Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Man in Mississippi jail 11 years without trial
http://www.sunherald.com/news/local/crime/article79193182.htmlReally depressing article about the ways the system has just broken down in this case. My dad lives right by the Sonic and definitely remembers this.
Each day inside the Clay County jail, Steven Jessie Harris helps pass out food trays.
With the exception of a mental examination at the Mississippi State Hospital at Whitfield, he has been here every day since his Oct. 8, 2005, arrest.
He remains charged with murder and other violent offenses, yet he has never gone on trial.
"To keep a mentally ill person in jail for 11 years is a disgrace," said Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, founder of the nonprofit Treatment Advocacy Center in Arlington, Virginia. "It is exactly what we did in the 1830s and 1840s before we built state mental hospitals to be more humane."
With the exception of a mental examination at the Mississippi State Hospital at Whitfield, he has been here every day since his Oct. 8, 2005, arrest.
He remains charged with murder and other violent offenses, yet he has never gone on trial.
"To keep a mentally ill person in jail for 11 years is a disgrace," said Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, founder of the nonprofit Treatment Advocacy Center in Arlington, Virginia. "It is exactly what we did in the 1830s and 1840s before we built state mental hospitals to be more humane."