Normal man held for 55 years in a mental institution. He was not ill..

We came across this case of a person held in a mental hospital for 55 years despite no mental illness.

Can you be held for 55 years without any charge?

Yes, if you are in Sri Lanka. Last Thursday, eighty three year old Thantriye Singho was released from police custody after 55 years. He was arrested in 1953 and all this time he was never charged with any crime.

Why was he arrested in the first place in a time so long ago that none of us can even remember? He was caught carrying a sword in a suburb near Sri Lankan capital Colomo. It is not clear if possession of sword was even a crime at that time. Soon after his arrest, the court sent him to a government hospital for psychological evaluation and treatment.

He was declared mentally healthy and transferred to regular unit of the hospital. But he spent next 55 years of his life in that hospital without the authority bringing any change against him.

A human rights group uncovered his case while doing work on mental patients. They informed the man’s relatives and got a court order for his released.

It is not the fist time this happened in Sri Lanka. Only few months ago another man was released after spending 50 years in custody without any charge. By the time he got out he was 80.

Probe on mental health management sought

Reports from the island of Guam, via the Marianas Variety newspaper, regarding what appears to be small time politics and corruption at hospital in the western Pacific. Hopefully this doesn't turn out like another case of Nurse Ratchet from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Reports of violations, mismanagement and clients’ security risks at the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, or DMHSA, have reached the District Court of Guam, which received another letter asking to investigate the agency.

Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan Jr., who is the designated special master for the permanent injunction against DMHSA and the Department of Integrated Services for Individuals with Disabilities, or DISID, said this is the second time that the court received an anonymous letter reporting several irregularities in the department.

The first anonymous letter was faxed by DMHSA employees in June, urging a federal takeover of DMHSA and DISID to improve the services to persons with disabilities.

The second letter was sent by a client to the chamber of Judge Manibusan, asking about who runs the mental health department.

According to the anonymous client, despite the designation of Dr. Andrea Leitheiser as acting director of DMHSA, the department is being run by Dr. Judith Avery, the nurse administrator who reportedly approves all the actions taken by the agency.

The letter sender reported that Avery, who was allegedly fired from the Division of Mental Health in the CNMI for illegal practice, is also violating government of Guam rules and regulations for working with Guam Community College at the same time.

As far as the permanent injunction is concerned, the client alleged that Avery wants to keep the situation in the department under her control to protect her standing and her annual salary of $90,000.

The client also noted the lack of security at DMHSA and the new unit that provides housing to clients from the Department of Corrections, adding that “this has become more dangerous for the staffers who work in this building.”

The client also reported that for the past six months, no psychiatrist wants to service DMHSA because they refused to work with Leitheiser, who is earning $120,000 a year, and Dr. Laura Post, whose annual salary is $150,000.

“In the past, there were two psychiatrists (Dr. Renato Gahol and Dr. Ruby Manalastas) who were hired to provide service to DMHSA clients. They felt they were unable to work with these doctors,” the client said.

Recently, a family client filed a complaint against DMHSA for its failure to provide service to a client.

The letter sender told the court that Gahol informed Lt. Gov. Mike Cruz about the situation, but did not act on it because of the permanent injunction pending against DMHSA and DISID.

Last month, the court was forced to send off-island a defendant who terrorized the Andersen Air Force Base after no psychologists or psychiatrists could conduct an examination to determine if he is mentally fit to stand trial or face the charges.

Ricardo Unpingco Palomo Jr. was arrested for terrorizing the AAFB with a handmade explosive device on Sept. 22. After DMHSA did not conduct a forensic evaluation on him, the court ordered the U.S. Marshals to transport the defendant to an appropriate Bureau of Prisons facility so that an appropriate psychiatric or psychological examination can be conducted on him.

The court received a letter from Post stating that DMSHA has concerns about assisting the court on Palomo’s case.

The client added that problems stated in the permanent injunction still exist with no clear answers to address them.

“An investigation into this matter is needed for the welfare of the island clients that need the service,” the client said.

[...]

Two court monitors

Meanwhile, visiting Judge Consuelo Marshall has approved the appointment of two court monitors in connection with the local government’s compliance with court orders related to the permanent injunction imposed on GovGuam, DISID and DMHSA.

Judge Marshall ordered the appointment of James Casey and Dr. James Kiffer to serve jointly as court monitors for a monthly salary of $8,000 each.

