Huffington Post looks at the Nation's Jail Deaths
18 Colorado Jail Deaths in the past year
We're Not At the Bottom of that List
Val's Take
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What makes all of this so tragic is that for the most part it is so, so unnecessary.
We put people with mental illness and law enforcement in situations they are not in any way well served by. AND we reap the results. We don't need 6 officers trying to negligently perform a restraint on a small man with mental illness -- that's ridiculous -- if it weren't so horrific. Even in a medical setting, restraint is greatly disfavored -- because it is so dangerous -- and one can so easily kill someone if it isn't done properly. We will put more on the Orchid website about what the Health Dept and other government agencies say about restraint within the next week. We really need the medical experts to be addressing these issues AND that is NOT law enforcement -- law enforcement officers generally know that, we know that -- AND we need to have systems that are not placing people at horrible risk. Some of these deaths were suicides and others apparent medical neglect. So the question is: Do the lives of these people matter? And if they do, what are we going to do to fix this situation? |
Michael Marshall, 130 pound man with mental illness, hospitalized after 6 Denver Jail officers tried to put him in restraint. Marshall ultimately died and death was ruled a homicide.
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