PATTON STATE HOSPITAL
and
RIVERSIDE COUNTY PUBLIC DEFENDER
RE:
Patton State Hospital;
Riverside County Public Defender;
Riverside County District Attorney;
Riverside County Superior Court; Indio, CA
Sharon Stephens
PAT 1590355
Case: INF054715
TO: Paula McCord, Patient Rights Advocate; Carlos Luna, Executive Director; Gary Windom, Chief, Public Defender; Rod Pacheco, District Attorney
FROM: Sharon Stephens; 3022 Lime Street, Riverside, CA 92501 (Cell) 1.760.835.8210
I was referred to the Patton State Hospital, Office of Patient Rights, Paula McCord by the State of California, Ombudsman For Mental Health:
California is presently cash and income strapped by at least $14.5 billion dollars with proposed cuts to be made in every State Department. Keeping that in mind, nothing is laudable or applaudable about the Public Defender's Office, with support from the District Attorney, and the courts to committ, and then warehouse defendants in criminal court cases in Patton State Hospital because there is no time to work on their case. This has resulted in a battle-scarred group of people who will be detrimentally affected and stigmatized for life as mentally ill.
It seems, neither the public, or the media, nor even the government is aware of these cruel and immoral shenanigans.
I recently went to the Department of Mental Health to be evaluated on my mental health. I have a letter that states I do not meet any criteria for services, i.e., I am NOT mentally ill. [SEE: Attachment #1]
When I arrived at Patton the intake people I spoke with had no idea why I had been sent there; I did not meet any criteria for mental illness at Patton either.
Now, I want this complaint recorded, as an Addendum to my Patton records, to offset the lies and fabrications that are in my Discharge Papers. The truth needs to be told. I have copies of all of the complaints I made while in Patton, that were ignored and never answered by staff.
June 9, 2006: I was falsely arrested by Riverside County District Attorney Investigator, Twiss while on my way into court to have a provable void on the face restraining order dismissed, INC 057008 Trylison v Stephens, Riverside County Superior Court, Indio, CA. This invalid order was obtained by the perjury of a Gold Coast Management employee, Darlene Trylison, and a Shadowcrest HOA board member, Kent Robins. HOA attorney, Jan "Gen" Wangler also sat in court, I presume to defend the two against the Charging Affidavit for Perjury I had filed. The judge had already agreed to dismiss the case; it was just a matter of appearing in court. The order was void because Judge Olfield had not let me present my side of the case in court, and, Trylison had not met the statutory criteria for a civil restraining order. The order was void!
Twiss refused to let me go before the judge; instead he had me incarcerated in the county jail, with a $500,000 Bail, where -- documented in written complaints -- I was not allowed a phone call for several days, was strapped into a prostraint chair when what I needed instead was medical help for angina, and I suffered terrible physically and emotionally abuse, denial of medical treatment for a heart condition, and later, a deadly staph infection.
With no advocacy and no one to protect me I fell into the hands of the Riverside County Public Defender's Office, Indio, CA and sent through the kangaroo-court process of a Preliminary Hearing where I was not allowed to speak, and neophyte attorney, Neil A. Harrison had no idea of how to defend me.
Much of the case could have been resolved at this hearing based on challenges to the void on the face nature of the cases against me. Every person who testified against me committed provable perjury, and another neophyte, Deputy District Attorney, Kristi Belcher knew it, and still knows it, and is working hard to put me back in jail, rather than look at the facts, or admit to her mistakes.
I am filing a complaint of prosecutorial misconduct, in which I shall show that I ought NOT to have been held criminally liable for any actions involving void on the face judgments, and that Ms. Belcher acted in an inappropriate and/or unfair manner, by knowingly witholding evidence and permitting false testimony, among other charges.
There needed to be experienced counsel from both sides, given the opportunity to discuss with a judicial officer the just resolution of my case. These void orders then would have been brought to light. No one can be punished for disobedience of avoid order.Mitchell v. Superior Court (1972) 28 Cal. App. 3d 759, 764, citing Fortenbury v. Superior Court (1940) 16 Cal. 2d 405, 408-09; seeIn re Berry (1968) 68 Cal. 2d 137, 147 (order in excess of jurisdiction).
My case was then turned over to Public Defender, Melanie Roe.
