481
Thought Reform / Re: DOUBLE BIND: Mind Control in the TTI
« on: April 30, 2010, 08:46:29 PM »
:bump:
Fornits
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482
Open Free for All / Re: self injury scars............need advice.
« on: April 30, 2010, 08:19:13 PM »Quote from: "Becky"
this is a bit embarrassing :eek: and that's why I am asking on here and whatever mean things you say I've already said to myself!! :waaaa: while in the program I wasn't having it that easy and I was in there for self injury already but nothing that bad. i was supposed to shave my legs i broke the razor and cut the word bitch into my stomach. :wall: i regret it now because fast forward to when i get with a guy and he pulls up my shirt and there is a scar that says bitch on me. at first they get a confused look but within a few seconds figure it out and their face drops :heartbreak: and its never the same after that. i cant afford to get it removed i just need some advice...... thanks for listening.
Maybe you should be more selective of who you "get with". or
You could just get them really drunk :cheers:
Seriously, there is a forum just for you:http://http://buslist.org/phpBB/
483
News Items / Re: Bill Looks to Curb Medicating State Foster Kids
« on: April 29, 2010, 09:25:29 PM »Quote from: "DannyB II"
:shamrock: :shamrock: :shamrock:
Great article Felice as usual thanks for the follow up. What is profoundly sad is Gabriel Myers is nothing more then a footnote in this whole outcome.
Do they actually use foster children to try out these drugs in black testing (undercover; pay the foster parents or the foster parents just look the other way).
Danny
http://http://www.nunya.com/index.php/2010/04/26/why-are-we-drugging-our-kids/
484
News Items / Re: Bill Looks to Curb Medicating State Foster Kids
« on: April 29, 2010, 08:08:06 PM »
Pharmaceutical Giant AstraZeneca to Pay $520 Million for Off-label Drug Marketing
http://http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/April/10-civ-487.html
AstraZeneca LP and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP will pay $520 million to resolve allegations that AstraZeneca illegally marketed the anti-psychotic drug Seroquel for uses not approved as safe and effective by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services’ Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) announced today. Such unapproved uses are also known as "off-label" uses because they are not included in the drug’s FDA approved product label.
The Wilmington, Del.-based company signed a civil settlement to resolve allegations that by marketing Seroquel for unapproved uses, the company caused false claims for payment to be submitted to federal insurance programs including Medicaid, Medicare and TRICARE programs, and to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program and the Bureau of Prisons.
Under the terms of the settlement, the federal government will receive $301,907,007 from the civil settlement, and the state Medicaid programs and the District of Columbia will share up to $218,092,993 of the civil settlement, depending on the number of states that participate in the settlement. The allegations were originally brought in a lawsuit under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act and various state False Claims Act statutes.
Under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, a company must specify the intended uses of a product in its new drug application to the FDA. Before approving a drug, the FDA must determine that the drug is safe and effective for the use proposed by the company. Once approved, the drug may not be marketed or promoted for off-label uses.
The FDA originally approved Seroquel in September 1997 for the treatment of manifestations of psychotic disorders. In September 2000, FDA proposed narrowing the approval for Seroquel to the short term treatment of schizophrenia only. In January 2004, the FDA approved Seroquel for short term treatment of acute manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder (bipolar mania). In October 2006, the FDA approved Seroquel for bipolar depression.
The United States alleges that AstraZeneca illegally marketed Seroquel for uses never approved by the FDA. Specifically, between January 2001 through December 2006, AstraZeneca promoted Seroquel to psychiatrists and other physicians for certain uses that were not approved by the FDA as safe and effective (including aggression, Alzheimer’s disease, anger management, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar maintenance, dementia, depression, mood disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and sleeplessness). These unapproved uses were not medically accepted indications for which the United States and the state Medicaid programs provided coverage for Seroquel.
According to the settlement agreement, AstraZeneca targeted its illegal marketing of the anti-psychotic Seroquel towards doctors who do not typically treat schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, such as physicians who treat the elderly, primary care physicians, pediatric and adolescent physicians, and in long-term care facilities and prisons.
In March 2006, AstraZeneca brought certain conduct to the attention of the government and then cooperated in the investigation of the allegations being settled today.
The United States contends that AstraZeneca promoted the unapproved uses by improperly and unduly influencing the content of, and speakers, in company-sponsored continuing medical education programs. The company also engaged doctors to give promotional speaker programs on unapproved uses for Seroquel and to conduct studies on unapproved uses of Seroquel. In addition, the company recruited doctors to serve as authors of articles that were ghostwritten by medical literature companies and about studies the doctors in question did not conduct. AstraZeneca then used those studies and articles as the basis for promotional messages about unapproved uses of Seroquel.
