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Monte Cullors is Born
Patrisse becomes very close with Monte and he is described as being a sweet kind-hearted person. “But it’s Monte who plays with me, lets me get away with stuff. Monte is the one with the ginormous heart. He can never not feed the stray cats and dogs that wander our streets even when our own food supplies are meager”
(Kahn-Cullors, 13) -
Monte And Paul Are Harassed By The Police
“The throw them up on the wall. They make them pull their shirts up. They make them turn out their pockets. They roughly touch my brothers’ bodies, even their privates, while from behind the gate, I watch watch, frozen. . . .”
The boys never reported this abuse to anyone in authority, and in fact, they never spoke of it.
(Kahn-Cullors, 14–15) -
(Source) Persons with Severe Mental Illness in Jails and Prisons
“It should be acknowledged that mentally ill persons who commit serious crimes and enter the criminal justice system might not have engaged in such behavior if they had been receiving adequate and appropriate mental health treatment” (484). -
Monte is Arrested For The First Time For Attempted Robbery
Monte spends two months in jail while his family has no idea where he is. He was being held in the Twin Towers Detention Center. When his mother finally sees him after weeks of calling with no results, he is beaten, emaciated, and lost 40 pounds from his large frame. -
Monte Is Arrested For The First Time For Attempted Robbery
During this round of incarceration, Monte is diagnosed with a schizoaffective disorder.
He is sent to prison, where he is beaten for his illness and drugged to the point where he is incoherent. But he still writes Patrisse as much as he can. (Kahn-Cullors, 58–61) -
Monte is Released From Prison
In a matter of a few days after his release, Monte starts to act erratic. The family calls the ambulance to take him to the hospital where he can get the help he needs, but they refuse to pick him up, given his past. They are forced to call the police, and that is even less helpful.
Monte eventually agrees to go to the Hospital where he stays for three weeks. (Kahn-Cullors, 63–66) -
Monte Is Severely Abused And Charged With Terrorism
After Monte was released from prison in 2003, he continued to suffer from episodes of erratic behavior. His friends and family try to help him by finding him work and places to live. However, because he is an ex-con and because of his past, many of those attempts to help fail. Monte has no choice but to move back in with the mother of his child. During this time, his bouts of illness worsen, but he does not check into a hospital. -
Monte is Arrested Again
The authorities assign a public defender who has little interest in helping Monte. The Cullors are forced to hire an attorney beyond their financial means to help Monte get cleared of these charges. They are successful.
(Kahn-Cullors, 114–117) -
(Source) Mad or Bad?
“If criminal justice officials are overly reliant on a prior diagnosis to determine who receives mental health treatment, this is likely to bias current treatment in the direction of non-African Americans since mental illness tends to be under-diagnosed among African Americans"(133)“African American are being typified as “criminal” rather than “mentally ill” and therefore a subject to more punishments rather than to what is perceived to be a less severe punishment: mental health treatment.”(133) -
Monte Decide To Work Full-Time
Patrisse and her co-organizers help him get a job as a janitor at a social justice organization as part of a re-entry into society plan. Things go well for a time until they let him go because they deem him not a good fit for the job due to his mental illness. He is forced to move to Las Vegas to work in a mechanic shop with Patrisse’s brother, Alton.
Monte decided that he did not like Las Vegas and wanted to go home to live with his ex-girlfriend. (Kahn-Cullors, 133–134) -
Prisoner Abuse
Patrisse reads a report about prisoner abuse from the ACLU and thinks of what Monte went through. -
(Source) Sample of Hospitalized Patients With First-Episode Psychosis
"The stigma associated with a history of incarceration and severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, may compound other barriers for this population (e.g., less schooling), making employment very difficult to obtain. In addition, under federal regulations, individuals with criminal records are not eligible for public assistance programs such as housing, nor are their family members eligible for housing if they reside together." (62) -
Monte is Re-admitted To The Hospital
Monte is off his meds again and has another episode at his girlfriend Cynthia’s house. After much effort and time, the family can re-admit Monte to the hospital.
(Kahn-Cullors, 133–138) -
(Source) Inside the US’s Largest Psychiatric Ward
“In June, a searing report from the Justice Department cited a “dramatic increase” in suicides at the L.A. County Jail and called the treatment of mentally ill inmates unconstitutional, describing the conditions as “vermin-infested, noisy, unsanitary, cramped and crowded.” In the previous 30 months, the government noted, 15 inmates killed themselves. The feds are seeking court oversight of the jail system.” -
(Source) Paul Tanaka is Sentenced to Five Years in Federal Prison
The federal trial of former Los Angeles County undersheriff Paul Tanaka, an FBI investigation into a culture of brutality and corruption inside the LA County jails, began in 2010.
“Some of the criminal investigations conducted by the DOJ, FBI, USAO, federal gand justices include allegations of (a) civil rights abuses, such as deputies using excessive force on jail inmates; (b) public corruption offenses, such as deputies smuggling contraband into jails in exchange for brides.” -
(Source) Two Former L.A. Sheriff’s Deputies Found Guilty of Violating Civil Rights
“The case against Brunsting and Branum is the result of an investigation by the FBI and is one in a series of cases resulting from an investigation into corruption and civil rights abuses at county jail facilities in downtown Los Angeles. As a result of today’s guilty verdicts, 21 current or former members of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department have now been convicted of federal charges.” -
(Source) Maybe It Was Something Wrong With Me
“The plight of Black men trapped in the world of psychiatric assessments and diagnoses is very similar to that of Black men caught up in the criminal system. Of course, it is necessary not to forget that many psychotic Black men are also inside the criminal system: one person can be simultaneously subjected to the power of both systems.” (84). -
(Source) America’s Mental Health Crisis Hidden behind Bars
"There are currently more than 5,000 inmates identified with some type of mental illness now cycling in and out of LA's county jail system…ODR and the Rand Corp did studies that suggest that nearly 60% of those behind bars with a mental illness could go to diversion court or similar non-jail alternatives.” -
(Source) Mental illness and racial disparities in correctional staff-involved violence
"Our study finds that correctional staff-involved violence against people in jails does occur and that the risk of victimization is not equally distributed. Being a person of color and suffering from mental illness are two separate risk factors that render a person in jail more likely to be victimized by correctional staff. This underscores the need for improved training of correctional staff to help recognize and respond to signs of mental illness and address racial bias issues."