Commitment Laws Hurt Mentally Ill

I write this letter with deep sympathy for the family of two slaying victims--the mother of a small son and her elderly father.

Despite the family’s loss and excruciating pain, the jury must be commended for finding Miguel Hugo Garcia not guilty by reason of insanity. He will now be required to take the medication that would have prevented this great tragedy, and he will likely be confined for a very long time in a psychiatric prison hospital.

This case, once again, illustrates the insanity of commitment laws. A person can be in the grip of a psychotic episode, as Garcia had been for some time, and families or others can do nothing. The family had reportedly asked a person whom Garcia had accosted earlier to bring charges against him so that he could be committed. He had stopped taking his medication.

The real culprit in this and similar tragedies is the ACLU. Their lawyers know nothing of major mental illnesses, and their zeal to change commitment laws went beyond reason. Their eagerness to “liberate” and ignorance of major mental illness have resulted in nontreatment that chains people in their illness, and imprisons them for committing crimes they would never commit in their sane mind. It is doubly sad because it could easily be prevented.

In contrast to the jury’s ruling, Kevin Kolodziej was tried by a judge, found sane and sent to prison. Like Garcia, he had a history of mental illness, and his family had been unable to help him. He had walked away from the County Medical Center where he was being treated for major, self-inflicted wounds. Just hours earlier, a psychiatrist had found him gravely mentally ill but he was too ill from his wounds to be transferred to the psychiatric unit.

He walked away from the hospital barefooted, in pajamas and with the ties from his straitjacket hanging at his side. He was stopped by the police who found there was no legal hold on him, and let him go after his telling them he would return to the hospital. He walked up the street next to the hospital, and was reported to have entered Velasta Johnson’s home, and stabbed her with a knife that was lying on the counter.

The judge interpreted the law very strictly, deemed Kolodziej to be sane and sent him to prison. His medical records did not follow; he was taken off medication, deteriorated and again almost killed himself. On medication Kolodziej is a gentle, caring person. Until Johnson, he had never hurt anyone but himself.

The jury’s finding of insanity in the Garcia case reflects common sense and justice, and gives confidence to the jury system. Commitment laws need to be changed to protect people from the devastating symptoms of mental illness that impairs the very organ needed to make rational decisions about oneself.

LOU MATTHEWS, Ventura