The judge said she is persuaded that approving each party’s nominee will enable the parties to finally resolve the case to the benefit of the community, adding that appointing Guam-based monitors is more efficient and less costly than appointing off-island monitors.

The court monitors, who can be removed or replaced by the court if it deems necessary, were ordered to submit a monthly report on or before the first day of each month. The first deadline for their first report is on Jan. 2, 2008.

Because the plaintiffs find the defendants’ proposed list of measurable milestones “too vague and conclusory” to benefit both court monitors, Judge Marshall ordered the parties to meet and confer regarding appropriate measures or additions to the list of measurable milestones.

The court gave both parties until Dec. 14, 2007 to submit the amended list of milestones.

Judge Marshall also ordered the parties to appear for a status conference on March 14, 2008 at 10 a.m. to assess the effectiveness of the court monitor appointments and the defendants’ progress in implementing the amended permanent injunction.

Psychiatrist arrested - Leaked client statements and psychiatric data to a freelance journalist who later published them

As seen in the Asia Media News Daily

A psychiatrist is under arrest on suspicion of leaking information to a freelance journalist about a teenager institutionalized after setting his home in Nara Prefecture on fire last year. The teen's stepmother and two siblings were killed.

Arrested Sunday, Morimitsu Sakihama, 49, is suspecting of giving statements made by the teen during the investigation as well as a copy of his psychiatric evaluation to journalist Atsuko Kusanagi last October.

Prosecutors allege that Sakihama handed over the confidential information at his home in Kyoto and at a hotel.

Sakihama was asked by the Nara Family Court to assess the teen's psychiatric condition and was granted access to the teen's previous statements.

In May, Kusanagi published a book about the arson-murder in which she claimed to have obtained around 3,000 pages of investigation materials, including statements made by the teen, which she quoted.

Before his arrest by the Nara District Public Prosecutor's Office, Sakihama was quoted as saying, "I never thought it would be published in such form." Following his arrest, he admitted to the allegations, according to investigative sources.

Kusanagi, who has also been questioned by investigators over the case, said in a statement issued by publisher Kodansha Ltd., "I cannot say if the source of information was the psychiatric examiner who has been arrested, but I offer my apologies for causing tremendous inconvenience as a result of investigations concerning my work."

On her source, Kusanagi said earlier she was given access to investigation documents with the permission of a person she did not name, and she photographed some of them.

The boy, who was 16, was arrested two days after his home burned down June 20, 2006, killing his stepmother and his younger brother and sister through carbon monoxide poisoning. The father was not home at the time of the fire.

The Nara Family Court decided last October to send the teen to a juvenile reformatory after he was diagnosed as having a disorder in developing communication and social skills.

The publication of Kusanagi's book in May drew a strong reaction from law enforcement. The next month, then Justice Minister Jinen Nagase called it "a challenge to the order of justice and the Juvenile Law." The Justice Ministry's Tokyo Regional Legal Affairs Bureau cautioned the Tokyo-based publisher and the journalist, saying the book "evidently went beyond what is permissible in the name of freedom of publications."

The teen and his father filed a complaint over the information leak.

Kodansha said it can't ignore the actions taken by Nara prosecutors in the name of investigating the information leak and lodged a stern protest over Sakihama's arrest.

The arrest also triggered various reactions from experts on media issues.

"Holding (the psychiatrist) in custody will probably have a tremendous impact in the sense it will stifle the flow of information by stepping up control and restrictions on the source of reports and information," said Yasuhiko Tajima, a professor of media law at Sophia University in Tokyo.

Journalist Akihiro Otani said he cannot condone the arrest for its potential impact on journalism but criticized Kusanagi and Kodansha.

"Because the image of the investigation document was used on the book cover, it was obvious the book would cause inconvenience to the reporter's source," Otani said, adding that a journalist must deal carefully with materials provided by a source who wants anonymity.

Journalists and authors have been challenged in court over their reports and publications, but these cases have primarily been civil lawsuits. The only notable incident that developed into a criminal case and the arrest of a reporter was a leak of confidential information from the Foreign Ministry in 1972, one expert said.

The Penal Code provides for six months in prison or a fine of ¥100,000 if a doctor, pharmacist, lawyer or other professional leaks secret information they obtained professionally and a complaint by victims of such a leak is filed.