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12/14/05
Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times --
It's horrifying to see the mentally ill behind bars, but what if their crimes are equally horrific?
David Petrocelli>> Some of them are very high-security terrorist type crimes. Some of them have killed their parents, killed their entire families. We have psychopaths in here, psychopathic killers.
Val Zavala>> And then, the setting is almost other-worldly, but it's perfect for a world-class art collection.
These stories and more next on tonight's Life and Times.
Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education.
And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.
Val Zavala>> What happens when the mentally ill end up in our jails? Well, the recent murder of a mentally ill man in the Los Angeles County jail is just the latest example of a larger problem. Saul Gonzalez went into the mental ward of the Los Angeles County jail to see what the staff and the inmates are facing day to day.
Saul Gonzalez>> As night descends upon Los Angeles, these men and women are about to cross over into a strange new world.
>> "I need your booking number."
>> "6091403."
Saul Gonzalez>> A world of razor wire, concrete walls and regimentation.
[Film Clip]
Saul Gonzalez>> The place is Los Angeles County's Twin Towers jail. The people are its newest inmates.
>> "Keep your free hand in your pocket, gentlemen. Let's go."
>> "Are you on probation or parole?"
>> "Yes."
>> "Which one?"
>> "Probation."
Saul Gonzalez>> Yet many of these men have been prisoners long before their arrival here. Their real jailer is mental illness.
>> "Are you taking prescription medication? What are you taking medication for?"
>> "Psych meds."
Saul Gonzalez>> Roughly ten percent of inmates arriving tonight suffer from some kind of mental illness from the mildly delusional to the murderously psychopathic.
David Petrocelli>> Some of them are very high-security terrorist type crimes. Some of them have killed their parents, killed their entire families. We have psychopaths in here, psychopathic killers. We also have the guy who went into the local diner, ate a meal and decided he didn't want to pay and created a disturbance in a restaurant. Mental illness is kind of an equal opportunity employer and it pretty much goes across the whole playing field. We deal with all of it.
Saul Gonzalez>> The sheer number of mentally ill inmates confined at Twin Towers has turned this facility into a virtual asylum.
David Petrocelli>> Regrettably, the jail is the largest mental institution in the entire world.
Saul Gonzalez>> Sheriff deputy, Dave Petrocelli, is a Twin Towers senior officer. Here he and his team are part therapists, part cops.
>> "Do you like CJ better or do you like it over here better?"
>> "CJ."
>> "How come?"
David Petrocelli>> This is mother, father, auntie, pastor, you are everything to these inmates. We're lifesavers, we're protectors, we're, you know, people that make sure the laws are obeyed and everybody obeys the rules in society. In here, it's more the caretaker side, I would imagine.
>> "He says he knows his rights. He doesn't want to lay down."
>> "I can't go to the population now. I'm schizophrenic and I'm mentally ill. I can't go to no population."
Saul Gonzalez>> Here, the deputies experience the effects of mental illness firsthand.
David Petrocelli>> This is a place where you probably get more verbal abuse than anywhere else. We get what they call gassed frequently and gassing is a term we use for inmates who would throw fecal matter on us or urine or any other bodily fluids. It happens quite often.
Saul Gonzalez>> At Twin Towers, tranquility is fragile and maintained with the help of psychological counseling.
>> "I saw a psychologist once for, you know, my drug habit."
Saul Gonzalez>> And daily doses of medications which help keep inmates' irrational behavior controlled. What kind of psych meds do they usually take?
>> "They usually take Haldol and others."
Saul Gonzalez>> What does that do for them, all of those together?
>> "Usually, they put them to sleep so that they will not hear voices, for hallucinations."
Saul Gonzalez>> Those who are the greatest danger to themselves and others are confined to the seventh floor, a virtual prison within a prison.
David Petrocelli>> Most of the inmates here are restrained by use of handcuffs anytime they're out of their cell. They've proven to be very unpredictable.
[Film Clip]
David Petrocelli>> Some of the gentlemen aren't allowed certain utensils. We won't feed them food that has a bone in it because they might injure themselves or injure us.
Saul Gonzalez>> Yet on the seventh floor, the border between order and chaos is a thin one that all too often cracks.
