Prev
Next

Rotting in jail is not the right treatment for the mentally ill

The Punch Team

by The Punch Team

26 Jun 11:50am

Must Reads

The Punch is moving house - this is a caption

The Punch is moving house

385

Will Pope Francis have the vision to tackle this? - this is a caption

Will Pope Francis have the vision to tackle this?

122

Advocating risk management is not “victim blaming” - this is a caption

Advocating risk management is not “victim blaming”

251

Filed under: Alice Springs, Crime, Health, Jail, Mental Illness, Society

42 comments

This is a glimpse into the life of an intellectually disabled man who didn’t receive appropriate care and support when he was young. The result of this was the fatal stabbing of his Uncle.

Alice Springs Jail is no place for Tom…

He was never convicted of the offence because of his serious disabilities, but is looked after in Alice Springs prison because there is nowhere else to accommodate him.

With no likely alternative care arrangement or release date in sight, a campaign to free him and similar offenders is underway. This action is set to culminate in a battle between human rights lawyers and governments in the High Court.

Born at a remote community, Tom (not his real name) was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of one. His mother had an acquired brain injury and was unable to care for him, so he lived with his grandmother at the community.

At the age of seven, his grandma died so he went to live with his Uncle at a different community. As a young boy he suffered several life threatening seizures and tests showed he had a deformity in his right temporal lobe.

During the next couple of years, he began to travel to a school for children with disabilities in Alice Springs. Eventually he attended the school full time and lived in town in respite care provided by a family. But his seizures continued and his behaviour became more erratic so the family were unable to continue to look after him.

He returned to community to again live with his Uncle. Little is known about the man’s father, except that he died in 2001.

One night his Uncle returned home drunk which made him angry because he had been waiting to be taken to visit family in another community. In a rage, the then 16-year-old attacked his Uncle, his only remaining carer, stabbing him five times and killing him.

Transcripts from the court case of the incident reveal competing diagnosis of Tom’s condition. The Judge concluded Tom had serious epilepsy, was brain damaged and diabetic, and because of his potentially dangerous and explosive behaviour ordered he be looked after in a secure environment.

At the time, medical experts said Tom’s behaviour could improve if he received appropriate support. A neuropsychologist concluded “there is still an opportunity for him to learn basic self-help skills and socialisation through intensive programming in an appropriate care environment.”

In prison, Tom’s difficult behaviour has continued and extreme measures have been used to restrain him. He has been strapped into a chair and sedated, most recently in February, after behaving dangerously toward himself and others.

Alice Springs prison staff do an excellent job, but the facility is generally close to capacity if not full. An extension of the low security area is about to begin.

The point is, the prison does not provide a good opportunity for disabled people to engage in “intensive programming.”

Tom is one of around nine mentally impaired people being held indefinitely in Northern Territory prisons. Most of the offenders are indigenous, but lawyers say non-indigenous people are also being detained. A similar problem exists in other Australian jurisdictions, particularly in West Australia.

Legal action to free the incarcerated is being planned by lawyers working with the Aboriginal Disability Justice Campaign, led by Patrick McGee, who is also the joint guardian for the disabled man referenced above.

The group will argue governments are acting unconstitutionally by holding mentally impaired people in jail when they have not been convicted of a crime.

Authorities are working to address the needs of mentally impaired offenders through construction of a 16-bed secure care facility in Alice Springs. Half of those places are for young people, the other half for adults. The facility is due to be complete anytime now.

However, it is unclear which offenders will be transferred to the facility, particularly those already in jail. The youth section of the accommodation is also a cause of concern, and youth advocates are working hard to attempt to clarify issues around how the centre is used.

The indefinite detention of mentally impaired people in the Northern Territory has been an issue in the Territory for nearly 30 years. But there still remains a vast gap between how the NT should look after its most vulnerable citizens and the stark reality of how it does. Hopefully the legal action will uphold what is right and fair and bring about change in a defunct system.

Most commented

42 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • M says:

      12:04pm | 26/06/12

      Hopefully not just in the Northern Territory. Prisons have been defacto mental asylums for years.

