Manifestly Dangerous

By Dan Dewey

Manifestly Dangerous: True portraits from a maximum security forensic mental health facility and veteran hospitals

This creative non-fiction work presents the procedural, practical, and esoteric elements associated with managing aggressive behaviors in a maximum security forensic MH facility while complying with mandates to eliminate shackles and minimize the use of seclusion and restraints. Assigned to determine the competency of those violent inmates charged with felonies who are unable to proceed through Floridas legal system, the 220 bed facility evaluated and treated a revolving population of 500 inmates who generated 485 assaults and 1 to 2 deaths per year only discharging back to jails, courts or civil hospital those who were considered no longer manifestly dangerous. There is one tongue-in-cheek piece the author wont insult your intelligence by identifying as well as two that are auto-biographical.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 8, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465362513

Dan Dewey

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Dan Dewey is a service connected disabled Vietnam veteran whose formative years were fashioned growing up in New York State’s 1st Protestant orphanage and finally forged with years of bomb recovery at the El Uotia Bomb Range, northern Sahara desert, and the Republic of Vietnam – taking a break from experiential truths to pursue a formal education in literature and eventual Masters degree in Information Science. Following 25 years heating with wood in the Blue Ridge Mountains on a dirt road at “the end of the power line”, home schooling his 3 children, and pursuing art in many mediums, Dan moved back to a Homogenized America to work with Florida’s most violent prisoners which honed a sense of gallows humor that permeates his creative non-fiction writing. He now lives on a 31’ 7 ton one-off sloop primarily docked in Anclote Isles, FL as far away from adult life as he can get.

Book preview

Ackerman only had 2 of 5 A’s

that Dr. Goldman told me

indicated Schizophrenia.

Ackerman was Ambivalent—

that was easy,

as Hx showed Ackerman

both friendly and violent

to family and staff.

Abstractions and Affect

were neither missing or flat,

but his Associations

were loose and tangential.

Big clues.

What was the 5th A?

I asked Dr. Goldman

way back when at the VA Hosp.

He laughed saying,

"Like flying by the seat of your pants.

Listen to your ass."

My ass used to tell me

there was something eerie

about a Schizophrenic’s gaze

and before that would pucker-up

working on bombs in the RVN,

but Dr. Goldman was really crazy

or so he said

and he also had that look,

validated by popping Thorazine pills

from a stash in his white coat pocket

throughout the day.

Ackerman had that look too,

but nobody could figure him out.

A lone NOS (Not Otherwise Specified)

would have been clearer

than Ackerman’s litany of labels,

beginning with:

Schizophrenia, Paranoid Type;

Bipolar Disorder, Manic Type;

Polysubstance Dependence;

Antisocial Personality Disorder;

Bipolar Disorder,

Manic with Psychotic Features;

Schizoaffective Disorder;

Organic Mood Disorder;

Depression; and

Liver Disease due to Alcohol Abuse,

making me think throwing a dart

at the DSM-IV R

would be just as descriptive

of Ackerman

as every arrest brought

a different diagnosis.

Yes, Ackerman had prior charges

to his Instant Offense—

the Aggravated Assault

and Battery of his family,

whom he assures he loves,

but he got carried away

over something he forgot.

I digress.

The other charges totaled

Burglary (2), Fraud (2),

and Battery (3)

at the rate of one a year,

so it’s not like

he is Antisocial all the time.

Ackerman could be quite friendly,

always excited to see me

or the POW/MIA flag above my desk

when he wore his Sergeant’s

stripes to the library

promising not to

destroy anymore books.

I was happy he only destroyed

books and one guy over five years,

but never at ease—totally,

since he pinned the Nurse

against the wall,

with a chair,

the injuries severe enough

for any return to work—

another contribution

to the Workman Comp list,

now 10% of the facility staff.

Ackerman thinks people in the jail

are trying to kill him

and once he saved President Bush

along with the United States.

I’m glad he doesn’t see

my downloaded picture of Bush

giving the Bird to We the People,

while holding the flag.

Ackerman’s thought production

is loose and tangential,

but he is able to relate,

with pressured speech

that is slightly slurred

from drool or neuroleptics,

that he intends to tell the Judge

he wants six million dollars

for saving Bush’s ass.

I’m not telling him

he’ll be here until

the clocks stop,

as he’s considered

manifestly too dangerous

for any treatment facility

or court proceeding

and a serious risk

for elopement and the public.

Would you?

Dr. Goldman wouldn’t have

and he was crazy.

Adam presented paranoid and suspicious

that everyone was out to dispose of him

on admission from county jail

to the Forensic Evaluation & Treatment Center

ITP (Incompetent To Proceed).

Charged with Murder in the First Degree,

he believed his situation was hopeless

and if returned to court competent

he would be tried, convicted,

and on Death Row before sunset.

His criminal history noted nine prior arrests,

including Aggravated Battery, Commercial Burglary, Harassment,

and assorted Drug charges littering his apparent sociopathic path.

His arresting charge noted Adam’s conflicting accounts

for the brutal demise of his girlfriend,

all accidental,

which didn’t explain the rope burns

or brain matter splattered about

until he eventually validated a version

locating the plank

he repeatedly struck her with

and the rope that strangled her,

all the time

claiming there was a conspiracy

connected to his case,

of what or whom he wouldn’t say.

But we staff knew

there would be no NGI

(Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity)

for him,

because bottom line,

Adam knew right from wrong

hiding the evidence.

His only hope then

was to be found Incompetent to Proceed

(ITP) through the court system

toward the inevitable needles,

claiming hallucinations

or some legal straw

could mitigate his guilt.

So aside from thoughts of Statutes,

Malingering, Rules of Criminal Procedure,

and lethal injections

(which you could guess were a concern

given the dark rings under his eyes,

his body sweating bullets from every orifice,

the contraband [stolen]

psychology books found in his cell,

along with his complaints

of homicidal & suicidal thoughts,

communicated to him

through auditory hallucinations)

he centered on psychosomatic complaints.

Adam’s overt concerns centered on back pain

which medical history revealed varied

from exam to exam.

Initially, the pain was