System not equipped for health needs of prisoners
Patients who are prisoners and prisoners who are patients bounce back and forth
Jeremy Newborn committed one of the most public crimes in Edmonton history. On Dec. 28, 2012, he beat John Hollar on an LRT car in front of horrified witnesses. Hollar died of his injuries. Newborn was found guilty of second-degree murder in May 2016.
But Newborn has not yet been sentenced. His lawyer has launched a Charter challenge of the mandatory minimum life sentence in this case, arguing that Newborn, whose IQ is well below average, lacked the intellectual capacity to form the intent to kill. A hearing on that question is scheduled to begin Dec. 11.
While Newborn was being held at the Edmonton Remand Centre, he had a complete psychotic break, provoked in part by his consumption of illicit Remand “moonshine.”
He was transferred to Alberta Hospital Edmonton for treatment. His symptoms, when he arrived, were extreme.
“Because of his unpredictable violence and aggression, as well as proclivity for deviant sexual acts, it was deemed necessary to place Mr. Newborn in seclusion and on constant observation,” the court was later told.
His psychosis abated and he was judged by the doctors at the hospital as mentally fit to give instruction to a lawyer, and stable enough medically to be returned to the Remand Centre.
Both Newborn’s own lawyer and the Crown prosecutor protested. They argued if Newborn were returned to the Remand, he might well suffer another psychotic break. And so last month, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Brian Burrows ordered Newborn remain at Alberta Hospital.
In other words, the hospital has been ordered to keep Newborn, even though he’s not currently deemed mentally ill. Meantime, Newborn is occupying a bed needed to care for other acutely ill patients.
And so it goes, around and around. Day in and day out, patients who are prisoners and prisoners who are patients bounce from the criminal justice system to the mental healthcare system and back again. And nowhere are there the right resources, it seems, to cope.
In the past three years, the number of accused or convicted criminals being sent for psychological or psychiatric assessment in Alberta has virtually doubled.
Mark Snaterse, executive director of addiction and mental health services for Alberta Health Services, estimates his staff will complete about 1,000 court-ordered assessments this year alone. In 2014, they did just over 500. Most of those assessments will be done at remand centres or in the community.
But more serious cases from across Alberta must be assessed at Alberta Hospital Edmonton, and there are only 12 beds at the hospital for such court-ordered assessments. (Newborn currently occupies one of them.) Every bed is full, and there are currently two people on the wait list.
AHS has hired extra forensic psychiatrists, extra forensic psychologists and extra forensic psychometrists, the people who administer and score the batteries of psychological and neuropsychological tests. Even so, they aren’t keeping up with demand. They’ve had to go to court to get judges to give them extensions, because they can’t meet court-ordered deadlines — which delays trials in an already backlogged justice system.
Meantime, other psychiatric patients — the ones who haven’t committed any crimes — are waiting for beds, waiting for treatment, while their doctors write more and more reports.
Are judges erring on the side of caution, and ordering more assessments than they used to? Are more people with serious mental illness getting caught up in the criminal justice system? Or has there been more of a societal shift, a broader recognition of the impact of mental health and addiction on violent or antisocial behaviour?
Marlin Schmidt, the interim justice minister, tried to put the best possible spin on the situation Monday.
“I think it’s no secret that mental health has been a hot topic these days,” he told my colleague Emma Graney. “There’s a lot more awareness around mental health than there use to be.”
Still, Schmidt acknowledged that this change in attitude has put more pressure on the system.
“We want timely access to justice and we’re putting more resources in place,” he said.
But we need the right resources in the right places, and soon, if we want to assure both fair and timely criminal trials, and fair and compassionate health care for people who need it. If we actually want to reduce crime, we need to get help to people before they act — not after.
Other psychiatric patients — the ones who haven’t committed any crimes — are waiting for beds, waiting for treatment, while their doctors write more and more reports.