FERGUS FALLS — Dawn Saxton’s son should not be in the Otter Tail County Jail.
Court officials agree Gavin, who suffers from schizophrenia, should be placed in a secure treatment facility after he became delusional and attacked his roommate. But like hundreds of Minnesotans with mental illness waiting to enter state treatment programs, including about 50 in prison, he has nowhere to go.
That means the 27-year-old has spent about 100 days in jail.
“This is not good. This is a terrible system,” said Saxton, who has reached out to all elected officials. “I feel like I’m deaf.”
Last year, the state suspended a decade-old requirement to transport inmates within 48 hours of a civil offense. After Minnesota repeatedly missed this deadline and lawsuits increased, state lawmakers temporarily changed the law and asked a task force to fix it.
in new reportthe task force has outlined reforms, but Minnesota has limited funding available for sweeping reforms.
Meanwhile, Gavin and others with mental illness remain stranded in poorly equipped prisons, where staff struggle to meet their needs and deal with dangerous riots.
“We can’t be a hospital,” said Cass County Sheriff Brian Welk, a member of the task force. “They shouldn’t be in prison. This is about patient care and treating people as human beings.”
The report suggests corrections.necessary funds
Incarcerated Minnesotans who need medical treatment face the longest wait times in history, the task force reported. It took an average of two days in 2019 to take more than two months in 2023. And this is after inmates have been forced to wait weeks or even months in prison before being referred to treatment by the court.
Human Services Secretary Jody Harpstead said staffing shortages, an increase in behavioral health issues exacerbated by pandemic isolation and a lack of space in mental health facilities are contributing to the “perfect storm.”
The storm has also hit emergency rooms and acute care hospitals. Both compete with prisons to admit patients to state psychiatric hospitals and secure treatment facilities. According to the task force, patients have been waiting for treatment beds for more than a year in some hospitals.
In its report, the group proposed helping some patients by carving out a limited exception to the law that generally gives prison inmates priority admission to state facilities.
The task force submitted nine recommendations. The first is to increase capacity and access at major state treatment facilities. Others include:
• Expand community services to prevent people from needing hospitalization and help them succeed after discharge.
• Change the process for prioritizing admission to state facilities.
• Provides access to Medicaid benefits for people in jail or prison.
• Adds a forensic examiner to determine whether a mentally ill person is competent to proceed in a criminal case.
Harpstead said the Department of Human Services is already working on some of the recommendations, including working with partners on a case-by-case basis to move people from state treatment facilities to community facilities such as group homes. .
Last year, amid staffing challenges, the department eliminated 14 beds in St. Peter’s Forensic Mental Health Program, which served people with chronic and serious mental illnesses. But Harpstead said they will be available again.
Minnesota’s latest budget projections showed a $3.7 billion surplus, but officials warned that deficits are expected in the next two years’ budgets. Despite the looming budget deficit, Rep. Heather Edelson, DFL Edina, said she is optimistic that lawmakers will put money toward the issue this year. She is drafting a bill regarding amendments.
“It’s going to be an incredibly large investment, but the reality is that it’s costing us right now,” Edelson said. “Minnesota people understand that this is a huge crack in our system and that there are a lot of very tragic stories related to this. People’s constitutional rights have been violated. There is.”
Prison staff are not equipped to meet needs
At the Otter Tail County Jail, officials said there are usually several inmates waiting for available mental health treatment beds.
They are often housed in modest single-person cells with beds, toilets, and glass panes opening onto internal hallways. Social interaction is limited and the prison has no outdoor areas for prisoners. Depending on the person, he may need to be escorted by two or more staff members when leaving his cell.
Jail administrator Beth Carlson said staffers try to exchange library books with people and sometimes set up televisions in the halls outside the cells for inmates to watch at night. Prisoners have access to phones so they can make calls, send text messages, and access self-help materials. But Carlson said he’s frustrated that staff aren’t helping patients recover, and he’s seen their mental health deteriorate when they aren’t prescribed medication or refuse to take it.
“My staff are not nurses, they are not psychiatric nurses,” Carlson said. “A lot of times it’s like, ‘What do I say? How do I talk to them?’ They’re just trying to get through it as best they can.”
Another concern arises if prisoners become violent, she said. The task force says there has been an increase in self-harm and harm to prison staff.
Prisoners have a constitutional right to medical care. However, some prisons do not have professionals trained to safely administer mental health drugs such as antipsychotics, leaving some people struggling to take their medications voluntarily or in situations where they must be detained. The task force reported that
The report includes recommendations to allocate funds to train staff and ensure that drugs are delivered by qualified personnel. Harpstead said it doesn’t require a lot of money and should happen as soon as possible.
Their report says the changes will “significantly avoid the need for hospitalization for some individuals, improve safety in prisons, reduce recidivism, and improve outcomes for people living with mental illness.” There is a possibility that this could be improved.
Cass County Sheriff Welk said community psychologists will help support the state’s jails. He said employees felt “powerless” and would not intervene in situations that might require the use of force, such as replacing clothing that could be used as a noose with suicide prevention smocks. He said he was afraid of that.
Welk said one violent inmate was once held in the Cass County Jail for about 84 days.
“That’s not a huge number compared to what we’re seeing across the state,” the sheriff said. “But when you think about the constant problems, 84 days in a row, 24 hours a day, it seems like 84 years.”
locked in a detention center
Dawn Saxton’s son, Gavin, stabbed his roommate with a pen while staying in a community-based intensive care facility in November. He later told law enforcement that he believed his roommate was the Antichrist.
“It wasn’t him, it was the disease,” Saxton said of the attack.
Her son was charged with attempted second-degree murder.
Her home in Fergus Falls is filled with posters from Gavin’s high school graduation party and photo albums from when he was healthy. It features photos of his son posing with his friends, camping on the North Shore and fishing with his father, who died when Gavin was young. There is.
They captured friendly National Honor Society students who played football and basketball and participated in track and field. He loved art and science and was good with his children.
He was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the beginning of his senior year of high school. Since then, he has been in a number of treatment facilities, but he has had a more stable period during which he worked part-time.
Ms Saxton, a former social worker, said: “I still hope that with the right treatment he will be able to live a life where he can be an active member of society, hopefully work, and fulfill all the things we expect from children.” he said.
She wishes she could meet him in person. She’s worried about whether he’s taking the right medication, and she wants him to be able to go outside, or at least have a window that looks out.
“They’re doing the best they can at the prison, but they just don’t have the systems in place,” Saxton said.
Gavin writes a letter. He asks how his mother is doing and tries to reassure her by saying that her food is not too bad and that she is drawing and reading books. In one letter, he mentions talking about sending him to the Anoka Metro Regional Treatment Center.
He wrote the letter on the 43rd day.
Tuesday is the 100th day.