      Reply

    • LostinPerth says:

      02:51pm | 26/06/12

      Totally agree. I reckon 10 to 20% of prison inmates are only there because places are ot available for them in asylums or halfway houses.

      I have met repeat offenders who can barely read, cannot budget, have no skills or work history to fall back on. They cannot get employment or accomodation and cannot function in society as “normal people” . Basic things like shopping, cooking, budgeting, using the internet are beyond them. They often reoffend because in jail they get fed and housed.

      Then when they are released, because rehabilitation funding has been slashed,  they have not been taught any of the social skills we take for granted and the cycle starts again.

      Surely, at a cost of $100,000 a year per person, there are better options than locking people up.

    • Tom says:

      05:25pm | 26/06/12

      “Surely, at a cost of $100,000 a year per person, there are better options than locking people up.”  . such as?

    • acotrel says:

      05:31pm | 26/06/12

      Jeff Kennett closed the mental hospitals in Victoria. Ted Baillieu is building bigger jails.  It is still extremely difficult for the mentally ill to get counselling from clinical psychologists.

    • Slouch Hat says:

      12:05pm | 26/06/12

      We should scrap the UNHCR Convention and look after our own using the money saved to make a workable education and health system to the indigenous people of Australia

      Reply

    • fml says:

      01:25pm | 26/06/12

      The two are not mutually exclusive. We can do both.

    • Tony of Poorakistan says:

      03:43pm | 26/06/12

      I agree slouch hat. And fml, no we can’t, not on the same money. Where would you get the additional funds from? Put taxes up for those of us who work and actually *pay* tax?

    • Blind Freddy says:

      04:56pm | 26/06/12

      Some of us pay taxes AND don’t begrudge them going to those less fortunate.

    • Rose says:

      10:45pm | 26/06/12

      Some of us pay taxes and are glad that $$ go to the less fortunate, here and overseas!!

    • Joe says:

      12:32pm | 26/06/12

      Ok, gaol might not be the right place, but leaving people, who have been found to be incapable of facing trial due to mental impairment and who may be a danger to the community, in the community is a much, much worse place.

      I understand that there may be ethnic sensitivities here but we need to challenge the idea that is being peddled at the moment that treating an individuals human rights as the most important thing in the world in the face of these sensitivities, above all other irresponsibility of that individual and the rights of others such as the right of a community to a safe community, is going to make our communities better/safer places.  I believe this type of idealistic thinking is a big part of the reason for the degradation in our society.

      The other thing that needs to be challenged is that if a person commits a crime and the police go over the top in the arrest or otherwise of that person, then the person still needs to be held to account for the crime, just as the police must be held to account for any excessive use of police force.  Again another reason for the degradation of our society.

      Police deal with extremely dangerous people every day who will press the limits.  If we want police to be able to protect us then we also need be prepared to back the police, particularly when they are dealing with people who have been shown to be dangerous.  Police are human too, they have the same right as everybody else to go home healthy at the end of their days work.  I think we sometimes forget this and we forget that sometime police do go home injured because they have had to protect the community from the worst elements in our community.

      Reply

    • jase says:

      12:52pm | 26/06/12

      You will have to excuse my lack of compassion, but he stabbed his uncle 7 times, mentally disabled or not, that makes this individual a serious threat to anyone around him.

      Being mentally disabled, stressed, whatever is no excuse for committing such an act.

      Reply

    • Joe says:

      01:04pm | 26/06/12

      jase,

      We are wasting our time explaining these things to these human rights types.

    • Mark Rolls says:

      01:15pm | 26/06/12

      I think you might be lumping some very different conditions together there. An individual who has an intellectual disability is different from one who has a mental health problem and is also different from someone who feels ‘stressed’.

    • fml says:

      01:28pm | 26/06/12

      Yer those pesky human rights! I mean he is disabled, barely human right?

      What’s wrong with putting him in a place where he is able to get help?

    • TheRealDave says:

      01:46pm | 26/06/12

      Why does his ‘human rights’ trump everyone elses ‘human rights’ fml??