I would have done better to defend myself, but that was impossible in jail.
When Deputy Public Defender, Melanie Roe did not have time to review my case -- she never met with me, not once, nor did she even speak with me by phone even though I left her a message I had laid on the floor of my cell for hours, deathly ill with numerous boils from a staph infection, and was refused medical treatment. Roe was working on a murder case, and in the process of building and protecting her image in order to advance her career, so, she simply had me committed to Patton State Hospital, stating I was incompetent to go to trial -- even though I had won a four-day criminal jury trial in 1999, INM 089407, People v Stephens, Riverside CountySuperior Court, Indio, California, as a pro per, and, as a lay-person, and was well versed in court procedures.
I was hardly court incompetent!
Attorney, Melanie Roe called upon court-appointed psychologist, Michael E. Kania, Ph.D., [he is paid to find FOR the court]. He spent just twenty [20] minutes on a Sunday, (double-time pay for him!) talking with me in jail. He did no testing of my mental state, did not record any of my conversation in his report, nor did he look into any of my documented records for evidence of what I told him. He simply supported attorney Roe's request, called me paranoid and recommended to the court for my commitment. [SEE: Attachment #2 Complaint, Kania]
Patton State Hospital lists itself as: A prison hospital for the criminally insane and people charged in criminal cases who are so disconnected from reality that they are
unable to participate in their own defense at trial.
But is this statement true?
Once at Patton State Hospital I discovered that ALL fifty [50] of the "patients" in Unit 72 had been placed there under this blatant miscarriage of justice, commitment by the court, based on a recommendation by their Public Defenders. We all knew the reason - no time to work on their case.
I do not recall meeting one person who was disconnected from reality.
An attorney's professional responsibilities, whether prosecuter, or defender are set forth in Strickland v. Washington (1984) 466 U.S. 2668; People v. Pope(1979) 23 Cal.3d 412; and In re Alvernaz (1992) 2 Cal 4th 924.
State Bar of California Guidelines on Indigent Defense Services Delivery Systems (2005 – 2006) ...An attorney representing an indigent criminal defendant owes allegiance, first and foremost to his or her client. If the attorney cannot represent the client's interests, due to a conflict or otherwise, he or she must refuse the appointment, or immediately withdraw from the case.
Attorney, Melanie Roe had a responsibility to withdraw.
The patients of Unit 72 spent the majority of the day going to multiple, useless, and often laughable, repetitious hour-long "classes" on How to Recognize -- who is the judge, the jury, the Public Defender, the District Attorney, etc., in a court setting -- something that can be learned in about a forty-five minute lecture!
THE DISCHARAGE PAPERS I RECEIVED FROM PATTON ARE FILLED WITH DOWN-RIGHT LIES AND FABRICATIONS:
There is no work, no "group therapy", no "private therapy" and no "assessment" of a person's mental condition, yet we were all labeled as court incompetent and often terribly abused by seclusion, super-powerful psychiatric drugs --against our will, and/or restrained by shackles to beds, with denial of patients'rights, all at the cost to tax payers of about $1,500 a day. Along with this there is a prevalence of illicit drugs, and open, and unwanted sexual advances from other patients.
While there I was physically attacked by another patient [ I am still in touch with a person who witnessed this attack on me] and even though there is to be a zero tolerance position against violence the person was never arrested and she went on to attack three more women. Patton fails to provide a reasonably safe environment for its patients; patient-on-patient violence is commonplace, and I witnessed it several times. I did not receive any medical treatment for my injurys from this woman, and my complaints to Executive Director, Octavio C. Luna, and other staff, including Patients' Rights went ignored, and unanswered.
