Save Sgt. Russel Petition Launched by AIMI

WAR ON TERROR AND SOLDIERS WITH PTSD

SGT. JOHN RUSSEL, an American soldier near the end of his third consecutive tour of duty in the War on Terror, allegedly walked into a Baghdad combat stress clinic and opened fire on his comrades, killing five.  It was the most tragic PTSD-related event on military record. Sgt. Russel was charged with murder. On May 21, Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill ("AIMI") launched a petition requesting that murder charges against Sgt. John Russel be dropped.  AIMI is an grass roots organization that advocates online to decriminalize mental illness. 

PETITION TO SAVE SGT. RUSSEL
Hospitals, Not Prison for Sick Soldiers & Vets!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Save-Sgt-Russel

Sgt. Russel is a 44-year-old Texan who has many years in the U.S. Army.  He suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  When his superiors noticed his deteriorating mental health, Sgt. Russel was ordered into therapy for stress.  The sick soldier suffered a psychotic episode while at Camp Liberty's stress clinic in Baghdad and left under armed guard. Sgt. Russel allegedly overpowered a guard during the drive away from the clinic, took a weapon, then returned into the clinic and killed five men.

"While soldiers killing their own is rare in Iraq, Russel's shooting was not the first.  In September, a soldier killed two of his superiors at a base south of Baghdad. And another soldier was sentenced to death for killing two officers in Kuwait just before the 2003 invasion" wrote  Stephanie Gaskell, Daily News Staff Writer (May 12).  

AIMI strongly objects to any stressed-out soldier like Sgt. Russel spending his life as a POW or being eligible for execution.  "Approximately 1.25 million mentally ill persons are presently imprisoned in America, including thousands of veterans who were severely traumatized by war experiences from Korea to Afghanistan," said AIMI's founder, Mary Neal.  "Homelessness, prison and death must cease being America's answers to mental illness, particularly for vets who get sick serving their country." 

Neal, who writes articles centered around justice issues,  published the following article in March:  "What About Our Soldiers? A Discussion on PTSD, by Mary Neal” at http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/1090358

"Soldiers who are amputees or otherwise handicapped during wars are eligible for lifetime benefits and are afforded all of the allowances that society willingly makes to ensure the inclusion of physically handicapped persons in society:  wheelchair ramps, reserved parking, special services for the blind or hearing-impaired, and more.  But a soldier like Sgt. Russel who loses his mind instead of a limb is eligible for prison or execution?  That is wrong!"  Neal asserted.

Between the stars below is the language on the Petition to Save Sgt. Russel.  The actual petiton can be opened and the signator's comments reviewed without the necessity of signing the petition at this link:  http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Save-Sgt-Russel

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PETITION TO SAVE SGT. RUSSEL ~ Hospitals, Not Prison for Sick Soldiers & Vets!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Save-Sgt-Russel

Target:  President Obama, Commander in Chief

Sponsored by:  Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill ("AIMI")

Sgt. JOHN M. RUSSELL is a 44-year-old communication specialist from Sherman, Texas who served 11 years in the U.S. Army.  Sgt. Russel was near the end of his third tour in Iraq when he allegedly gunned down five fellow service members at a Baghdad combat stress clinic.  Sgt. Russel has been charged with murder.  This sick soldier is no cold-blooded killer. 

Sgt. Russel was himself the first of six victims of his bout with PTSD, for which he was receiving treatment.  Sgt. Russel's breakdown should have been recognized sooner, and he should have been sent home. 

"We've never, I don't believe, had a force that we've put through seven years of continuous combat like this, where such a large percentage of the force is going on these multiple deployments," said Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army's vice chief of staff and point man on mental health issues.

"They broke him," Sgt. Russel's father, Wilburn Russell said, wiping away tears.  Before the shooting, Russell had e-mailed his wife to tell her "his life was over," his father said.

The undersigned demand that murder charges against Sgt. Russel be dropped.  He deserves care and support, not prison.  We protest American military personnel coming home to America and becoming PRISONERS OF WAR after serving their country and breaking under the strain of repeated combat missions.

DECRIMINALIZE MENTAL ILLNESS.  No one can be punished or rehabilitated into a state of mental health.

NO MAN LEFT BEHIND!