      As I said in my post below - because of the stigma and abuses of the past the proper care people like Tom need isn’t going to happen until we get a government with the balls to just get in and do it and cop the rubbish people like Sally will start writing about and wringing their hands. Until then we will see more and more people like Tom released into the general public and committing violent crimes against ordinary citizens and be the polices responsibility to round up and then they become the prison systems problem for a while. Rinse and repeat.

      Until then, just hope that one of these ticking timebombs isn’t living next door to you and decided to go off his meds for whatever reason…

      Because thats fair isn’t it?

    • fml says:

      02:52pm | 26/06/12

      TheRealDave

      I live down the street (100 m) from a mens health clinic. Also, I am not saying they be rehabilitated in the general public, but in a place where they get specialised help.

      “Because thats fair isn’t it?” Yes, It is, I live 100 m from one of these places and guess what? no stabbings, no violence. The actions of one shouldn’t dictate policy. Once rehabilitated they should be sent back into the population. This isn’t the 1930’s where we just lock the disabled up and throw away the key.

    • Kheiron says:

      04:48pm | 26/06/12

      I’ve never believed mental illness should be a defence in criminal proceedings.
      If the criminal system is truly suppose to be about rehabilitating people, then let mental illness merely factor into which rehabilitation is decided upon. If the issue isn’t solved then they spend the rest of their lives in prison, mental illness or not.

      The real issue are the disabled people who aren’t justifiably imprisoned and who still aren’t getting the help they need.
      Young people with disabilities are often relegated to nursing homes because there are no other places available to them. Homes where they’re stuck, indefinitely, because of no greater crime then being in need.
      That’s the real prison they should be worried about.
      Lets start with that instead of worrying about a murderer in Alice Springs.

    • acotrel says:

      05:49pm | 26/06/12

      @jase
      When someone has a psychosis, they can believe literally anything.  If they are paranoid and psychotic, then they are dangerous.  Usually when someone is paranoid there is actually someone out to get them. So who is responsible ?

    • skoz says:

      10:21am | 27/06/12

      fml: “I live down the street (100 m) from a mens health clinic. Also, I am not saying they be rehabilitated in the general public, but in a place where they get specialised help.”

      My suggestion to you is to actually go live in Alice Springs for a few years. I did and was made more aware than most of these people held in prisons. There are neither the local facilities or staff capable of providing the needed care. And to send them away for care doesn’t work either. It would be like you being sent to Timbuktu for care - you would have zero family or friends for support, limited knowledge of the recognised dominant language (english is not the primary language for many people in the NT), limited understanding of laws and their application, and limited understanding of the medical basis of your situation.

      There is no easy answer to this situation. Whilst the NT has a clear need for facilities, there are only so many dollars to go around and only so many people with the required professional skills willing to relocate. Burn-out of those few who do is very high and not many last long.

    • TheRealDave says:

      12:52pm | 26/06/12

      So the solution is to release these people into the public like ticking timebombs ready to go off at anytime?? Even with specialist care, and I am guessing medications’ in prison “Tom” still has ultra violent episodes - you want him released into society because that’s ‘fairer’ to him ??

      Would you, Sally Brooks, take Tom into your house to look after him??

      I don’t want people like Tom in my neighbourhood with my family not knowing what kinds of mental illnesses they have/have had and whether or not they could be bothered taking the medication they need. Thats not fair on the rest of the public is it Sally?

      I do agree prison isn’t the best place for them - thats not fair on them OR prison staff. Specialist mental institutions are whats needed for long term care that segregates them from the general public - but due to the abuses of the past that kind of solution has a huge stigma attached…..so now we allow mentally ill people to walk tot eh streets unknown to the rest of us…and we have all seen the litany of problems thats caused society on a near daily basis.

      Its all well and good to call for the releasing of people like Tom when you don’t and will not bare any responsibility for what he might, in all likelyhood based on his history and ongoing violent episodes, go on and perpetrate Sally.

      I’m sorry, but the needs of safety in society needs people like Tom locked up until we can find other solutions. You’ve offered none.

