KS- Inmate at Larned claims harassment

6-2-2008 Kansas:

For the second time in a year, a judge has taken Larned State Hospital officials to task for their treatment of an inmate who blew the whistle on filthy and dangerous conditions at the facility.

Shawnee County District Judge Frank Yeomans issued a protective order directing hospital officials to return papers -- including legal documents -- they had seized in a May 1 search of the room of Mark Brull, a patient in the Sexual Predator Treatment Program at Larned.

Michelle Ponce, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, said hospital staffers searched Brull's room for evidence because they had "good reason to believe he had contacted a minor" from outside the facility by mail.

Brull said that's a ridiculous claim because, with only a few exceptions for legal documents, hospital staffers read and screen all of his incoming and outgoing mail.

Brull said the raid on his room was the kind of harassment he's been subjected to since he started complaining about the hospital.

"They're constantly harassing me each and every day," he said.

He said the searchers seized "personal papers, business papers, every loose document in my room."

After Brull contacted his lawyer, the search was halted and the seized documents were boxed and sent to an SRS lawyer in Topeka.

The judge ordered SRS to return the papers to Brull's lawyer to be cataloged and sent back to Brull.

He gave SRS 10 days to challenge the ruling.

Ponce said the agency returned the papers to Brull's lawyer and decided not to challenge the judge's order. The agency is continuing to investigate whether Brull had any contact with minors, she added.

She denied that hospital staff has targeted Brull or any other patient.

"We do not punish them," she said, adding that the program's purpose is to keep dangerous mental patients off the streets and try to cure them.

As part of his treatment, Brull is not allowed to have contact with minors, Ponce said.

Brull's room was searched and his documents seized because the hospital staff believed he tried to contact minors through a Web site on which he sought pen pals, she said.

Brull has no Internet access but acknowledged that he had a friend set up a Web page seeking pen pals for him.

He said he seeks correspondence --including on sexual topics --with adults, which is not prohibited.

His Web page said Brull would welcome letters from "people of all ages, young or old."

He also wrote that his ideal companion would be "18 to 26, maybe older."

A vocal critic

Brull is pursuing a lawsuit against the state hospital, which is scheduled for trial in September. It claims program staff has violated laws regulating treatment of confined mental patients.

Brull also has been the most vocal critic of living conditions in the program. His complaints and others last year led to a Kansas Department of Health and Environment investigation of the hospital.

Inspectors cited more than 150 unsanitary and unsafe conditions at the facility, including a lack of supervision that led to the choking death of a female patient who was known to have a swallowing disorder. After making ordered improvements, the hospital has since passed a KDHE reinspection.

The sex offender program provides indefinite confinement for sex offenders who have served their prison sentences but are still deemed a threat to the public.

Larned also treats noncriminal adults and children with severe mental illnesses.

According to state records, Brull was convicted of intentionally attempting to touch a minor in a sexual manner and solicitation of a child. His offenses occurred in 1994 and 1996, when he was 19 and 21.

He served about three years in prison and has been confined at Larned for about eight years.

Treatment, privileges

In June, Yeomans ruled that hospital officials had improperly dropped Brull several levels in the treatment program and restricted his privileges, in an effort to discourage him from filing complaints against Larned.

Patients go through levels of treatment, working toward release. Each level brings more privileges.

The judge ordered the levels and privileges restored.

Hospital officials restored Brull's level status and moved him out of the highest-security wing of the program, as the judge ordered.

But according to Brull's court filing, he has been dropped two levels since then.

In one case, Brull was dropped a level "for allegedly being aggressive toward a staff member, who stated that Mr. Brull 'stood up' and came towards her," said a court filing by Brull's lawyer, Kip Elliot of Topeka. "The security video showed that Mr. Brull did not stand up or move toward the staff member."

The second level drop was "for refusing to attend treatment programming, although other patients who are not attending treatment do not receive level drops," the filing continued.

Ponce denied that Brull's complaints had anything to do with any actions taken by the program staff.

"I do not believe he is being retaliated against for any complaint he has issued," Ponce said. ..News Source.. by DION LEFLER, The Wichita Eagle