by TChris

Our prisons too often house the mentally ill, who need treatment, not warehousing. And too often prisoners are subjected to conditions that would impair the mental health of even the most stable person. Exposing the mentally ill to those conditions leads to tragic consequences, as illustrated by the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility.

The box is the most severe punishment in prison: the final threat, the ultimate time out. It is a small barren chamber set apart from the general population with a concrete floor, a steel door and no clock to mark the time. The essential quality of the box is isolation -- a gloved hand passes food through a slot in the door; a caseworker's muffled voice filters through the holes in a small Plexiglas window. Inmates are allowed few personal possessions. Lights are never fully extinguished. It is four walls for 23 hours a day -- a psychologically punishing experience by design. For people like Jessica Roger, it can also be an incubator of psychosis.

The linked article tells Jessica Roger's story -- a story that has become too common, of a mentally ill inmate who was "punished for exhibiting symptoms of illness that the system has failed to treat." Jessica attempted suicide in the box four times before being sent to a prison hospital, where she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder and other mental illnesses.

Jessica was returned to complete her punishment in the small airless cell that had broken her. Within days, she again attempted suicide.

She succeeded on her last attempt. The linked article uses Jessica's story to illuminate the broader problem: society's reliance on the criminal justice system to address the poor and homeless who suffer from untreated mental illness. As the article notes: "Today some 250,000 Americans with mental illness live in prisons, the nation's primary supplier of mental-health services."

by TChris

Forget the polls. Football provides a more reliable predictor of presidential elections.

Ever since 1936, the year before the [Redskins] moved to Washington, the last home game before the election has predicted the winner. If the Redskins win, so does the incumbent party in the White House; if not, not. This rule has held good for 17 straight elections.

The good news for Kerry: the scrappy Green Bay Packers bested the Redskins by a score of 28-14. Kerry's victory on Tuesday is thus assured.

Newsweek analyzes the bin Laden tape in the context of the Administration's search for him. A few weeks ago, they thought he was in Pakistan. Since the tape was released, Newsweek says more agents have been put on the task of finding him.

In the wake of the bin Laden tape, Newsweek has learned, the FBI is expanding its operations to a second-tier list of several hundred more suspects, pulling in manpower from other agencies, including drug teams and U.S. marshals.

We won't be suprised if Osama turns up between now and Monday night. Particularly if he turns up dead. The tape is too strange. In addition to the physical and situational differences we pointed out here, the text of the tape reads like a campaign ad. His reference to Michael Moore's film is strange. His attacks relate more to George Bush I than the current President. Newsweek says,

In the tape, bin Laden did not seem like a hunted terrorist on the lam. After reviewing bin Laden's demeanor, health and the backdrop in the video, one intelligence official said bin Laden looked as if he were now living comfortably in an urban setting in Pakistan. "He is not tired, is not running, is not worried," one Taliban official tells Newsweek.

Maybe he was captured months ago and told he would be killed if he didn't make this tape. Maybe he will be killed after making the tape. Between Pakistan and Karl Rove, there's no telling what Hollywood ending may be in store for us.

Wesley Clark issued this statement today:

“Vice President Cheney should be ashamed of himself for his last ditch efforts to mislead Americans about John Kerry. George Bush and Dick Cheney turned their back on our troops by attempting to cut their combat pay while our troops faced enemy fire on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan. They turned their back on our troops when they sent them into combat without the body and vehicle armor they needed, and then opposed reimbursing families who were forced to buy their loved ones this needed body armor. They turned their back on our troops by cutting funding for VA hospitals and by reducing the availability of health insurance.

“The Bush administration has neglected our troops and used them. It has failed them. Troops need good leadership with a strategic plan and a vision for success. George Bush has given them neither. By failing to use all the tools of diplomacy to reinforce our military efforts in Iraq, George Bush has let the troops down.

“It's appalling that Dick Cheney has the audacity to question John Kerry's commitment to our troops. The Bush Cheney campaign is showing its desperation.”

Received by e-mail from the Kerry campaign

From the Electoral Vote Projector:

It was bound to happen and it happened. Today we have more state polls than there are states. There are 54 new polls in 22 states today. Furthermore, the lead has changed in five states, and all five changes favor Kerry. As a result, Kerry has now passed Bush in the electoral college. If today's results are the final results Wednesday morning, John Kerry will be elected as the 44th President of the United States, with 283 votes in the electoral college to George Bush's 246. But don't count on it. Many of Kerry's leads are razor thin. Counting only the strong + weak states, Bush leads 229 to 196, with 113 electoral votes in the tossup category Kerry's leads in the tossup states mean little to nothing. The turnout Tuesday will determine who wins.

From LA Weekly (hat tip Pandagon)

Peter Rose served ten years in prison for a rape DNA tests have proven he did not commit. He left jail this week amid tears from his children, relatives, friends and the law students at Golden Gate in San Francisco who worked to free him.

Congress' watered-down, lop-sided DNA testing bill went into effect Saturday. Make no mistake, it's a crime victim's bill, not an Innocence bill. However, even the paltry amount designated for DNA testing of inmate's innocence claims is better than no funding at all. Imagine if John Kerry were President instead of Bush the past three years. We would be celebrating a real legislative advance, along the lines of the original Innocence Protection Act introduced in 2001, of which he was a co-sponsor.

Here's a section by section analysis of the bill. Here's a description of the bill. Here's a timeline, from 2000 to 2004.

Self-imposed break today. You can talk amongst yourselves here, you pick the topics. Some ideas:

Voting problems. As I wrote over at 5280 today, the TL kid and two of his friends in New York still have not received their Colorado absentee ballots . Three votes for Kerry down the tubes.

Or Rumsfeld and the draft. He insists there never were any talks to resume it. But members of his staff attended the Selective Service meeting where detailed plans were proposed.

The Pentagon has extended the service of 6,500 troops in Iraq. The decision was made October 16. Were they waiting until after the soldiers had sent in their absentee ballots to announce the decision?

Update: Steve Gilliard on Rudy:

For people surprised by Giuliani's attack on US troops, read how he treated his own family.

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'Meet the Press' this morning has Bob Kerry (former Neb. Senator and 9/11 Commission member) vs. Rudy Giuliani. I turned it off after opening credits announced the "squaring off." Given Giuliani's name recognition, this is hardly a fair matchup. Why didn't NBC put someone of equal celebrity stature on in its last show before the election to argue for the Dems? Were Clinton and Gore too busy? I doubt either would have refused the invitation.

Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner spent two days in October with the Kerry campaign. Here is the Kerry interview. Same issue, Hunter Thompson, with an exceptionally good article we wrote about last week here.

Three signs that the Republicans don't have the advantage in Florida they think they have--

• Betty Castor is inching ahead of Mel Martinez in the Senate race.

• The Cuban-American vote is no sure thing.

• Kerry squeaks ahead of Bush in latest Florida tracking poll.