      Reply

    • Joe says:

      01:07pm | 26/06/12

      TheRealDave,

      Sally Brooks is well off enough to never have to put up with having the likes of “Tom” living in the same neighbourhood let alone next door or in the same house.

      Its the poor and dregs of society that will have this pleasure.

    • AdamC says:

      01:20pm | 26/06/12

      I agree. It seems to me that, in many cases, deinstitutionalisation has been a failed experiment. Some people clearly need to be cared for in specialist facilities, rather than in general society.

    • Steve says:

      01:52pm | 26/06/12

      Joe,

      Tom would be most probably located in public housing accomodation, where none of his neighbours will be able to move away if they wanted to.

    • Glen says:

      03:48pm | 26/06/12

      Joe

      Not sure how familiar you are with Alice Springs (which is where Sally’s bio says she lives) but there aren’t too many leafy suburbs…

    • gordon says:

      10:15pm | 26/06/12

      Glen,
      having lived there I can tell you there are (some) nice leafy suburbs. Attempts by the NT Govt to build a proper mental health facility in Alice Springs have always run foul of public not-next-to-me campaigns.  Everyone talks about needing more humane mental health options but no-one will accept the concequences of what that actually means. Under those circumstances Govts do the only thing they can: dump them in jail where the risk (to the community) is low and the harm (to the individual) is invisible.

    • Bill says:

      12:26am | 27/06/12

      I don’t know how much youd have to pay me to resettle in AS. Something in the low zillions at least.

    • Steve of QBN says:

      12:58pm | 26/06/12

      This is what comes from the “enlightened” idea to close mental institutions and turn the inmates out into the care of relatives.  While many people do not need full time care and fewer need incarceration, there is a need to put these people into custodial care for their own protection and for the protection of the community at large.

      I was a prison officer in NSW when the then Labor government closed most of the psych hospitals and placed the patients into the care of elderly parents.  Or into half way houses run by under funded, under resourced and under staffed care givers, usually faith based. 

      Before too long, I started to see the results of that well meaning but ill-advised idea.  Mentally ill people started coming to gaol because they had no-one to care for them.  They were arrested for their own good (vagrancy), or because their caregivers were too old to look after them and because they broke the law.  Prisons in NSW in the 1980’s was no place for these people but they needed to be taken into care and prison was the only place “equipped” to take them and provide some measure of care and comfort.

      Despite the best will in the world and the intentions of those who wear their hearts on their sleeves, some people belong in custody because they are dangerous.  Not deliberately so but because their illness makes them so.  Until governments both state and federal understand this and provide adequate care, people like Tom will continue to housed in prisons.  The officers don’t like it, the prisoners don’t need it and the patent themselves cannot survive it.

      Reply

    • Blackadder says:

      02:08pm | 26/06/12

      Agree Steve.

      A friend of mine worked as a mental health nurse in Sydney. At a train station there on day, minding his own business, he was recognised by a former patient…who king hit and assaulted him, in full view of those around, and put him in hospital. A summation of the experience was tabled in the NSW Parliment, to no effect. All because the do-gooders believe in ‘integration into society’ over institutions.

      My wife has worked for many years with disabled kids. Kids in their teens with autism, epilepsy etc are frighteningly strong when they become enraged, and have no control over their actions. Most of the staff where my wife worked had been assaulted and put in hospital. All in the name of integration.

      People with these disabilities have good days and bad. You don’t try and integrate them into society on a good day, as a bad one will eventually follow…many with these disabilities will NEVER improve, and they need to be housed appropriately so that they are not a risk to both society and themselves.

    • philip says:

      03:14pm | 26/06/12

      Blackadder a person with epilepsy is less likely to “intentionally” harm someone I had epilepsy whilst I was a child some people do grow out of the fits and episodes some do not.

    • Al says:

      03:40pm | 26/06/12

      Blackadder - I’m glad that you aren’t making the policies.
      I have suffered from Epilepsy and Type 1 Diabetes since my early teens and have never hurt another person, only myself.
      Those who are irresponsible, like getting a drivers licence when they know, or should know, that one day they will have a seizure behind the wheel and likely hurt someone other than themselves should be held fully responsible as it is a predictable outcome.
      Also what does rage have to do with Epilepsy? If they are suffering from a seizure then they are not in a rage (and will likely only hurt themselves unless someone does something stupid like try to hold them down) but if they are in a rage then they are responsible for the outcome, just like anyone else.
      Of course many will try to use ANY excuse to get out of punishment…...