     ~   A 2007 Army survey of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan showed that soldiers' mental health deteriorates significantly each time they go to war.

     ~   Overall, the Army's suicide rate reached a record level in 2008 and is still climbing.

     ~   More than 27%of the noncommissioned officers surveyed on their third or fourth deployment reported depression, anxiety or acute stress -- compared with 18% of those on their second deployment and 11% on their first tour.

Better security should have been in place.  During a psychotic episode, Sgt. Russel was being escorted from the mental health clinic at Camp Liberty when he overpowered a guard and took his weapon. "They escorted him out with a guy with a gun," Wilburn Russell said. "That was the worst thing they could have done.

Many veterans from Viet Nam, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan are imprisoned today for inappropriate behavior caused by PTSD, along with 1.25 million other mentally challenged people.  Psychiatric patients should be either be committed to quality mental hospitals or released under an Assisted Outpatient Treatment program, depending on their offenses. 

We demand that Sgt. Russel not join the ranks of America's incarcerated mentally ill, none of whom should be imprisoned, but treated instead!

HOMELESSNESS, PRISON, AND DEATH MUST CEASE BEING AMERICA's ANSWER TO MENTAL ILLNESS.

NO MAN LEFT BEHIND!

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Factual content for this petition is from Washington Post at http://www.washingtonpost.com/  and  USA Today at http://www.usatoday.com/news  

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AIMI members hope that many military families and other concerned people will agree that Sgt. Russel is not a criminal, but a career soldier who was wounded serving his country and now deserves treatment and support like any wounded soldier, not prison.

This link carries an important  VIDEO called  "Gratitude": 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSfFYxSdKdo&feature=player_embedded 

AIMI members sympathize with the five families whose loved ones so tragically died.  The fact that Sgt. Russel's doctors and supervisors did not recognize it was time to relieve him of active duty and send him home is indeed unfortunate. It was common knowledge around the base that Sgt. Russel had lost his reasoning skills.  According to a NY Daily News.com report, one of the sick soldier's  victims told his mom about Sgt. Russel’s mental meltdown during a phone call on Mother’s Day.  www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/05/12/2009-05-12_army_broke_him_says_dad_of_sgt_in_kill_spree.html 

Mary Neal began advocating on behalf of imprisoned mentally ill prisoners after her 54-year-old brother, Larry Neal, died on August 1, 2003, after 18 days of secret arrest in Shelby County Jail in Memphis, Tennessee.  Larry was a lifelong mental patient who was diagnosed as being paranoid schizophrenic at eight years of age and spent over 20 years as an inpatient in a mental institution until many mental hospitals closed in the 1970's.  More information about Larry and AIMI's origin is available at this website:  http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com. 

AIMI has over 200 members who are mostly Americans working together to raise public awareness about their perceived  injustice of imprisoning people for being sick and secondly, to help destroy the stigma associated with mental illness that is frequently a barrier to treatment.  They regularly petition lawmakers to decriminalize that health condition. AIMI has a presence on several online networks, including Prison Hearts, the Ellen Degeneres Show network.  AIMI's main site is at Care2 at this link: http://www.Care2.com/c2c/groups/AIMI. 

AIMI is also known as the Dorothea Dix Group. Dorothea Lynde Dix (April 4, 1802 - July 17, 1887) was a human rights advocate who worked diligently to decriminalize mental illness in the 1800's.  As the daughter of a mentally ill man, Dix sympathized with sick people and their families.  She visited jails and prisons across America and parts of Europe and wrote reports to lawmakers detailing the cruel circumstances under which the mentally ill lived.  During her prison visits, Dix frequently observed mentally challenged inmates brutally beaten while chained to prison walls, naked and living in filth.  She successfully lobbied state legislatures, and 30 public psychiatric hospitals were created.  In 1880, 40 years after she began her efforts, a census taken in U.S. jails found that only 0.7% of inmates suffered from mental illness.  More information about Dorothy Dix is available at these links:  http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/160/7/1245 
and
http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/865865.

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MARY'S COMMENTARY

What happened was either the Army's fault or nobody's, but don't blame that sick soldier.  That would not be fair.  Who keeps loaded guns around psychotic people?  We are lucky Sgt. Russel did not pick up a grenade instead of a handgun!  The man should have been secured someplace on base until he could be shipped out.  Everyone knew his condition, including his superiors.  But as usual, the higher-ups want to shift blame and put another person in bonds for life or even execute him.  That is wrong. 

