Treatment of mentally ill by criminal justice system needs to improve, says
federal judge
By JUAN A. LOZANO
Associated Press Writer
HOUSTON (AP) - The Houston mother convicted of drowning her children in a
bathtub last year after a jury rejected her insanity defense belongs not in
prison, but in a mental health care institution, U.S. District Judge William
Wayne Justice said Wednesday.
Justice, a longtime critic of Texas' treatment of mentally ill prisoners, said
Andrea Yates' murder conviction in March was in part a result of tougher
insanity statutes following John Hinckley's acquittal by reason of insanity for
wounding President Ronald Reagan in an assassination attempt in 1981.
"That response is why Andrea Yates is and will remain for the rest of her days
in prison, rather than in an institution where she could receive the kind of
psychiatric care which might have prevented the slaughter of her children in the
first place," Justice said during a lecture at the University of Texas Medical
School at Houston.
Justice, who spent 30 years on the federal bench in Tyler and is now a senior
judge in Austin, was responsible for placing the Texas prison system under
federal oversight for more than 20 years after concerns were raised about prison
conditions, including excessive use of force against inmates and confinement of
mentally ill prisoners.
Justice said what appalled him most about the Yates verdict was that it properly
reflects the current state of the law, the result of what Justice calls
misguided attempts at reform.
"We have allowed the spirit of vengeance such unrivaled sway in our dealings
with those who commit crime that we have ceased to consider properly whether we
have taken adequate account of the role that mental impairment may play in the
determination of moral responsibility," he said to an auditorium filled with
about 100 people.
Justice drew wide acclaim or notoriety, depending upon one's point of view, for
his action stemming from a 1972 case filed by inmate David Ruiz, who claimed
prison conditions were so brutal and crowded they amounted to cruel and unusual
punishment.
In 1980, Justice ruled that the Texas prison system was unconstitutional. He
maintained some level of supervision of prisons until this past June, when an
agreement was reached and he formally released the system from federal
oversight.
Treatment of mentally ill inmates was among the lingering issues that had
delayed a settlement in the case. One of the terms of the agreement was that
prison officials would address concerns about solitary confinement of mentally
ill prisoners.
After his lecture, Justice said the Texas Legislature could fix inadequacies he
believes are in state law, but added, "They are not likely to do it."
Dr. Daniel Creson, a professor of psychiatry at the medical school, said part of
the problem is an inaccurate perception by the public concerning use of the
insanity defense.
"There are a bunch of myths about lots of people getting off with a plea of
insanity. It is extremely rare," he said. "The law doesn't really address the
issue of how you deal with the rights of people who, as a result of illness,
commit terrible acts."
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Last Updated on
02/20/2005
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