    • Leigh says:

      01:22pm | 26/06/12

      They have to rot somewhere to protect society, and jail is a lot safer than allowing do-gooding trick cycliststs to let them out of mental institutions.

      Reply

    • Dark Horse says:

      01:27pm | 26/06/12

      I’m sure the person concerned isn’t “rotting” in goal as your headline suggests. In a perfect world there would be a specialist detention and rehabilitation system for the criminally insane, however, there are so few in the Territory that it probably hasn’t been feasible to outlay the resources required. I understand the NT Govt has built a special purpose facility near the Alice Springs Correctional Centre to house such individuals. In the meantime, I expect “Tom” is getting far better care than he would left to his own devices in a community.

      Reply

    • DOB says:

      01:44pm | 26/06/12

      My cousin and his wife are both psychiatric nurses who previously worked at Broadmoor and have since migrated here. To say that they have been surprised and shocked by the lack of criminal mental health facilities and backwardness of the criminal mental health facilities that are available in Australia would be an understatement - and that is state facilities, not the NT.

      Reply

    • Jay says:

      02:45pm | 26/06/12

      I agree DOB. There should be specilaised units within the prison facility for those with mental health illnesses, especially those who a distinct risk to others.

      All the government bodies and bleeding hearts were responsible in shutting down facilities in the late 70’s and early 80’s that catered for people with mental illnesses. There were some facilities that were absolute horror stories, but it is typical of any government to have a knee jerk reaction and just ban/close ‘problems’ up, rather then clean up the system and such facilities.

      Sally Brooks has stated a problem, but I don’t see any where an alternative to Tom’s present location when clearly this man, regardless of his mental condition, presents a real danger to society. All Ms Brooks has to ask is “Is this somebody I would like living next door to me?” for an answer.

      As a nurse, I was pretty good at finding a key to diffusing a volatile situation with most patients who were inclined to be like that, but having said that I’ve had faeces thrown at me; an attempted stabbing, kicked,punched, pinched, hair pulled and groped on more than one occassion by sexually predatory and/or mentally ill men. It is those small group of patients that are potentially lethal and you have to really have a good team ranging from dietitians, pharmacists; pyschologists, doctors and nurses to be proactive to manage such people so they have a value of life but are not a threat to others.
      Sometimes, you simply dont always succeed.

    • Kassandra says:

      02:31pm | 26/06/12

      This article is conflating a bunch of issues into a muddled lump to make a point about the care of people who are dangerous but who have not been found guilty of a crime because the court has decided they are not responsible for their actions.

      Firstly mental illness and intellectual disability are not the same things. Mental illness, in the sense of psychosis, means a loss of touch with reality and loss of the ability to reason correctly. There is nothing in the article to suggest Tom is or was mentally ill. Intellectual disability means the person never developed normal intelligence in childhood. This case is more complicated because there is in addition a brain lesion in the temporal lobe associated with seizures, both things linked to an increased likelihood of violence. So it seems this man was intellectually disabled and had a brain lesion with epilepsy. He is obviously dangerous because he has violently killed someone while in a rage, whether or not the law holds him criminally responsible for the killing. The question is: where should he be looked after? There are no easy answers.

      The judge appears to have been in no doubt that he could not be released into some form of community care and ordered that he be kept in a secure facility. There are very few secure facilities. Modern psychiatric facilities are overwhelmingly designed for short-term care of the mentally ill and to a lesser extent for respite care for people in crisis who may harm themselves. They are certainly not suitable to care for people such as Tom in this story. The old institutions with their specially trained nurses for the care of the mentally ill and the intellectually disabled, often separate sections of the same hospitals, who would have taken such patients as Tom in the past are long gone. Where else now, other than a prison, is there? A campaign to set him free hardly seems to be a solution. Free to go where?

