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Trial over state care for mentally ill inmates ends Saturday, Jan 7, 2006 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Darin Winters left the U.S. District courthouse here Friday relieved that the trial over the way the state treated his mentally ill father who died in jail had ended. Winters said he also was confident his decision to sued the state was the right thing to do. "This was an issue that needed to come to trial," Winters said, contended that his father should have been transferred to the State Hospital and not held in the Benton County Jail. "It's not much for (my father) or my own selfish reasons, but it's for the people of the state. From the get-go three years ago, this has been about truth and justice," he said. Winters, who now lives outside Kansas City, Mo., claimed in the lawsuit that the state and Benton County discriminated against his father because of his disability. The lawsuit asks that the state be ordered to improve treatment for the mentally ill population in the state. Testimony in the four-day nonjury trial ended Friday. After a brief discussion, U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Eisele said closing arguments were not needed and that a telephone conference call would be held next week with attorneys to determine a briefing schedule. Winters' father, 60-year-old Donald Winters, had a history of mental illness dating 1o 1996. The Bella Vista man was arrested Dec. 28, 2002, on a misdemeanor criminal trespassing charge for knocking on a neighbor's door and refusing to leave, according to testimony and police reports. When taken into custody, he refused to be handcuffed and had to be taken to the ground forcibly. After his arrest, Donald Winters hit his head and arms on the toilet and walls in his cell, and refused to eat and drink. He was examined by nurses and doctors at Bates Medical Center who described him as paranoid, psychotic, disruptive and threatening. A judge ordered authorities to conduct a mental evaluation of Donald Winters and to admit him to the State Hospital when space became available. He was examined at Ozark Guidance Center in Springdale, where a doctor expressed concern that Donald Winters was suffering from dehydration. Because the center only treats patients on an outpatient basis, and because the State Hospital was full, he was sent back to jail. He was held four days and was found dead in his cell on Jan. 1, 2003. During testimony Friday, Dr. Frank Peretti with the state medical examiner's office testified that Donald Winters died from peritonitis, caused by an ulcer that was perforated, and from numerous "blunt force" injuries on his head and body, including fractured ribs. Also Friday, Pat Dahlgren, director of the Division of Mental Health Services for the state Department of Health and Human Services, said there were beds available at the State Hospital on Dec. 28, 29 and 30, but when the request was made to move Donald Winters to the facility on Dec. 31 there were no beds available. Luther Sutter, attorney for Darin Winters, asked Dahlgren if there was any facility in Arkansas capable of caring for someone with acute mental illness who is also a security risk. Dahlgren said she did not believe there was such a facility. Kenny Whitlock, executive director of the Mental Health Council of Arkansas, testified that 700 to 800 patients are treated annually at the State Hospital. Kathy Hall, an attorney for the state, asked Whitlock if the goal of state's mental health care system was to keep people out of the State Hospital. "The goal is to provide the most appropriate services, and our goal as community ... mental health centers basically is to provide that service in their community," Whitlock said. After Friday's testimony, Hall said the trial showed "that at any given time there are never more than a few people throughout the state waiting on a bed in the State Hospital." She said there are five to seven people in jails around the state waiting Friday, and last week there were two people. Most people waiting for a bed at the State Hospital are already in other hospitals or treatment facilities, she said. |
