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| Task force created for ill inmates |
| By Courier-Post |
| Published: 06/14/2004 |
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A bill seeking to find better places to house nonviolent, mentally ill inmates took a step forward last Monday when a N.J. Senate committee unanimously agreed to create a 14-member task force to study the problem. The task force is "a critical first step in facing and ending our practice of criminalizing the mentally ill," said Cathy Chin, legislative advocate for the Mental Health Association in New Jersey. Most nonviolent patients need treatment, not jail, she said. Camden County Freeholder Edward McDonnell estimates that as many as 250 mentally ill inmates are in Camden County Jail, which statistics show is the second-worst overcrowded jail in the state. Only Passaic County's jail is more crowded. Just how dangerous jails can be for the mentally ill was shown in January, when inmate Joel Seidel, a 65-year-old Cherry Hill resident, was stomped to death, allegedly by his cellmate, Marvin Lister, now 36. Seidel had a long history of mental illness. He was incarcerated when he violated a court order to stay away from his ex-wife, therapist Susan Gold. He died in jail, unable to post $150 bail. The task force proposal, in part, is in response to Seidel's death. Assemblywoman Mary Previte, D-Haddonfield, a sponsor of the proposal, said the task force must produce statistics and find better options for treatment of the mentally ill. The task force would have one year to produce a report. |
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