Benjamin Alverson

St. Peter, Minnesota boasts a plethora of sights: a beautiful arboretum, a Veteran's Memorial, the Paddlefish Brewing Company (with 12 homemade beers on tap) and last but not least, the prison artist known as Alfson. This artist, whose real name is Benjamin Alverson, can't really be considered a prison artist, as he is technically not in prison. He's been held captive in a Civil Commitment Facility (a prison disguised as a mental health hospital to get around due process laws) in St. Peter, for well over a decade. This place is a real dark stain on the community, yet Alfson copes with his captivity with incredible grace and a positive spirit. In this episode, we interview Benjamin Alverson by telephone and dig deep into his life -- his childhood, his upbringing, his family, his spirituality, his love of pets, his hobbies, and of course his artwork. What does he create? How does he create it? What is he allowed (or not allowed to buy)? Is he allowed to sell his pieces? Alfson is a PenP…

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…