"Illegal acts by pharmaceutical companies and false claims against Medicare and Medicaid can put the public health at risk, corrupt medical decisions by health care providers, and take billions of dollars directly out of taxpayers’ pockets," said Attorney General Eric Holder. "This Administration is committed to recovering taxpayer money lost to health care fraud, whether it’s by bringing cases against common criminals operating out of vacant storefronts or executives at some of the nation’s biggest companies."
The United States also contends that AstraZeneca violated the federal Anti-Kickback Statute by offering and paying illegal remuneration to doctors it recruited to serve as authors of articles written by AstraZeneca and its agents about the unapproved uses of Seroquel. AstraZeneca also offered and paid illegal remuneration to doctors to travel to resort locations to "advise" AstraZeneca about marketing messages for unapproved uses of Seroquel, and paid doctors to give promotional lectures to other health care professionals about unapproved and unaccepted uses of Seroquel. The United States contends that these payments were intended to induce the doctors to prescribe Seroquel for unapproved uses in violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute.
"Rooting out health care fraud is a top priority for the Obama Administration, said Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. "Today’s settlement sends a clear warning to any individual or company seeking to defraud our health care system and returns hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money to the Medicare trust fund where they belong. It reflects the unprecedented energy, resources, and new ideas that this administration has devoted to identifying, prosecuting, and ultimately preventing health care fraud. With the new anti-healthcare fraud resources in the Affordable Care Act, there has never been a worse time to try to steal from our health care system."
"Consumers are entitled to rely on the claims pharmaceutical companies make about the drugs they sell," said Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice. "Working with our federal and state partners, we will protect the integrity of our public health programs by ensuring that kickbacks from drug companies do not taint the medical decisions of health care professionals."
"When pharmaceutical companies interfere with the FDA’s mission to insure that drugs are safe and effective, they undermine the doctor-patient relationship and put the health and safety of patients at risk," said Michael L. Levy, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. "People have a legal right to know that pharmaceutical companies are marketing their drugs only for uses approved by the FDA and that their doctors’ judgment has not been affected by misinformation from a pharmaceutical company trying to boost revenues."
In addition to the civil settlement agreement, resolution of the matter includes a Corporate Integrity Agreement (CIA) between AstraZeneca and the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services. The five-year CIA requires, among other things, that a board of directors committee annually review the company’s compliance program and certify its effectiveness; that certain managers annually certify that their departments or functional areas are compliant; that AstraZeneca send doctors a letter notifying them about the settlement; and that the company post on its website information about payments to doctors, such as honoraria, travel or lodging. AstraZeneca is subject to exclusion from Federal health care programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, for a material breach of the CIA and subject to monetary penalties for less significant breaches.
"As a result of this Corporate Integrity Agreement, the actions of AstraZeneca will be more transparent, its Board of Directors held more accountable, and the names of physicians receiving payments will be disclosed -- all leading to better protection for patients," said Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson.
The government’s investigation was triggered by a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the FCA’s qui tam provisions in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. As part of today’s resolution, James Wetta, the whistleblower in that action, will receive more than $45 million from the federal share of the civil recovery.
This settlement is part of the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud and another step for the HEAT initiative, which was announced by Attorney General Holder and Secretary Sebelius in May 2009. The partnership between the two departments has focused efforts to reduce and prevent Medicare and Medicaid fraud through enhanced cooperation. One of the most powerful tools in that effort is the FCA, which the Justice Department has used to recover almost $2.8 billion since January 2009 in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs. The Justice Department’s total recoveries in FCA cases since January 2009 are over $3.75 billion.
The civil settlement was reached by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. This investigation was conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General and the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations. Assistance was provided by representatives of FDA’s Office of Chief Counsel and the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units.
For $520 Million, AstraZeneca Will Settle Case Over Marketing of a Drug
http://http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/business/27drug.html
http://http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/April/10-civ-487.html
AstraZeneca LP and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP will pay $520 million to resolve allegations that AstraZeneca illegally marketed the anti-psychotic drug Seroquel for uses not approved as safe and effective by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services’ Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) announced today. Such unapproved uses are also known as "off-label" uses because they are not included in the drug’s FDA approved product label.
The Wilmington, Del.-based company signed a civil settlement to resolve allegations that by marketing Seroquel for unapproved uses, the company caused false claims for payment to be submitted to federal insurance programs including Medicaid, Medicare and TRICARE programs, and to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program and the Bureau of Prisons.