The major statutory duties of the Office of Patients' Rights are contained in Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code 5510, 5512, 5513, Title 9 C.C.R. 864, and Title 9 C.C.R. 868:
May 2, 2006: The U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division; Special Litigation Section completed a investigation of Patton State Hospital, and notified Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California:
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/split/documents/patton_hosp_findlet_5-2-06.pdf
We found significant and wide-ranging deficiencies in patient care... Patton fails to provide a reasonably safe environment for its patients. Patient-on-patient violence is commonplace at Patton... Patients also are subject to adverse environmental conditions such as potential suicide hazards and the prevalence of illicit drugs. These problems are long-standing and serious... fails to adequately address inappropriate sexual contact among individuals served at the facility, including sexual contact between staff and patients. This issue, too, is long-standing. The harm that Patton patients experience as a result of these deficiencies is multifaceted, including physical and psychological abuse; physical injury; excessive and inappropriate use of physical and chemical restraints; inadequate, ineffective and counterproductive treatment; and excessively long hospitalizations. our investigation uncovered problems in three main areas of psychiatry: assessments and diagnoses, medication management. Psychiatric assessments and diagnoses at Patton substantially depart from generally accepted professional standards of care. Psychiatrists routinely diagnose their patients as having psychiatric disorders without conducting an adequate psychiatric assessment... we found the overall approach to ongoing psychiatric assessment reflects a lack of critical thinking and clinical inquiry. In many cases we reviewed, the psychiatrist failed to evaluate important developments in a patients condition that woulds suggest that the diagnosis assigned to the patient is not accurate... Patients are routinely prescribed inappropriate or unsafe medications without clinical justification... Shanetta Y. Cutlar, Chief of the Civil Rights Division's Special Litigation Section, at (202) 514-0195.
Still, men and women are being warehoused in Patton State Hospital by their Public Defenders, with the help of the District Attorneys Office, and the courts.
It seems that in this time of economic-downfall in California, someone ought to be looking very closely -- investigating, and analyzing for further review these bogus commitments -- and considering a solution to this stunning waste of money, and perpetuation of social evils at Patton State Hospital.
Also, the following people need to be investigated: Octavio C. Luna, Executive Director; Gary Hahn, Hospital Administrator; Joseph Malancharuvil, Ph.D., Clinical Administrator, and, other staff members who continue to manipulate, and file false reports, filled with lies and fabrications in order to continue and hold people for three to six months, some even longer -- in order to collect these huge sums of money from the State of California.
And, what about the people who fall victim to these remarkable unconstitutional violations of human and civil rights?
Sharon Stephens
cc: Shanetta Y. Cutlar, Department of Justice; Chief of the Civil Rights Division's Special Litigation Section; 950 Penn. Ave.; N.W.; Washington D.C. 20530
.
Riverside County Public Defender;
Riverside County District Attorney;
Riverside County Superior Court; Indio, CA
Sharon Stephens
PAT 1590355
Case: INF054715
TO: Paula McCord, Patient Rights Advocate; Carlos Luna, Executive Director; Gary Windom, Chief, Public Defender; Rod Pacheco, District Attorney
FROM: Sharon Stephens; 3022 Lime Street, Riverside, CA 92501 (Cell) 1.760.835.8210
I was referred to the Patton State Hospital, Office of Patient Rights, Paula McCord by the State of California, Ombudsman For Mental Health:
California is presently cash and income strapped by at least $14.5 billion dollars with proposed cuts to be made in every State Department. Keeping that in mind, nothing is laudable or applaudable about the Public Defender's Office, with support from the District Attorney, and the courts to committ, and then warehouse defendants in criminal court cases in Patton State Hospital because there is no time to work on their case. This has resulted in a battle-scarred group of people who will be detrimentally affected and stigmatized for life as mentally ill.
It seems, neither the public, or the media, nor even the government is aware of these cruel and immoral shenanigans.
I recently went to the Department of Mental Health to be evaluated on my mental health. I have a letter that states I do not meet any criteria for services, i.e., I am NOT mentally ill. [SEE: Attachment #1]
When I arrived at Patton the intake people I spoke with had no idea why I had been sent there; I did not meet any criteria for mental illness at Patton either.
Now, I want this complaint recorded, as an Addendum to my Patton records, to offset the lies and fabrications that are in my Discharge Papers. The truth needs to be told. I have copies of all of the complaints I made while in Patton, that were ignored and never answered by staff.
June 9, 2006: I was falsely arrested by Riverside County District Attorney Investigator, Twiss while on my way into court to have a provable void on the face restraining order dismissed, INC 057008 Trylison v Stephens, Riverside County Superior Court, Indio, CA. This invalid order was obtained by the perjury of a Gold Coast Management employee, Darlene Trylison, and a Shadowcrest HOA board member, Kent Robins. HOA attorney, Jan "Gen" Wangler also sat in court, I presume to defend the two against the Charging Affidavit for Perjury I had filed. The judge had already agreed to dismiss the case; it was just a matter of appearing in court. The order was void because Judge Olfield had not let me present my side of the case in court, and, Trylison had not met the statutory criteria for a civil restraining order. The order was void!