David Petrocelli>> This gentleman just hanged himself on the sprinkler in his cell. We pulled him down off the sprinkler and just restrained his hands and now we're going to take him down and get him medically evaluated, mentally evaluated and make sure he's okay.
[Film Clip]
David Petrocelli>> He did suspend his body for probably about a second and a half before we did entry.
Saul Gonzalez>> Suicide attempts on level seven are fairly common. As a precaution from being spit on or bitten, special masks are placed on the inmate. Many of them test positive for HIV.
[Film Clip]
Saul Gonzalez>> This may look austere and inhumane, yet the way the mentally ill are handled now is an improvement over just a few years ago. In its 1997 report on the jails, the civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department found that mentally ill inmates were abused and locked up almost around the clock in dark, windowless cells, allowed to exercise only one hour a week and rarely permitted to shower. Meanwhile, another report found a "near collapse of accountability and responsibility for mentally disturbed inmates." Are those fair criticisms to your understanding?
David Petrocelli>> I would say very over-estimated. I worked there for a long time and, at least while I was there, I did not feel that there were the abuses that the news had said that there was. If it was in fact something that happened at one time, it's a dinosaur. It's gone.
Saul Gonzalez>> Since the release of those reports, the mentally ill have been moved from central jail to clean, open housing with windows at Twin Towers. There's still not enough staff, however, to do the job properly.
David Petrocelli>> We don't have enough psychiatric staff to keep up with the prescriptions. The deputy sheriffs, if we have a disturbance or a gentleman attempt suicide, we need a deputy sheriff to escort him, another deputy is documenting everything that's taken place and now we don't have the complement on the floor to continue with showering and medicating and feeding.
Saul Gonzalez>> Sheriff deputy Petrocelli admits that Twin Towers is incapable of giving the mentally ill the treatment they really need.
David Petrocelli>> I think a mental health facility, not a jail, would be most appropriate. But if they're here, we have the medical and the mental health --
Saul Gonzalez>> -- personnel here?
David Petrocelli>> No. We can't say, oh, we're just going to go ahead and excuse what they've done and, of course, the court makes those decisions.
Saul Gonzalez>> Understanding why Los Angeles County's lockup has become the worlds' largest de facto mental institution, you have to remember how California's mentally ill were once treated. In the 1960's, state hospitals were overcrowded and squalid and abuse of patients common.
Carla Jacobs>> The state knew that it had a problem, knew what to do about that problem, but with wanton indifference, chose not to give mentally ill inmates the treatment that they needed. We're only a couple of years away from mentally ill inmates having been put in the violence-controlled unit naked, hogtied and lapping their food off their plates like so many dogs.
Saul Gonzalez>> Reforms came with the passage of the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, a landmark piece of legislation. It was supposed to have moved the mentally ill out of institutions into community facilities, restoring their freedom and self-respect. The law, however, strayed from its intended goals. In the late 1960's, tens of thousands of mentally ill patients were discharged and received no adequate follow-up care. Carla Jacobs is a mental health advocate.
Carla Jacobs>> As a result of the institutionalization, what we really did is we trans-institutionalized. We took the people from the hospitals. We didn't develop a community system that was commensurate to the severity of their needs. We put them on the streets and then too frequently they end up in our jails and prisons.
Saul Gonzalez>> And the numbers confirm that. There are nearly fifty thousand homeless mentally ill in California. Another thirty thousand live in our jails and prisons. The cost for incarcerating them per year is nearly two billion dollars.
Carla Jacobs>> Our prisons and our jails, under the best conditions, can never be a hospital because the purpose of prison and jail is punitive. It's punishment, and there is no way that the jail can substitute for medical treatment.
Saul Gonzalez>> Many in the mental health community, fearing the return of past abuses, say the answer lies simply in providing more psychiatric services in the community.
David Meyer>> If they've committed relatively petty crimes, and there are many here who have, those are individuals who should be addressed in community settings and whose issue should be dealt with before they come into this jail.
Saul Gonzalez>> Once a mentally ill person enters into Twin Towers, it's very likely he or she will return.
David Petrocelli>> I've known several of these gentlemen to be out for less than two days and come back. Mental illness fluctuates on a daily basis. So to say you are healed today, well, yeah, you're getting along great today, but tomorrow we can't count on it.