Under the terms of the settlement, the federal government will receive $301,907,007 from the civil settlement, and the state Medicaid programs and the District of Columbia will share up to $218,092,993 of the civil settlement, depending on the number of states that participate in the settlement. The allegations were originally brought in a lawsuit under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act and various state False Claims Act statutes.
Under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, a company must specify the intended uses of a product in its new drug application to the FDA. Before approving a drug, the FDA must determine that the drug is safe and effective for the use proposed by the company. Once approved, the drug may not be marketed or promoted for off-label uses.
The FDA originally approved Seroquel in September 1997 for the treatment of manifestations of psychotic disorders. In September 2000, FDA proposed narrowing the approval for Seroquel to the short term treatment of schizophrenia only. In January 2004, the FDA approved Seroquel for short term treatment of acute manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder (bipolar mania). In October 2006, the FDA approved Seroquel for bipolar depression.
The United States alleges that AstraZeneca illegally marketed Seroquel for uses never approved by the FDA. Specifically, between January 2001 through December 2006, AstraZeneca promoted Seroquel to psychiatrists and other physicians for certain uses that were not approved by the FDA as safe and effective (including aggression, Alzheimer’s disease, anger management, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar maintenance, dementia, depression, mood disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and sleeplessness). These unapproved uses were not medically accepted indications for which the United States and the state Medicaid programs provided coverage for Seroquel.
According to the settlement agreement, AstraZeneca targeted its illegal marketing of the anti-psychotic Seroquel towards doctors who do not typically treat schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, such as physicians who treat the elderly, primary care physicians, pediatric and adolescent physicians, and in long-term care facilities and prisons.
In March 2006, AstraZeneca brought certain conduct to the attention of the government and then cooperated in the investigation of the allegations being settled today.
The United States contends that AstraZeneca promoted the unapproved uses by improperly and unduly influencing the content of, and speakers, in company-sponsored continuing medical education programs. The company also engaged doctors to give promotional speaker programs on unapproved uses for Seroquel and to conduct studies on unapproved uses of Seroquel. In addition, the company recruited doctors to serve as authors of articles that were ghostwritten by medical literature companies and about studies the doctors in question did not conduct. AstraZeneca then used those studies and articles as the basis for promotional messages about unapproved uses of Seroquel.
"Illegal acts by pharmaceutical companies and false claims against Medicare and Medicaid can put the public health at risk, corrupt medical decisions by health care providers, and take billions of dollars directly out of taxpayers’ pockets," said Attorney General Eric Holder. "This Administration is committed to recovering taxpayer money lost to health care fraud, whether it’s by bringing cases against common criminals operating out of vacant storefronts or executives at some of the nation’s biggest companies."
The United States also contends that AstraZeneca violated the federal Anti-Kickback Statute by offering and paying illegal remuneration to doctors it recruited to serve as authors of articles written by AstraZeneca and its agents about the unapproved uses of Seroquel. AstraZeneca also offered and paid illegal remuneration to doctors to travel to resort locations to "advise" AstraZeneca about marketing messages for unapproved uses of Seroquel, and paid doctors to give promotional lectures to other health care professionals about unapproved and unaccepted uses of Seroquel. The United States contends that these payments were intended to induce the doctors to prescribe Seroquel for unapproved uses in violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute.
"Rooting out health care fraud is a top priority for the Obama Administration, said Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. "Today’s settlement sends a clear warning to any individual or company seeking to defraud our health care system and returns hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money to the Medicare trust fund where they belong. It reflects the unprecedented energy, resources, and new ideas that this administration has devoted to identifying, prosecuting, and ultimately preventing health care fraud. With the new anti-healthcare fraud resources in the Affordable Care Act, there has never been a worse time to try to steal from our health care system."
"Consumers are entitled to rely on the claims pharmaceutical companies make about the drugs they sell," said Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice. "Working with our federal and state partners, we will protect the integrity of our public health programs by ensuring that kickbacks from drug companies do not taint the medical decisions of health care professionals."
"When pharmaceutical companies interfere with the FDA’s mission to insure that drugs are safe and effective, they undermine the doctor-patient relationship and put the health and safety of patients at risk," said Michael L. Levy, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. "People have a legal right to know that pharmaceutical companies are marketing their drugs only for uses approved by the FDA and that their doctors’ judgment has not been affected by misinformation from a pharmaceutical company trying to boost revenues."
