In this episode I speak with Mark Joyce from Disability Rights Maine about the importance of Protection and Advocacy Organizations and how DRM works in collaboration with their PAIMI Advisory Council. We also talk about a deeply concerning gap in Maine law that allows for prolonged and potentially indefinite detention in an emergency department. This type of unintentional due process deficiency exists in mental health laws throughout the United States and Mark highlights some of the many reasons why it is essential for state legislators to correct these policies.

Disability Rights Maine: https://drme.org/

Short Interview with Senator Lowell Weicker and John Doyle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x45XG4c5A3c

Transcript of 1985 Hearings: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED263712.pdf

Blog Post about psychiatric hospitals refusing admissions, leading to prolonged detention in EDs: https://drme.org/author/mark-joyce/

In this episode I speak with Ruth Lowenkron, Director of the Disability Justice Program at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. We talk about the basic principles of due process in relation to involuntary hospitalizations as well as concerns about the ongoing expansion of commitment laws in New York.

NYLPI: https://www.nylpi.org/

NYLPI report on Kendra’s Law: https://www.nylpi.org/nylpi-releases-new-report-implementation-of-kendras-law-continues-to-be-severely-biased/

As a person with a history of psychiatric disabilities, involuntary hospitalizations and a civil commitment, I know that I will always be vulnerable to the carceral whims of legislators. I am forever trapped in the trauma of my most desperate moment, a point in time where the state declared that I was mentally unfit to be free. And I will forever fear how easy it would be for someone to decide that I should be locked away and disappeared like that again. But over the past several years I have been privileged to talk with attorneys, advocates, and people with lived experience who are fighting to create change. Fighting to protect the rights, humanity, and dignity of the vulnerable people who are being forced into these systems. So as I continue to explore the work of Protection & Advocacy organizations throughout the United States I was incredibly grateful for the opportunity to speak with Nancy Murphy from the Disability Law Center. DLC is the P&A for Massachusetts and we spoke about the importance of Protection & Advocacy organizations and the complicated state and federal guardrails that they have to navigate.

Disability Law Center: https://www.dlc-ma.org/

Six Fundamental Rights: https://www.dlc-ma.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Six-Fundamental-Rights-2025.01.pdf

Representative Payee Program: https://www.dlc-ma.org/representative-payee-program/

Bridgewater Report: https://www.dlc-ma.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/DLC-BSH-Public-Report-to-Legislature-2.6.2025-Final-w.-Apps-1.pdf

In this episode I speak with Gwen Orlowski, Executive Director of Disability Rights New Jersey. We discuss the statutory authorities given to all P&A organizations as well as the specific work that DRNJ has been engaged in. Work that includes investigations into abuse and neglect in nursing homes, advocacy around the state’s expansion of initial involuntary hospitalizations from 72 hours to 144 hours, and a recent lawsuit filed in relation to Conditional Extension Pending Placement, or CEPP. CEPP is an incredibly concerning process that allows a psychiatric facility to continue to involuntarily detain a person past the point where a court has said the legally required criteria for commitment is no longer present.

Disability Rights New Jersey: https://disabilityrightsnj.org/

CEPP litigation: https://disabilityrightsnj.org/whats-new/systemic-litigation/

Disability Rights California recently released a report titled Let Me Go: Excessive Restraint of Patients at College Hospital. This report provides an important example of why we need Protection & Advocacy organizations in place, and properly funded, to monitor and investigate abuse and neglect. So to learn more about the report and the work that DRC is doing I spoke with Liz Logsdon and Robert Reyes Villagómez.

Disability Rights California: https://www.disabilityrightsca.org/

Let Me Go: Excessive Restraint of Patients at College Hospital: https://www.disabilityrightsca.org/drc-advocacy/investigations/let-me-go-excessive-restraint-of-patients-at-college-hospital

Disability Rights North Carolina recently released a report titled “Involuntary Commitment in NC: Overused, Misused, and Harmful”. This report lays out observations and recommendations that are the result of years of monitoring a broken system. It includes tragic stories, alarming trends, and practices that resonated with my own experiences with involuntary hospitalization and commitment. To learn more about the report, and the work that DRNC is doing to try and change these systems for the better, I spoke with Corye Dunn.

Disability Rights North Carolina https://disabilityrightsnc.org/

Involuntary Commitment in NC: Overused, Misused, and Harmful https://disabilityrightsnc.org/news/involuntary-commitment-in-nc-overused-misused-and-harmful/

The tragedies uncovered at Willowbrook State School helped bring visibility to the types of horrors that can be inflicted upon vulnerable people when the the authority of institutions goes unchecked. The Protection & Advocacy system was forged out of this type of exposure and while many things have changed since Willowbrook, the P&A system is just as necessary now as it was then. So when I started this series focused on learning more about Protection & Advocacy organizations it seemed fitting to talk to the people doing this type of work in the state where, in many ways, it all started.

In this conversation I talk with Tim Clune and Jennifer Monthie from Disability Rights New York about the work they do, the legacy of the P&A system, and why it's important that this work continues.

Disability Rights New York: https://www.drny.org/

In this episode I speak with advocates and attorneys from Disability Rights Center New Hampshire. We spoke broadly about the work they do as New Hampshire's Protection & Advocacy organization but we also spoke in detail about a tremendously concerning practice called "conditional discharge". With a conditional discharge a person who has been committed to a mental health facility can be forced into a frightening form of outpatient commitment that could potentially last for decades.

Disability Rights Center: https://drcnh.org/

Conditional Discharge: https://drcnh.org/disability-issue-areas/mental-health/conditional-discharge/