Civil Commitment Episodes

In 1998, Benjamin Alverson was sentenced to 22 months in prison. He completed his sentence, paid his debt to society, and at the turn of the millennium he was excited to be released. Why, then, is he still locked up (without having committed any new crimes) 26 years later? It's due to a disturbing, frightening, unconstitutional, and horrific practice known as Civil Commitment, where courts pretend that prisoners are patients. "It's not prison, it's not punishment, it's just mental health treatment," they insist. The "inmates" must be referred to as "clients." And their cell has to be called a "room." That's all the justification most judges need to certify that being locked away, often for one's entire life, against their will and without any jury trial, is really just mental health treatment. How does this happen? In short, a prison clinician (often with a questionable degree from an online college) makes an assessment that an inmate has a mental illness and might pose a risk to soci…