Twiss refused to let me go before the judge; instead he had me incarcerated in the county jail, with a $500,000 Bail, where -- documented in written complaints -- I was not allowed a phone call for several days, was strapped into a prostraint chair when what I needed instead was medical help for angina, and I suffered terrible physically and emotionally abuse, denial of medical treatment for a heart condition, and later, a deadly staph infection.
With no advocacy and no one to protect me I fell into the hands of the Riverside County Public Defender's Office, Indio, CA and sent through the kangaroo-court process of a Preliminary Hearing where I was not allowed to speak, and neophyte attorney, Neil A. Harrison had no idea of how to defend me.
Much of the case could have been resolved at this hearing based on challenges to the void on the face nature of the cases against me. Every person who testified against me committed provable perjury, and another neophyte, Deputy District Attorney, Kristi Belcher knew it, and still knows it, and is working hard to put me back in jail, rather than look at the facts, or admit to her mistakes.
I am filing a complaint of prosecutorial misconduct, in which I shall show that I ought NOT to have been held criminally liable for any actions involving void on the face judgments, and that Ms. Belcher acted in an inappropriate and/or unfair manner, by knowingly witholding evidence and permitting false testimony, among other charges.
There needed to be experienced counsel from both sides, given the opportunity to discuss with a judicial officer the just resolution of my case. These void orders then would have been brought to light. No one can be punished for disobedience of avoid order.Mitchell v. Superior Court (1972) 28 Cal. App. 3d 759, 764, citing Fortenbury v. Superior Court (1940) 16 Cal. 2d 405, 408-09; seeIn re Berry (1968) 68 Cal. 2d 137, 147 (order in excess of jurisdiction).
My case was then turned over to Public Defender, Melanie Roe.
I would have done better to defend myself, but that was impossible in jail.
When Deputy Public Defender, Melanie Roe did not have time to review my case -- she never met with me, not once, nor did she even speak with me by phone even though I left her a message I had laid on the floor of my cell for hours, deathly ill with numerous boils from a staph infection, and was refused medical treatment. Roe was working on a murder case, and in the process of building and protecting her image in order to advance her career, so, she simply had me committed to Patton State Hospital, stating I was incompetent to go to trial -- even though I had won a four-day criminal jury trial in 1999, INM 089407, People v Stephens, Riverside CountySuperior Court, Indio, California, as a pro per, and, as a lay-person, and was well versed in court procedures.
I was hardly court incompetent!
Attorney, Melanie Roe called upon court-appointed psychologist, Michael E. Kania, Ph.D., [he is paid to find FOR the court]. He spent just twenty [20] minutes on a Sunday, (double-time pay for him!) talking with me in jail. He did no testing of my mental state, did not record any of my conversation in his report, nor did he look into any of my documented records for evidence of what I told him. He simply supported attorney Roe's request, called me paranoid and recommended to the court for my commitment. [SEE: Attachment #2 Complaint, Kania]
Patton State Hospital lists itself as: A prison hospital for the criminally insane and people charged in criminal cases who are so disconnected from reality that they are
unable to participate in their own defense at trial.
But is this statement true?
Once at Patton State Hospital I discovered that ALL fifty [50] of the "patients" in Unit 72 had been placed there under this blatant miscarriage of justice, commitment by the court, based on a recommendation by their Public Defenders. We all knew the reason - no time to work on their case.
I do not recall meeting one person who was disconnected from reality.
An attorney's professional responsibilities, whether prosecuter, or defender are set forth in Strickland v. Washington (1984) 466 U.S. 2668; People v. Pope(1979) 23 Cal.3d 412; and In re Alvernaz (1992) 2 Cal 4th 924.
State Bar of California Guidelines on Indigent Defense Services Delivery Systems (2005 – 2006) ...An attorney representing an indigent criminal defendant owes allegiance, first and foremost to his or her client. If the attorney cannot represent the client's interests, due to a conflict or otherwise, he or she must refuse the appointment, or immediately withdraw from the case.