Saul Gonzalez>> Until changes are made, though, our jails will remain de facto mental institutions with a revolving door of repeat clients. For Life and Times, I'm Saul Gonzalez.
Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org and click on "Life and Times".
Val Zavala>> They've been arguing for more than a hundred years over the Hetch Hetchy Dam and part of the reason is that this dam and reservoir is inside a national park, Yosemite National Park, and some people say it should be destroyed. Spencer Michels takes a look at both sides of the Hetch Hetchy issue.
Spencer Michels>> This giant dam in the Hetch Hetchy Valley of California's Yosemite National Park is the focal point of a battle between the city of San Francisco which built the dam nearly a century ago and environmentalists who want it torn down. It's the latest and probably the most contentious example of a growing movement to eliminate dams in scenic areas around the nation. Ron Good founded Restore Hetch Hetchy.
Ron Good>> This is a place in Yosemite National Park that belongs to all the American people and it really should be returned to all the American people.
Spencer Michels>> Hetch Hetchy was celebrated in photos and paintings, but it hasn't looked like this since 1915. That was when preparations began on the massive dam to trap and use the waters of the Tuolumne River. The project would send pure mountain water through pipes and tunnels one hundred sixty-seven miles across California to San Francisco and thirty-three nearby communities. Chief engineer, Michael O'Shaughnessy, for whom the dam was named, was part of the nation's progressive elite according to California historian, Kevin Starr.
Kevin Starr>> The progressives, while not overtly religious, had a sense that public works represented the highest ethical governmental activity possible on the part of concerned citizens, to lay down the public works infrastructure what they envisioned as a great civilization that would rise up here on the shores of San Francisco Bay.
Spencer Michels>> But not everyone agreed. John Muir, considered the father of this country's national parks and environmental movement, hated the idea of destroying a gorgeous valley. But in 1913, Congress approved the Hetch Hetchy project which began delivering water in 1934. Superintendent Norm Rickson has worked here for more than three decades.
Norm Rickson>> There's not a pump on the system anywhere. It's totally gravity-fed. It's not filtered. It's a pristine water system. It's a wonderful, wonderful system.
Spencer Michels>> At first, the concept of destroying the dam and the reservoir was regarded as an environmentalist pipe dream. But as more and more dams were eliminated across this country, a hundred seventy-five in the past six years, San Francisco water officials began to take it seriously and now they're fighting back. They were eager to show us how they say the reservoir actually enhanced the beauty of the valley. Still visible above the surface, Wapama Falls crashes dramatically down from huge granite cliffs accessible only by hikers willing to walk around the lake. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission runs Hetch Hetchy and its general manager, Susan Leal, says she was shocked by proposals to eliminate a valuable generator of power and an elegant water system.
Susan Leal>> You know, we're in a semi-arid state. This is California's gold and, for us to eliminate the source, probably one of the best sources of water not only in the state, but in the world, it's foolhardy.
Spencer Michels>> Using newly-developed computer modeling techniques, University of California scientists investigated what the loss of O'Shaughnessy Dam would do.
Sarah Null>> It said that we could take out O'Shaughnessy Dam with very little changes to the system, very little water scarcity or water shortage.
Spencer Michels>> One solution frequently mentioned is to enlarge the storage capacity of downstream reservoirs like Don Pedro perhaps by raising its earthen dam. Costs for reconfiguring the new system are estimated at between one and ten billion dollars. Sacramento Bee editorial writer, Tom Philp, says it's a good tradeoff.
Tom Philp>> What is this place worth as a second Yosemite Valley? What is that worth in economic terms? It's got to be in the billions as well.
Spencer Michels>> Still, convincing city, state and federal officials, plus the public, to dismantle Hetch Hetchy is a formidable task.
Kevin Starr>> The Hetch Hetchy is part of the DNA code of San Francisco. To comprehend disestablishing it, tearing it down, going somewhere else, is almost to think the unthinkable.
Spencer Michels>> Nevertheless, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered the state to take a serious look at the concept.
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Val Zavala>> It is a garden of sculpture and every one of the artists is from Latin America. It's the latest addition to the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach and Vicki Curry took a tour.
Vicki Curry>> Tucked behind the Museum of Latin American Art is a multi-level space lined with cacti and palm trees. Artworks stand on bold display in some places. Others are nestled in the minimalist landscaping. It's a Sculpture Garden unlike any other.
