Set For Sentencing

Rotting With Your Rights On: Indefinite Detention For Incompetent Clients


Listen Later

Watch this episode on YOUTUBE, on APPLE PODCASTS, or wherever you get your podcasts!

Ideally, when a person who may have committed a crime is deemed to be seriously mentally ill, a fair and rational criminal justice system will give them meaningful mental health treatment in a humane environment. But, in the federal system, mentally incompetent defendants who have never been found guilty of ANY CRIME will be warehoused in federal prison and held indefinitely. Even those who are not dangerous and have been previously granted pre-trial release, can be sent to prison, having never been convicted of any crime.

Donna Elm is a veteran defense attorney, author, former therapist, and has much experience in the realm of mental health litigation. She and I litigated just such a case together in 2006, and that man sits in prison, to this day, still having never been convicted of any crime. This is our system.

At the center of it all, is Dr. Charles Thomas Sell. He was a St. Louis Dentist who resisted the government's effort to force medicate him with powerful anti-psychotic drugs, while in custody for seven years, again, having never been convicted of crime. He fought his case all the way to the supreme court and won. Passon documented his story on film.

This episode is best watched on YOUTUBE b/c it contains several awesome video clips from our litigation and the Sell documentary. Head on over to the YOUTUBE CHANNEL and, while you are there, please subscribe!

IN THIS EPISODE:

  • The story of Dr. Charles Thomas Sell, and the origin of "Sell Hearings"
  • The injustice of pre-trial detention solely to complete a competency evaluation;
  • Federal psych facilities can more restrictive, less productive, and more dangerous than normal institutions;
  • The trauma of forced medication;
  • Life-threatening side-effects of anti-psychotics;
  • Dr. Sell himself, on camera, telling his own story;
  • Antipsychotics are unlikely help ameliorate symptoms of Delusional Disorder;
  • "Rotting with Your Rights On" : If you WIN a "Sell Hearing" you LOSE.

LINKS:

Click here to download FREE Article on Litigating Sell Issues!

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Set For SentencingBy Doug Passon

  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5

5

30 ratings


More shows like Set For Sentencing

View all
Reveal by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX

Reveal

8,470 Listeners

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts by Slate Podcasts

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts

3,545 Listeners

Pod Save America by Pod Save America

Pod Save America

87,974 Listeners

The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

113,300 Listeners

Radio Atlantic by The Atlantic

Radio Atlantic

2,380 Listeners

Stay Tuned with Preet by Preet Bharara

Stay Tuned with Preet

32,396 Listeners

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat by New York Times Opinion

Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

7,255 Listeners

The Bulwark Podcast by The Bulwark

The Bulwark Podcast

12,749 Listeners

Hacks On Tap by Vox Media

Hacks On Tap

8,119 Listeners

Strict Scrutiny by Strict Scrutiny

Strict Scrutiny

5,876 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

16,494 Listeners

The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart by Comedy Central

The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart

10,889 Listeners

Serious Trouble by Josh Barro and Ken White

Serious Trouble

435 Listeners

Main Justice by MS NOW, Andrew Weissmann, Mary McCord

Main Justice

7,052 Listeners

Bulwark Takes by The Bulwark

Bulwark Takes

1,083 Listeners