Mentally Illness

All things considered, the past six months have been good to Crenshaw Scott and Carlos Contreras. In January, the two men, 37 and 39 respectively, moved from uncertain, unstable worlds into a new universe that revolves around Hillview Village, an apartment complex for 50 formerly homeless adults in Pacoima. Once homeless and in and out of mental institutions, Scott and Contreras now live in apartments of their own.

SACRAMENTO - Videotapes released Thursday by a federal court show mentally ill prisoners in California being forced from their cells by guards who douse them repeatedly with pepper spray. Some of the inmates are being forced to comply with medication orders; others are to be moved to new cells. The six tapes, created by guards abiding by a state policy to record all cell extractions, were shown in court in October as part of a lawsuit by inmates' lawyers seeking a ban on the use of pepper spray against the mentally ill. The tapes were ordered released by U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton, who is holding hearings on the issue in Sacramento.

A housing project that allows homeless adults who are mentally ill or recovering from drug or alcohol abuse to share apartments is the first of its kind in Orange County, housing officials said. Henderson House, actually a pair of apartment buildings, is unusual because of its blend of residents and the fact that it will be self-supporting rather than subsidized once all eight units are rented.

Re "New tactics on mentally ill inmates," Oct. 24 It is distressing to read a correctional psychiatrist's assertion that psychotic prisoners "would have no memory" of being repeatedly pepper-sprayed and "have a higher than average threshold for pain or noxious stimuli. " The claim that psychotic illness would prevent a person from remembering physical pain has no basis in science. Regarding pain thresholds, a growing body of literature documents post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in psychotic people subjected to excessive force.

Nearly half of all cigarettes purchased in the United States are smoked by people who suffer from mental illnesses, according to Harvard Medical School research. Mentally ill people are roughly twice as likely to smoke cigarettes as those without mental illnesses, according to the research, published in today's Journal of the American Medical Assn.

A Santa Ana board-and-care home was closed Thursday as police and state regulators launched separate investigations into the death of an infant born there to a mentally disabled resident who later arrived at a hospital with the baby's body in a plastic bag, authorities said. Staff at the facility where the woman lives discovered the nearly full-term baby when they went to change the diaper of the woman, who has the mental capacity of a 2-year-old, police said.

Re "A Positive Link of Mind and Body" by Rosalynn Carter, Commentary, May 7: It is essential that the public be informed of the necessity of providing mental-health care access to everyone. All too often there is stigma attached to psychotherapy or hospitalization for mental illness. As Carter so aptly stated, there are so many benefits to good mental-health care, including a decrease in worker absenteeism and a decrease in visits to physicians. MARCIA BERNSTEIN California Society for Clinical Social Work Sacramento

Facing legal action over the use of force to subdue mentally ill prisoners, the California corrections department is working on new rules to curb some of the agency's practices currently under review in federal court. In testimony Wednesday before a federal judge, the state official in charge of adult prisons said he sought the changes in part because of videotapes, introduced as evidence in the case, showing half a dozen inmates who were repeatedly sprayed with large amounts of pepper spray -- even while naked and screaming for help.

Re "The mentally ill in our jails," Editorial, Oct. 15 Los Angeles County can easily reduce its jail population by implementing Laura's Law and discharging eligible mentally ill inmates to assisted outpatient treatment. Laura's Law provides mandatory monitored treatment for people with mental illness while they live in the community. L.A. County's pilot program has reduced incarceration by 78% among participants. It's time to move from pilot to full-scale implementation and determine which jail inmates should be enrolled.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Kim Knoble donned a bright red dress Wednesday and strode with confidence to the front of a room packed with judges, politicians and mental health advocates. By the time she lowered the bow from her violin, many in the audience were crying. A standing ovation followed. Knoble, 31, is one of countless people whose lives have been upended by severe mental illness. But she is among the fortunate. With help from San Francisco's Behavioral Health Court two years ago, Knoble found herself not in prison -- where she was headed after committing a violent crime while off her medications -- but instead surrounded by a team of treatment specialists who have helped her thrive.

SAN FRANCISCO - Kim Knoble's past tracks an arc of promise, mental illness and descent into what her parents call "living hell. " But Knoble is not homeless, in prison or dead - outcomes common with stories like hers. Instead, on Wednesday, the woman with a head of wild red curls plans to walk into the St. Francis Yacht Club, tell her tale of recovery and lift the instrument she did not touch for a decade to play Massenet's "Meditation From Thais. " Now 31, Knoble was mastering Mozart violin concertos by the time she hit middle school.

Two Riverside County residents suspected of conning an elderly, mentally ill  woman into giving them thousands of dollars are facing fraud-related charges . Sebre  Amadee Abdul, 57, and Maria Elia Chavira, 48, were taken into custody Tuesday at their Lake Elsinore home, where Ontario police detectives found “large amounts of furniture” believed to have been purchased with the woman's credit card. Authorities say they persuaded the unidentified victim to open multiple credit accounts, which they used to make more than $36,000 in purchases.

SACRAMENTO -- Federal hearings begin Tuesday in Sacramento over allegations that mentally ill inmates in California prisons are subject to brutal and degrading treatment, including excessive dousing with pepper spray and neglect on death row. State prison officials say that force is required at times to subdue inmates who pose threats to other inmates or staff. Experts for lawyers who represent some 33,000 inmates have filed sworn declarations accusing the state of allowing corrections officers to determine the treatment of mentally ill, wielding batons and pepper spray against those suffering psychiatric breakdowns, and then following up with rules violations that strip those prisoners of family visits and time out of their cells.

WASHINGTON - For years, federal and state governments have struggled to build a background check system that can keep guns out of the hands of mentally troubled people. Monday's mass shooting at the Navy Yard shows that goal remains elusive. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, run by the FBI, is supposed to prevent gun sales to people with serious mental illness, as well as to convicted criminals, fugitives and domestic violence offenders. (Despite the system's name, not all the people it flags have been accused of wrongdoing.)

Her husband had been emotionally unraveling for months; paranoid, delusional, his mind hijacked by stubborn mental illness and dangerous drugs. So when Erik Lamberg left his family in Hermosa Beach and set out for Oregon - to get sober, he said - his wife, Samantha Lamberg, was concerned about his stability. She also felt an odd sense of relief. He'd been in and out of treatment for 12 years. Maybe this time he'd find the solace and clarity he needed. Maybe his family would have a respite from years of drama and grief.