If we don’t put the responsibility for this tragedy where it belongs, the tragedy could repeat again soon, and next time it could be a grenade!  There are many sick soldiers in Iraq.  Furthermore, they will be transitioning back home to a mall near you real soon.  It is time for America to Change.  Mandatory treatment and hospitalization must be allowed more easily.  More inpatient and community mental health facilities need to be built or refurbished right now to prepare for the expected increase in sick Americans that the War on Terror caused.  Or do prison profiteers plan to eventually arrest half of our vets and make money off them, too? 

War and prison profiteers do not belong in government office.  They should get out of judicial robes and congressional chairs right now, because they unnecessarily endanger active duty military servicepersons and veterans who many believe were sent to fight a senseless war.  Our communities are endangered, too, by not doing what is needed for mentally ill offenders, including  hospital commitment for violent offenders, like Sgt. Russel.  Sick people should not be imprisoned or executed.  Enforced treatment and subsistance assistance programs are needed for non-violent mentally ill offenders to help them live safely in their communities and avoid homelessness, prison, and death.  War and prison profiteers should go home and count their lovers – Ben Franklins!

Acute mental patients must not be left untreated until they kill somebody so that prison investors can multiply $50,000 annually times the expected lifespans of offenders."

Sgt. Russel's father reported that the career soldier felt persecuted and rejected when his superiors ordered him into treatment at Camp Liberty stress clinic.  The sargent's son said that his father is a non-violent man.  The family is baffled and hurt by what happened to Sgt. Russel and to his comrades.  Soldiers who are obviously suffering PTSD should not be escorted AWAY from psychiatric help like Sgt. Russel was.  Sgt. Russel's erratic behavior at the stress clinic demonstrated his need for someone responsible to step in and restrain him, which would have saved Sgt. Russel and five others.

No one who commits murder should go free, but violent mentally ill offenders like Sgt. Russel should serve at least the minimum sentence for their offenses in mental hospitals, not prison.  No early release by their psychiatrists should be possible. Treatment in mental hospitals costs no more than treatment while imprisoned for offenses mentally ill people either could not understand or lacked the wherewithal to avoid.  Sgt. Russel's case demonstrates once again that waiting until there are dead bodies before enforcing treatment is a mistake.

Most often, mentally dysfunctional people do not go from 20 mph to 140 mph in seconds.  Sgt. Russel practically wore a sign saying, 'Sick Soldier on Base!  HELP!'  Usually neighbors, relatives, co-workers or medical personnel - whoever is around them - will notice changes that mean trouble.  For instance, Seung-Hui Cho, who was responsible for the Virginia Tech massacre was declared mentally ill by a Virginia special justice.[3]  At least one professor had asked him to seek counseling.  Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacre

Acknowledging the responsibility to treat and not punish military personnel who lose their mental health serving the country is to provide REAL support for our troops - support that matters to them and their families and helps keep communities safe.  Whether or not petitioners agree with the war should not matter.  Sgt. Russel laid his life on the line repeatedly and lost his mental stability.  Now he needs us.

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More AIMI petitions are at these links:

Justice for Jeremy Smith and Other Mentally Ill Americans:   http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/JusticeForJeremy

Petitions Supported by AIMI
http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/959091  and

Save Andre Thomas and Protest Executions of Mentally Ill Americans!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/No-Executing-Mental-Patients  

Please see more articles by this writer at the Articles link in the signature block below. 

Your feedback is invited in the rich text comments area after the signature block and/or on Sgt. Russel's petition.

Mary Neal  
Radio Interview:  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stations/HeadingLeft/wakeupcallshow/2008/01/22/TBA

Articles:  http://nowPublic.com/duo

Care2 Page: http://www.care2.com/c2c/people/profile.html?pid=513396753

AIMI Photo Album:  http://www.care2.com/c2c/photos/view/217/513396753/AIMI_Photo_Album/

CONTACT INFORMATION

Mailing Address:  P.O. Box 7222, Atlanta, GA  30357
e-Mail addresses: marylovesjustice@gmail.com