CAR THIEF OR NUT?

Patton State Hospital inmates who escaped by stealing cars from the hospital parking lot were returned as nuts, but not by me!

BarkGrowlBite | April 6, 2015

In today’s PACOVILLA Corrections blog Spotlight, Bob Walsh had an interesting post about the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation getting ready to give “nutters” a free pass for misbehavior, such as assaulting a correctional officer. No more doing time in the ‘hole’ or other disciplinary measures. It will be counseling from now on.

This begs the question: What do we mean by “mentally ill?” Some would have us believe that the mentally ill do not know right from wrong. Horseshit!

Back when I was a cop, there wasn’t a month that went by without one or more inmates – Oops, I think I’m supposed to say patients – escaping from Patton State Hospital. They simply left through a hospital door, leisurely walked over to the parking lot, and stole a hospital staff member’s or visitor’s car.

When the cops caught these escapees, they were taken directly back to Patton, unless they committed another crime after their escape. Not by me!

It took me only a couple of minutes to determine that they knew they were breaking the law by stealing a car. Being the asshole that I was, I took them directly to the San Bernardino County Jail and booked them for car theft. Of the five escapees I caught, everyone was prosecuted and convicted for car theft. And instead of being returned to Patton as patients, they were imprisoned.

There is a big difference between the “mentally ill” and out-and-out psychopaths. I don’t think I have to be a psychiatrist to know the difference. To treat all of the mentally ill in prison as if they were psychopaths is a travesty. It will give many inmates a free pass to assault correctional officers and to commit other serious violations. Counseling? What a Joke!

Do you want to know who is really mentally ill? It’s U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton whose ruling forced CDCR to institute its new free pass policy.