      Reply

    • marley says:

      02:53pm | 26/06/12

      Okay, I’ve read through this story twice and perhaps I’m missing something.

      We have here a mentally impaired and disturbed individual who went to trial for a murder.  Since, according to the author, he wasn’t convicted, I have to assume he was found not guilty for reasons of mental defect.  Where I come from, people like that are locked up in a secure mental health facility until such time as they no longer present a risk.  (In many cases, that means they spend more time behind bars than if they had actually been convicted.)  Clearly, no such facility existed at the time Tom was convicted, which is how he ended up in an ordinary prison.

      I agree that that’s not the place for him.  Now my question is, are the people filing the court case on his behalf arguing for his transfer to the new mental health facility, which would be fine with me, or are they pushing for his release into the community, which most assuredly would not be fine at all.  It’s very unclear to me - and if the legal argument goes that, because he’s been found not guilty by reason of his mental illness, he can’t be incarcerated anywhere at all, then that is manifestly not a good idea.

      So, which is the correct scenario?  Because letting this guy loose into the community with no constraints on his movements is simply not a good outcome for society at large, or for Tom himself, since he’ll never get the care he needs if he’s not in a highly controlled environment. 

      I think what I’m asking is, does the lawsuit focus on a human rights issue at the expense of what might actually be in Tom (and our) best interests?

      Reply

    • Kassandra says:

      04:46pm | 26/06/12

      There is another possibility for his not being convicted, which is he may not have been fit to plead, and hence had a preliminary hearing but no trial. I’m not familiar with NT legal situation but I think a few states still have no way to deal with such cases and they end up in indefinite detention. Can’t be tried but can’t be released - if this is the case it’s a legal problem of how to deal with people found unfit to plead.

    • marley says:

      07:14pm | 26/06/12

      @Kassandra - over on the ABC website, they’re running an article making the same points but about two different people - and you’re right, those two were found not to be fit to stand trial.  So that might be the case with Tom.

      But I guess my question is, whatever the failings of State or Territory governments, is letting this fellow loose on the streets the right option?  Would those filing the court case for his relief be prepared to take up the management of his mental issues for the next 30 or 40 years?  Because otherwise, given the lack of mental health facilities in this country generally, he’s either going to back in prison or dead within a very short period.

    • Good Grief says:

      05:50pm | 26/06/12

      So let me get this straight…

      A man with a bad history, deficit in the ability to distinguish what is right and wrong and/or self control, has a proven record of murder…
      ... should be released into society after being “rehabilitated”.

      A Rottweiler with a bad history, deficit in the ability to distinguish what is right and wrong and/or self control, has a proven record of murder…
      ... should be put down and the rest of its breed registered lest it they want to be put down as well…

      The only difference in this case between these 2 is merely physical. Mentally, they lack the ability to grasp the concept of morality and empathy and are ticking time bombs in society. I love how some people treat living beings on the basis of their appearance and not their actions.

      Reply

    • PaxUs says:

      06:27pm | 26/06/12

      Actually, the prisons are far better than the mental hospitals etc.. used to be.  Very sad places indeed.  Why don’t we just introduce eugenics and solve the problem for good? Hitler and the US were big on it, as were the UK.

      Reply

    • Kay Peterson says:

      09:28pm | 27/06/12

      The prison that has this person would be needing and getting an very high level of additional funds to allow him to be there and to cater to his extra needs.
      Funny how no one mentions that.
      This high level of intervention, that only may help a little in this case, isn’t accessed by any impaired person anywhere in AU, even when it would make a significant improvement.
      Regardless of the best treatment, some conditions are subject to structural impairments of the brain. These when they include areas that can erratically become disturbed by epilepsy that’s been long term so increased damage has occurred means the worst bouts of explosive behaviors will always occur, being triggered more readily over time. Add a metabolic disorder that can cause similar conduct aberrations in susceptible people, the prognosis is escalating high risk, regardless of the setting. The best treatment may only improve a little of behaviors during intervals of biological and psychological stability. Violent aspects of some conditions would have been know when institutions were dispensed with. We were following the USA trend. Were we forgetting we lack underground sewers , and such they have in large cities to loose our problematic impaired persons amongst other established homeless.  A sensible alternative that’s more humane needs to be realistic too. That would be well one well planned very large residential institution of smaller campuses beside a capital city incorporating expertise of other medical centers experts. where care can be streamlined to cover soundly essential needs. Any frills could be covered by families privately and charities.