Attorney, Melanie Roe had a responsibility to withdraw.
The patients of Unit 72 spent the majority of the day going to multiple, useless, and often laughable, repetitious hour-long "classes" on How to Recognize -- who is the judge, the jury, the Public Defender, the District Attorney, etc., in a court setting -- something that can be learned in about a forty-five minute lecture!
THE DISCHARAGE PAPERS I RECEIVED FROM PATTON ARE FILLED WITH DOWN-RIGHT LIES AND FABRICATIONS:
There is no work, no "group therapy", no "private therapy" and no "assessment" of a person's mental condition, yet we were all labeled as court incompetent and often terribly abused by seclusion, super-powerful psychiatric drugs --against our will, and/or restrained by shackles to beds, with denial of patients'rights, all at the cost to tax payers of about $1,500 a day. Along with this there is a prevalence of illicit drugs, and open, and unwanted sexual advances from other patients.
While there I was physically attacked by another patient [ I am still in touch with a person who witnessed this attack on me] and even though there is to be a zero tolerance position against violence the person was never arrested and she went on to attack three more women. Patton fails to provide a reasonably safe environment for its patients; patient-on-patient violence is commonplace, and I witnessed it several times. I did not receive any medical treatment for my injurys from this woman, and my complaints to Executive Director, Octavio C. Luna, and other staff, including Patients' Rights went ignored, and unanswered.
The major statutory duties of the Office of Patients' Rights are contained in Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code 5510, 5512, 5513, Title 9 C.C.R. 864, and Title 9 C.C.R. 868:
May 2, 2006: The U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division; Special Litigation Section completed a investigation of Patton State Hospital, and notified Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California:
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/split/documents/patton_hosp_findlet_5-2-06.pdf
We found significant and wide-ranging deficiencies in patient care... Patton fails to provide a reasonably safe environment for its patients. Patient-on-patient violence is commonplace at Patton... Patients also are subject to adverse environmental conditions such as potential suicide hazards and the prevalence of illicit drugs. These problems are long-standing and serious... fails to adequately address inappropriate sexual contact among individuals served at the facility, including sexual contact between staff and patients. This issue, too, is long-standing. The harm that Patton patients experience as a result of these deficiencies is multifaceted, including physical and psychological abuse; physical injury; excessive and inappropriate use of physical and chemical restraints; inadequate, ineffective and counterproductive treatment; and excessively long hospitalizations. our investigation uncovered problems in three main areas of psychiatry: assessments and diagnoses, medication management. Psychiatric assessments and diagnoses at Patton substantially depart from generally accepted professional standards of care. Psychiatrists routinely diagnose their patients as having psychiatric disorders without conducting an adequate psychiatric assessment... we found the overall approach to ongoing psychiatric assessment reflects a lack of critical thinking and clinical inquiry. In many cases we reviewed, the psychiatrist failed to evaluate important developments in a patients condition that woulds suggest that the diagnosis assigned to the patient is not accurate... Patients are routinely prescribed inappropriate or unsafe medications without clinical justification... Shanetta Y. Cutlar, Chief of the Civil Rights Division's Special Litigation Section, at (202) 514-0195.
Still, men and women are being warehoused in Patton State Hospital by their Public Defenders, with the help of the District Attorneys Office, and the courts.
It seems that in this time of economic-downfall in California, someone ought to be looking very closely -- investigating, and analyzing for further review these bogus commitments -- and considering a solution to this stunning waste of money, and perpetuation of social evils at Patton State Hospital.
Also, the following people need to be investigated: Octavio C. Luna, Executive Director; Gary Hahn, Hospital Administrator; Joseph Malancharuvil, Ph.D., Clinical Administrator, and, other staff members who continue to manipulate, and file false reports, filled with lies and fabrications in order to continue and hold people for three to six months, some even longer -- in order to collect these huge sums of money from the State of California.
And, what about the people who fall victim to these remarkable unconstitutional violations of human and civil rights?
Sharon Stephens
cc: Shanetta Y. Cutlar, Department of Justice; Chief of the Civil Rights Division's Special Litigation Section; 950 Penn. Ave.; N.W.; Washington D.C. 20530
.
