Hello Everyone,

In February of 2015 I left work and went to the doctors. It was then that I was diagnosed with PTSD and Depression/Anxiety Disorder (latter changed to Bipolar II). I had lost a lot of weight, had insomnia and would get sick to my stomach every day I had to go to work. I was under constant attack in a hostile work environment. Every day I was attacked by my leadership.

 

After only being diagnosed for 7 months earlier, I attempted suicide. This scared my wife so much that she went to the local police to have me taken to the hospital. The officers discussed a "302", but when they went to leave my wife asked again are they taking me o the hospital. The response she got was "we don't take people to the hospital, we arrest them.". My wife said that is not what she wanted and was told there was nothing she could do because the Police were the ones pressing charges against me.

The Police showed up to my house in full riot and SWAT gear on. I was under the impression that they were going to take me to the hospital. They said that, but the New Garden PD (now called the Southern Chester County Regional PD) instead created a falsified Police report and put me in front of a Judge who sentenced me to Chester County Prison on a $25,000 cash bail, no bond!

I was sent to County Prison and was asked there what was going on. I told everyone repeatedly that I have PTSD, Depression and Anxiety Disorder and what medications I was on. One of which was Xanax. They put me in solitary confinement striped naked with only a small fabric cover to put on, the lights on all of the time and placed on "forced Benzo Detox". I was denied all of my prescribed Psychiatric medications, even though they new from the pharmacy that those medications were prescribed by my Psychiatrist. Violating my 8th Ammendment Right with total disregard. I was never let out of my cell, not even to take a shower the next day. At some point later in the day I saw the Prison Psychologist and just kept saying the same thing over and over again since I arrived there. A few hours after meeting with the Psychologists, she came running into my cell block and told the Correctional Officer that he needed to get me out of the cell and transferred to the hospital. It had been 24 plus hours at this point without any of my medications. While being setup to be transferred, I was bailed out and the Psychologist told me I needed to go to the hospital right away. I told her and the Correctional Officer that I was heading to the hospital when I was arrested.

I went through 3 different lawyers because they were attempting or did take advantage of me. One even stole funds or the legal term "acquiring funds under false pretenses". The last lawyer I had looked at everything and said that they (DA) had nothing on me and most of the charges didn't even make sense. Well as soon as he got paid, he did what all of the lawyers did. They played on the stigma of my Mental Illness particularly PTSD. They forced me to take a plea deal saying if we went to court everyone would just see my PTSD and lable me a psycho.

On the day of my plea agreement, my lawyer tells me that I can't let any of my "ticks" from my condition be seen by Judge Streitel or she will hold that against me. The first words out of the Judge's mouth when she heard I have PTSD was "this isn't like a broken leg!". Right away she and my lawyer allowed the DA to tell this crazy story about what happened. I told my lawyer to say something, but he didn't. When it came time for me to speak, she attacked me and said she was going to add more supervision to my parole. At that point I had a panic attack and went to tell my lawyer to do something. He said to take it or she will make it worse. So I just agreed to eveything they said.

After being on parole for over two years (4 years is my sentence) I submitted a motion to be removed from probation early. I had a stack of information supporting my case a long with recommendations from both my Psychiatrists and Psychologists. I even started to to work in the Mental Health field as an Advocate. I had gotten another State Representative to add their name to the "Healthy Workplace Bill" and have gotten the same Police Department New Garden PD (now named Southern Chester County Regional PD) that arrested me to commit to having 3 Officers CIT trained (Crisis Intervention Training) this fall. By using the law that was in effect before I was arrested that required all Municipal Police to be CIT trained.

Judge, Phyllis R. Streitel, showed her stigmatation and discrimination of the Mentally Disabled (PTSD in this situation) that even a person with little knowledge of Mental Illness could see. With the DA she was all about facts, when it came time for me to speak she:

1. Demeand me for representing themselves.

2. When it came to the facts of my case she "ad'libbed" making comments that were false. When I went to corrected the Judge, she either didn't allow me to speak (violating my 1st Ammendment Right) or she got aggressive towards me.

3. The judge went on to read from the transcripts of the Plea Hearing that I had. She said you agreed to this that and the other. I said that I had a panic attack when I was misrepresented in that case. Her response was "oh so you lied to me at that proceeding".

4. When I said that just because I have a Mental Illness, dosen't mean I should be in the Judicial system. She attacked that too stating that she had see a lot of people with PTSD in her courtroom and acted like she was an expert in Mental Illness.  Stating she had some training.

That is an insult to the whole Psychiatric community.

The bottom line is the DA's reasoning that the judge could not terminate parole was week and none of their examples matched the situation in front of the court and the judge did challenge them on that fact. But with me she was attacking, she had the Officers in the room come and stand behind me when I went to speak and explain what Mental Illness is. Intimidating me and again violating my 1st Ammendment Right. She is oblivious to the fact that you cannot put a person in jail who suffers from a Mental Illness (Particularly Someone with PTSD). It is a major violation of their 8th ammendment right. This behavior in our courts and Judges is unacceptable. Stigmatation and Discrimination of Mental Illness has no place in in our courts. Where the facts are disregarded just because the person suffers from Mental Illness.

There are others who have experienced discrimination amongst other things from Judge Phyllis R. Streitel. The website below will show you other examples of this inhuman behavior.

https://chestercountyrants.wordpress.com/2011/05/13/phyllis-r-streitel-and-public-defenders-chester-county-court-are-they-discriminating-against-men-men-bashers-also-the-public-defenders-lets-make-a-deal-is-this-what-law-school-pays-for/#comment-8041

Please sign this petition to have Judge R. Streitel removed from the bench. Intolerance and Discrimination have no place in our courts.

Thank You!

Eric