months. I don't think that is a State law--I think it's just their rule to
keep him there."
We arrived at the restaurant and Joan gathered up a stack of papers about five
inches high. "I'll just take in a few of these" she explained to me. "You can
take the others home with you." After we had been seated and ordered our food
Joan handed me one of the folders she brought in. "In this first one is stuff
about Danny. His monthly treatment reports, a letter from him to me about the
second rape and other things like that. One is a newspaper article from a
Carbondale paper about the rape. I also have a letter from Chester that I had to
sign allowing them to give Danny an HIV test.
This other one has some of the letters I've sent to all kinds of people; like
the Governor, top people at Chester, Congressmen, and many others. They all just
pass me off to someone else. I've been told that Chester receives about $130,000
per year to keep Danny and others locked away" she added. "His state money keeps
two people working at the Chester facility."
"Wow, is that why they refuse to let him leave?" I asked.
"Yeah, I think so" she replied. "You know, if Danny were closer to home it would
be much better for us. I've talked to everyone at Chester but I always get the
same answer. They say that if Danny would just show some motivation and follow
the rules then he could get a transfer. They make it sound so easy but they
tease him and pick on him. They call him names and make fun of him too. They
even keep reminding him of the rapes by calling him some really nasty names."
I had not met Danny at this time or talked to him. I had heard Joan talking to
him on the phone many times. She is very loving and caring and tells him to be
good. "I love you too son" is always the last thing she says to him.
"You know what the worst part was?" she asked me. "I had to go to court to
re-apply for legal guardianship in August of 2000 so I could fight to get him
released. It was at the Courthouse in downtown Chester. When they brought Danny
in he was in shackles, not just his hands but his feet too. It hurt me so much
to see him like that. He's never done anything wrong. He's never hurt anyone and
they treat him like a criminal."
Our food arrived and I changed the conversation to new subjects. We chatted
about playing golf in the summer. Joan told me that her brother-in-law bought
her some clubs and a bag for Christmas. We went golfing last summer with another
friend and we had a lot of fun. We talked about our love of animals and our
plans for our retirement. Joan is going to sell her house and buy some property
in the country. I'm going to buy three acres near her, one for myself, and two
for the animals so we can start building our dream. When we finished eating we
left and on the ride back to work Joan talked some more about their problems.
"Danny lived with me five years ago. Did you know that?" she asked. I shook my
head no. "I got transferred five years ago. I got transferred from the Kankakee
office to Champaign. Danny and I were doing really well before that. But they
changed my hours to 3 pm to midnight and I had to drive an hour and a half to
work and back and Danny was by himself way too many hours in the evening. That's
when everything went wrong."
She added "Many children who have been abused do not tolerate change well. They
need to be in a routine and have familiar settings. First I got new work hours,
and then I decided I had to move closer to work so that I could be with Danny
more. So Danny's life got changed from what he was used to twice in a very short
time."
"Danny got into some problems with kids who took advantage of him. He wants to
do what the other kids do so he can be their friend. Two boys tore up our house
and a lot of things were stolen. There were incidents with some other kids too
who he had tried to be friends with. I told Danny that he needed to find better
friends. But I knew that was hard for him because most of the kids tease him and
pick on him. It's been like that all through his school years."
I didn't really know what to say because she was starting to cry but I said
"You're right Joan, he did need a friend. Maybe a Big Brother or someone like
that. It was not your fault. You know that don't you?" "I don't know. Maybe I
should have just quit work and not moved. Maybe that would have been better--to
just get a new job and stay in Kankakee. Then maybe none of this would have
happened" she reflected quietly
We were pulling into work and as we got out of her car and walked towards the
building she quickly added "After we moved and while I was away during the
evening hours he had some behaviorial problems. Danny called 911 and told them
he was going to commit suicide. He never did try to hurt himself but I got
scared and was told by different Mental Agencies that I had better get Danny
some help. When Danny called 911 a second time I was told that it was a
potential crisis situation and that he should be committed to Tinley Park for
immediate help."
Joan was of course very distraught about the suicide calls and trusted that the
professionals knew what was best for her son so she told Danny to voluntarily go
to Tinley Park. So he did.
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Hi Joan,
Just read your story on Danny and sent it to hundreds of others who have someone
in the ugly psycho-system just like you do. You can write to each of them by
email and maybe connect somehow. These people are all doing time or damaged or
dead because of Toxic Neuroleptics/SSRI's/Electrocution Therapies.
We know the pain you are going through and we also know the pain that Danny has
to deal with especially not understanding much of this entrapment. My son is
similar but we did not give up Conservatorship and will not. He has been
through hell and is damaged by NEUROLEPTIC POISONING of his body and brain
through the fault of the system that claims to BE DOING NO HARM!
Sincerely,
Linda Valentine
