Mentally Ill Man Gets Life, But Never Got His Day In Court

  It can happen to any of us or a loved one. A tragic car accident left Russell Ables with a traumatic brain injury. That disorder impacts his consciousness, reasoning, inhibitions, and social behavior.
  Now a judge put him away without even a day in court. This happens to men at 10 times the rate of women.  The mindset of our law enforcement & courts is preoccupied with the notion that men are a greater social danger than women, so mentally ill men usually end up arrested & put in jail, while women get the more humane treatment of medical intervention, or just left alone.
​  Journalist Dale Denwalt of the Oklahoman writes about Russell's day in court being denied, and how he will be locked up as a presumed criminal for the rest of his life (barring a miracle). Here's just a bit of how Denwalt describes it...

​  "Russell Don Ables, 47, of Elk City, was charged with violating protective orders, making harassing or threatening phone calls and resisting a police officer. His trial was quickly put on hold and he was taken from Beckham County across the state to Oklahoma’s mental health evaluation center in Vinita.
​  Court documents show he has medical issues stemming from an automobile wreck, conditions that leave him unable to stand trial. A judge has ruled him to be a danger to other people."

---

  Nearly 20 years ago, the state decided to radically redesign the department of Mental Health. The capacity for residential mental health care was foolishly cut off. There had been several thousand beds, but that was all mostly terminated despite the mandate in our constitution for the state to maintain them.  there was a promise by Gov. Frank Keating, to erect & operate a network of short term acute care facilities, but Keating left office and he said last January; "Evidently it wasn't a priority for Brad Henry".
   To make matters worse, the new state mental health agency  ODMHSAS decided to privatize the public health functions and most of their corporate contractors stipulated that they do not want to accept patients who are ordered into mental health treatment by cops or courts, leaving cops little choice but to declare a criminal infraction and arrest the ill person. That's where men are vastly abused, while women are ignored. A judge made a court order limiting Able's contact with a person. That person complained to the court that a phone call was made. None of this was ever proven in court, yet Ables has been stripped of his civil liberties and labeled a 'criminal'.
  Russell Ables is by no means the only person in Oklahoma being treated this way. This weekend I spoke with other families who share a similar injustice. They don't want their loved one's name to be published. All of it is happening because 20 years ago the state politicians bought the line that we don't need residential mental health facilities anymore.
  Here's more of Denwalt's report on Ables' case...

Journalist, Dale Denwalt

​  "After spending two years with the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, the agency said Ables cannot regain competency enough to face the allegations in court.
  State law says at that point, Ables should have been released from Vinita. Mental Health's attorney argued that Ables be put in custody of the Department of Human Services' Developmental Disabilities Services Division for another evaluation.
  The problem, DHS wrote in a court filing, is that Ables doesn't have a developmental disability because his injury occurred after he turned 22."
Read the full story at the Oklahoman.

  So Ables must go to prison for life because his medical condition arose after his 22nd birthday. Had he been a victim earlier in his life, he'd be spared the disgrace of a public court record and a mugshot in orange prison apparel.  (we filtered his photo to remove the orange, to spare him and his loving family from further social victimization)