#The definitin of instanity is trial#

It releases many of them with no place to live and no support - not even enough medication to last the 30 days experts say it typically takes to schedule a doctorвЂ™s appointment to get more.Д®very year, about 200 defendants get out of mental hospitals only to wind up back there again within 12 months.ДЄs criminal defendants cycle in and out of state institutions, thousands of Florida families desperate for mental health services go without.ДЇlorida ranks 49th in the nation when it comes to overall funding for mental health. Another has been committed to a state hospital since July after shoplifting three shirts from a Burlington Coat Factory outlet in Sarasota.ДЄfter paying for months of вЂњcompetency training,вЂќ the state makes it easy for patients who get out to relapse in just a few days. He had taken 97 cents from the dashboard. One patient is still being held eight months after he was caught sleeping in the back of someoneвЂ™s car. Many spend more time confined to mental hospitals being prepared for court than they would have spent in jail had they simply pleaded guilty to their charges. The records show that, every year, Florida spends at least $50 million restoring the competency of defendants whose nonviolent crimes are so minor they never spend a day in prison.

#The definitin of instanity is trial#

They get released, then they go off their meds and rotate right back into the system.вЂќДЄs part of a yearlong investigation into FloridaвЂ™s mental hospitals, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and Tampa Bay Times reviewed court case files and criminal records for thousands of defendants deemed incompetent to stand trial over the past decade. вЂњThe majority of defendants are picked up for crimes that escalate from a misdemeanor. вЂњItвЂ™s the definition of insanity,вЂќ said George Sheldon, who oversaw FloridaвЂ™s state-funded mental hospitals from 2008 to 2010, when he was secretary of the state Department of Children and Families. Without medication, some fall apart so quickly they are hallucinating again before their first court hearing and must be returned to a mental hospital to start the process all over again.Д«y the time many make it to court, they are told theyвЂ™ve already spent more time locked away than their crime deserves. The average cost to Florida taxpayers is $53,000 per defendant.Д«ut the moment a patient is declared mentally fit, the state cuts off care and sends them back to jail. The singular goal: to get them deemed legally competent so they can return to face their charges. The game show Florida uses to teach mental patients to be competent to stand trial вЂњWhat is a bailiff?вЂќ вЂњWhat is the role of a judge?вЂќ State training videos Watch: вЂTrial & ErrorвЂ™ Instead, the hospitals run patients through drills, day after day, to teach them how a courtroom works. 18, 2015 BY MICHAEL BRAGA, ANTHONY CORMIER and LEONORA LaPETER ANTONД®very year, Florida courts send hundreds of people accused of minor crimes to high security mental hospitals.ДЇorced to live among violent offenders, they get medication to stabilize their symptoms, but little therapy or long-term support to help them manage their illnesses. Chronically homeless and mentally ill, Mallia has been sent to mental hospitals four times - costing taxpayers about $143,000.ДЇourth in a seriesВ |В Dec. Laura Mallia smokes her last cigarette after waking up on the sidewalk near the Salvation Army in Sarasota. вЂDefinition of insanityвЂ™ Florida spends millions making sure the mentally ill go to court - and gets nothing for it.