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Failure to Aid

Number 25352
Subject Mental Health
Source KPNX-TV (Phoenix)
State Arizona
Year 2011
Publication Date November 4, 2011; November 11, 2011; November 15, 2011
Summary Over the last year, I spent a lot of time researching and reporting on stories pertaining to the mental health treatment of people in prison. More specifically, I have successfully fought to gain access to public records in order to tell the story of Tony Lester. Tony was a young man who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He committed an assault and was sentenced to serve time at the Arizona State Prison in Tucson. Tragically, Tony committed suicide while in prison. Staff in the prison failed to render aid when they discovered him in his cell bleeding. My investigation not only revealed that he was improperly placed in with the general population against a judge's order and a court-ordered psychiatrist order...but he was also mistakenly given razors as part of a hygiene kit.
Category Contest Entry
Pages 17
Keywords prison; paranoid schizophrenia; suicide; mental health
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