      Reply

    • brigitte jones says:

      10:43pm | 27/06/12

      That’s an insult to the current corrections facilities as done for your sensationalist headline. I’ve worked in both government and private prison systems and see those remarks as misleading and offensive. No one is rotting in jail, whether a convicted prisoner or the person who requires the level of secure structure to be contained.
      I’m also sure the part that isn’t mentioned would be the high level of additional funding that would have been added from the disability sector to make it possible to better meet some of this persons needs realistically in prison..
      An honest headline would need to address the real problem. The wholesale abandonment of institutions a quarter of a century ago and still no alternatives for complex, high risk care cases ,aside from prison,  and these are the lucky ones.
      Stop warbling about super high intensive treatments that aren’t provided for any disabled person, not there for ones who may benefit , much less one who won’t.
      Elucidate on the difference between disabled persons in their medical, support and safety needs to demonstrate how all kinds of situations aren’t currently addressed appropriately or even recognized for what they entail. That is the real and severe injustice. A pervasive injustice,  to the disabled,  their families,  their paid carers and those in the community who end up victims of an impaired person’s ineffectively managed behaviors. Your rhetoric by being made up largely of the simplistic , now outdated politically correct fantasy options only adds to the lies and the problems. At least you did bring a refresher on current servicing options that are used at present.

      Reply
 
Sorry, comments are now closed for this article.

Facebook Recommendations

Read all about it

Punch live

Up to the minute Twitter chatter

ToryShepherd

ToryShepherd 19 May 13 10:27PM

@Cmdr_Hadfield @mattpturner Hope you have sweet views while you heal

Lucy Kippist

lucyjk 19 May 13 02:24PM

RT @HeatherSmithAU: Can living in another country change your life for the better? by @lucyjk on @newscomau f. moi http://t.co/E5Ma3kBut2

David Penberthy

penbo 19 May 13 01:02PM

@mooks83 sophisticated response. Think the kids parents saw it differently

David Penberthy

penbo 19 May 13 12:50PM

More class from 9's footy show, lampooning a baby that allegedly looks like Sterlo with a pic swiped from Facebook http://t.co/BGoYP6Pn68

See all tweets

Recent posts

The latest and greatest

The Punch is moving house

by The Punch Team

385

The Punch is moving house

Good morning Punchers. After four years of excellent fun and great conversation, this is the final post…

Will Pope Francis have the vision to tackle this?

by Hannah Harborow

122

Will Pope Francis have the vision to tackle this?

I have had some close calls, one that involved what looked to me like an AK47 pointed my way, followed…

Advocating risk management is not “victim blaming”

by Sarrah Le Marquand

251

Advocating risk management is not “victim blaming”

In a world in which there are still people who subscribe to the vile notion that certain victims of sexual…

Nosebleed Section

choice ringside rantings

From: Hasbro, go straight to gaol, do not pass go

Tim says:

They should update other things in the game too. Instead of a get out of jail free card, they should have a Dodgy Lawyer card that not only gets you out of jail straight away but also gives you a fat payout in compensation for daring to arrest you in the first place. Instead of getting a hotel when you… [read more]

From: A guide to summer festivals especially if you wouldn’t go

Kel says:

If you want a festival for older people or for families alike, get amongst the respectable punters at Bluesfest. A truly amazing festival experience to be had of ALL AGES. And all the young "festivalgoers" usually write themselves off on the first night, only to never hear from them again the rest of… [read more]

Light weight

Gentle jabs to the ribs

Superman needs saving

Superman needs saving

Can somebody please save Superman? He seems to be going through a bit of a crisis. Eighteen months ago,… Read more

28 comments

Newsletter

Read all about it

Sign up to the free News.com.au newsletter