Gregorio Luke>> The garden is a uniquely Latin American art space and it is because not only the artists are Latin American, but also the design of it is very much influenced by contemporary Latin American architecture.
Vicki Curry>> The museum, known as MoLAA, brought together more than a dozen sculptures in this space designed by Long Beach architect, Chris Brown.
Gregorio Luke>> The main characteristic of the contemporary Latin American architecture is first a simplification of the space, a pursuit of purity in design and also a very interesting use of color. We're not here trying to create a movie set, but to find some of those elements that define the Latin American spirit and put them together.
Vicki Curry>> The contemporary sculptures come from Mexico, Central and South America and Spanish-speaking Caribbean countries.
Gregorio Luke>> There are many different expressions of Latin American art and this museum and this garden is a product of vast plurality. In Latin America where there is not such a powerful critical establishment and where there are many traditions, you have artists that are exploring and trying to define in different ways what it means to be Latin American today.
This is a piece by Fernando de Szyszlo who is Peruvian. Szyszlo is one of the most important abstract artists in Latin America today. This is a piece called "The Black Sun". After the conquest, the Incas thought that it was going to be a season of great sadness, so this is a sun that doesn't shine. You can look at it as many levels. You know the meaning of it, or you can just admire it by the beauty of its form.
This sculpture is a piece by Carlos Luna who is Cuban. It's a little play of words and what is interesting about this piece is the fact that it has like two sides to it. You have on the one side a living being and on the other you have a skeleton. So this is an idea of duality and forms a lot of the art of Latin America.
This is a piece by Cecilia Miguez and she is an artist that has an exquisite technique. You can see the very realistic ways. Look at those hands. But in this particular case, she combines her form with a kind of industrial kind of object and she calls it "The Time Traveler". Again, it's an interesting combination of very detailed work with what you could look at as some kind of a conceptual expression.
Vicki Curry>> And this artist now lives in Los Angeles, right?
Gregorio Luke>> Yes, she is living here. Guerremoto Jilo is the author of this mucho. He is from Panama and he is an artist that is very much interested in recreating Latin America's pre-Hispanic past. So the mucho are figures that are connected with pre-Hispanic mythology. They are these figures that are half-ghost, half-spirit and this mucho was created specifically for the museum.
Vicki Curry>> Now this sculpture looks pretty different from the rest of the ones in the garden.
Gregorio Luke>> Yes, this is an artist who created "Angel of the Americas", so it is an angel. Of course, the wings are suggested and it communicates a sense of elevation somehow. I like also, in some of the pieces, normally we're not used to thinking of sculpture in terms of its color. Yet we have several examples in this garden in which you actually see how the metal is painted and color becomes an integral part of the artistic creation, as in this great example.
Vicki Curry>> Another recurring theme in the Sculpture Garden is animals.
Gregorio Luke>> In pre-Hispanic mythology, animals play a decisive role. Dogs, for example, are supposed to guide people in the after-life. The animal becomes, many times, an alter-ego to the person and a symbol of that identity and that personality. This piece by a Mexican artist is a bull, somehow reminiscent of cubism. It's a bull formed of geometrical forms and you get the feeling that it's his territory and he's somehow guarding his turf.
This is the work of an Argentinean artist, Gustavo Lopez Armandias. Of course, the idea of making enlarged objects is not new, but what he does is that not only he creates these large figures, but he also builds into them and somehow he tries to connect these objects with his own memories or what these objects suggest because our memories are always triggered by objects.
Vicki Curry>> Memory is also triggered by sights and sounds. MoLAA mixes a music, theater and dance to showcase the diversity of Latin American culture.
Gregorio Luke>> Many forms of beauty will be brought together here. The static beauty of the sculptures and the beauty and motion of the dances and the musicians.
Vicki Curry>> But the museum is much more than an ambassador of Latin American culture.
Gregorio Luke>> It is very important in today's life to open a space for beauty. By looking at art and by looking at nature and by listening to music, we can also see ourselves in those sculptures. We can see ourselves in that music and we can find bridges between each other and towards our own spirit.
Val Zavala>> For more information, you can go to the website for the Museum of Latin American Art. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.
Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education.
And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.
This program was made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department.
Sponsored in part by:
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