美国国家公共电台 NPR Prison For Forced Addiction Treatment? A Parent's 'Last Resort' Has Consequences

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

More than 6,500 people were forced into addiction¹ treatment in Massachusetts in the last fiscal² year. That is believed to be the highest involuntary treatment rate in the nation. Although many states are expanding forced treatment, Deborah Becker of member station WBUR reports the Massachusetts program is facing criticism.

DEBORAH BECKER, BYLINE³: Among those asking Massachusetts to change its civil commitment practices is Robin⁴ Wallace of Cape⁵ Cod⁶. She went to court in 2017 to ask a judge to involuntarily commit her then-33-year-old son Sean because of his heroin⁷ use.

ROBIN WALLACE: His behavior was erratic⁸. I think that he had some mental health issues that were worsened by his use.

BECKER: The judge agreed that Sean's substance use was dangerous and ordered him committed to up to 90 days of residential⁹ treatment. In court, Sean told his mother he was being sent to a program where he would be locked up and not allowed to continue taking his addiction medication, methadone.

R WALLACE: I thought that he misunderstood what the judge had said because I couldn't conceive that there would be an opiate treatment program that did not provide medication-assisted treatment.

BECKER: Turns out Sean was right. Although many providers say medication is the gold standard in addiction treatment, Sean was sent to a program in a state prison that does not provide it. When we spoke¹⁰ with Sean in 2017, shortly after he spent about a month committed, he said the conditions were inhumane, and he was often placed in segregation¹¹ or the hole. And remember, he had not committed any crime.

SEAN WALLACE: I was punished for not eating. That's how I ended up in the hole. If you refuse your tray, they consider it a behavioral issue. I didn't know that. I'm just sick.

BECKER: Sean also said he was having trouble adjusting.

S WALLACE: I just feel different. I have a lot more anxiety. I feel scared. I feel like I'm going to wake up and be back there.

BECKER: Less than a year after that interview, Sean killed himself. Robin Wallace says after his civil commitment, Sean could no longer hold a job. He ended up in psychiatric hospitals and then was jailed on a charge of trying to break into a house. Robin Wallace believes that being locked up for addiction treatment contributed to Sean's suicide.

R WALLACE: I think that his trauma¹² was very much triggered by him being in the cell and that he just felt like he couldn't take it anymore.

BECKER: The sheriff wouldn't comment, but jail documents confirm that Sean tried to take his life there. He later died of his injuries. Sean's longtime partner Heather McDermott says he was never the same after his civil commitment.

HEATHER MCDERMOTT: He was like a big, sad, depressed¹³ tumor¹⁴ that I was trying to bring back to life. We had a home. We both had, like - it's like, I can't even believe we got here. And then he died.

BECKER: The Massachusetts Department of Correction wouldn't go on tape for this story but emailed a statement, saying that its mission is to promote public safety by providing a secure treatment environment. And many families believe that a locked setting is needed. Denise Bohan says families are desperate and can't rationalize with a loved one who's in the throes of addiction. She believes involuntary commitments saved her 33-year-old son.

DENISE BOHAN: This is a last resort. It's not something you do, like, just in a whim¹⁵. This is really a desperate act of trying to save your child's life.

BECKER: There's so much demand for forced treatment in Massachusetts that 100 more beds opened in another jail last year.

NICK COCCHI: So this here is our Section 35 civil commitment, quote, unquote, "wing."

BECKER: Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi says many traditional treatment centers aren't willing to take patients who don't want to be there. And with a declining inmate¹⁶ population, there's room.

COCCHI: This is a very dangerous, acute, sick and, I would say, not-so-well-behaved population.

BECKER: Many states are going down the same road as Massachusetts. But some researchers, like Leo Beletsky of Northeastern University, say more families are choosing to have loved ones locked up because it's the only way to get immediate¹⁷ treatment.

LEO BELETSKY: Limiting someone's civil rights should be the last resort and should be only reserved for those cases that are truly dire¹⁸.

BECKER: The Massachusetts law may change. A class-action lawsuit¹⁹ is charging gender²⁰ discrimination because the state stopped sending involuntarily committed women to prisons in 2016 after a different lawsuit. For NPR News, I'm Deborah Becker in Boston.

1 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

2 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

5 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

6 cod   

n.鳕鱼；v.愚弄；哄骗

参考例句：

• They salt down cod for winter use.他们腌鳕鱼留着冬天吃。
• Cod are found in the North Atlantic and the North Sea.北大西洋和北海有鳕鱼。

7 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

8 erratic   

adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的

参考例句：

• The old man had always been cranky and erratic.那老头儿性情古怪,反复无常。
• The erratic fluctuation of market prices is in consequence of unstable economy.经济波动致使市场物价忽起忽落。

9 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

10 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

11 segregation   

n.隔离，种族隔离

参考例句：

• Many school boards found segregation a hot potato in the early 1960s.在60年代初，许多学校部门都觉得按水平分班是一个棘手的问题。
• They were tired to death of segregation and of being kicked around.他们十分厌恶种族隔离和总是被人踢来踢去。

12 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

13 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

14 tumor   

n.（肿）瘤，肿块(英)tumour

参考例句：

• He was died of a malignant tumor.他死于恶性肿瘤。
• The surgeons irradiated the tumor.外科医生用X射线照射那个肿瘤。

15 whim   

n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想

参考例句：

• I bought the encyclopedia on a whim.我凭一时的兴致买了这本百科全书。
• He had a sudden whim to go sailing today.今天他突然想要去航海。

16 inmate   

n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人

参考例句：

• I am an inmate of that hospital.我住在那家医院。
• The prisoner is his inmate.那个囚犯和他同住一起。

17 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

18 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

19 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

20 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。