Florida legislature makes small strides on mental health
MIAMI - After ignoring the issue for years, the Florida Legislature started to address the mental health crisis in the criminal justice system.
"Well, certainly there wasn't as much accomplished as I would have liked," noted Cindee Murphy. "But I have really big goals. I think the whole system needs to be fundamentally changed, and that's not going to happen overnight."
Murphy made her first trip to the Legislature this year to plead for those changes following the death of her son Tristin, a diagnosed schizophrenic who killed himself with a chainsaw inside a state prison that had failed to provide him the necessary treatment. His story was the focus of the CBS News Miami documentary, "Warehoused: The Life and Death of Tristin Murphy."
"When I went up to Tallahassee, at first, I didn't think that there was going to be anything much accomplished," she said. "I'd been told that legislators weren't really interested in mental health issues, particularly when they were linked to the criminal justice system. But I found just the opposite. When I went up there, I found a lot of very caring, compassionate people, who really care about these issues and care about change."
The biggest change this year was a reform to the state's Baker Act, the law that allows police and family members to involuntarily commit a person to a psychiatric facility for 72 hours if they pose an imminent threat to themselves or others. However, the law doesn't provide much help when those 72 hours come to an end – but a measure passed this year by the Legislature requires the type of follow-up care that had been missing.
"It was a very good step in the right direction," noted Miami Dade Judge Steve Leifman. "I particularly like the idea that there's required handoffs and treatment for people coming out of that system. Right now, most people just get dropped, and that's part of the problem."
Leifman, who has pioneered the use of mental health courts around the country, said he has been trying to make these changes for more than a decade.
"I'm encouraged," he said. "It was a good session, the best one I've seen in about 15 years for these issues, and the first one in 60 years since the Baker Act was written, to move that system, forward."
There was also increased funding for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline here in Florida, but the Legislature once again refused to expand Medicaid, which would provide mental health coverage for nearly a million Floridians.
"I hate that this is a political issue because it shouldn't be," Murphy said. "It should be what's in the best interest of our state and what's in the best interests of the individuals in our state."
For Cindee Murphy, it's been three years since Tristin died, and she now raises his two sons, Cody, 16, and Colton, 8. She admits there are days when she wonders if she should just focus her attention on those boys, and not continue to speak out. But as Colton gets older and starts to ask her questions, she wants to be able to tell him she did everything she could.
"If this can be a catalyst for change, we can use this to change the system so that they can understand that Tristin's life had meaning and [his death] accomplished something for other people," she said. "I think I still need to keep battling it for those reasons. And I just don't want anybody else to go through this. I mean, if we can, if my voice can create change, then I need to keep using my voice no matter how hard it is."