In addition to the civil settlement agreement, resolution of the matter includes a Corporate Integrity Agreement (CIA) between AstraZeneca and the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services. The five-year CIA requires, among other things, that a board of directors committee annually review the company’s compliance program and certify its effectiveness; that certain managers annually certify that their departments or functional areas are compliant; that AstraZeneca send doctors a letter notifying them about the settlement; and that the company post on its website information about payments to doctors, such as honoraria, travel or lodging. AstraZeneca is subject to exclusion from Federal health care programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, for a material breach of the CIA and subject to monetary penalties for less significant breaches.
"As a result of this Corporate Integrity Agreement, the actions of AstraZeneca will be more transparent, its Board of Directors held more accountable, and the names of physicians receiving payments will be disclosed -- all leading to better protection for patients," said Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson.
The government’s investigation was triggered by a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the FCA’s qui tam provisions in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. As part of today’s resolution, James Wetta, the whistleblower in that action, will receive more than $45 million from the federal share of the civil recovery.
This settlement is part of the government’s emphasis on combating health care fraud and another step for the HEAT initiative, which was announced by Attorney General Holder and Secretary Sebelius in May 2009. The partnership between the two departments has focused efforts to reduce and prevent Medicare and Medicaid fraud through enhanced cooperation. One of the most powerful tools in that effort is the FCA, which the Justice Department has used to recover almost $2.8 billion since January 2009 in cases involving fraud against federal health care programs. The Justice Department’s total recoveries in FCA cases since January 2009 are over $3.75 billion.
The civil settlement was reached by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. This investigation was conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General and the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations. Assistance was provided by representatives of FDA’s Office of Chief Counsel and the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units.
For $520 Million, AstraZeneca Will Settle Case Over Marketing of a Drug
http://http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/business/27drug.html
485
The Troubled Teen Industry / Torture Against Children and Adults with Disabilities in the
« on: April 29, 2010, 07:28:02 AM »
Torture Against Children and Adults with Disabilities in the United States
MDRI Alleges Torture Against Children and Adults with Disabilities in the United States
Files Urgent Appeal to United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture in Geneva
Washington, DC – April 29, 2010 - Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) has found children and adults with disabilities tortured and abused at a “special needs” residential facility in Massachusetts and has filed an “urgent appeal” with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture to demand the United States government end the torture immediately.
In a report released today, Torture not Treatment: Electric Shock and Long-Term Restraint in the United States on Children and Adults with Disabilities at the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC), MDRI documents the use of electric shocks on the legs, arms, torsos and soles of feet of people with disabilities – for weeks, months and sometimes years. JRC uses punishments as treatment and US advocates have been trying for decades to close the school and end these practices. The school also uses 4-point restraint boards, tying children to the boards while simultaneously shocking them for hours; mock assaults; food deprivation; shock chairs; isolation and long-term restraint. Residents at JRC are diagnosed with a variety of behavioral, intellectual and psychiatric disabilities such as autism, bi-polar disorder and learning disabilities.
Laurie Ahern, President of MDRI, states, “The cruelty perpetrated against children and adults at JRC is psychological and physical abuse, couched in the name of ‘treatment.’ The severe pain and suffering leveled against residents there violates the United Nations Convention against Torture. And to the best of our knowledge, JRC is the only facility of any kind in the US – and perhaps the world –that uses electricity combined with long-term restraint and other punishments to intentionally cause pain to children with behavioral challenges and calls it treatment.”
MDRI calls on the Special Rapporteur, along with the Obama Administration and the Department of Justice, to end the abuses against people with disabilities at JRC. MDRI is an international human rights and advocacy organization dedicated to the rights protection and full participation in society of people with disabilities worldwide. Visit http://www.mdri.org Help us put an end to the torture of children with disabilities in JRC.
http://http://www.mdri.org/PDFs/USReportandUrgentAppeal.pdf
MDRI Alleges Torture Against Children and Adults with Disabilities in the United States
Files Urgent Appeal to United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture in Geneva
Washington, DC – April 29, 2010 - Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) has found children and adults with disabilities tortured and abused at a “special needs” residential facility in Massachusetts and has filed an “urgent appeal” with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture to demand the United States government end the torture immediately.
In a report released today, Torture not Treatment: Electric Shock and Long-Term Restraint in the United States on Children and Adults with Disabilities at the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC), MDRI documents the use of electric shocks on the legs, arms, torsos and soles of feet of people with disabilities – for weeks, months and sometimes years. JRC uses punishments as treatment and US advocates have been trying for decades to close the school and end these practices. The school also uses 4-point restraint boards, tying children to the boards while simultaneously shocking them for hours; mock assaults; food deprivation; shock chairs; isolation and long-term restraint. Residents at JRC are diagnosed with a variety of behavioral, intellectual and psychiatric disabilities such as autism, bi-polar disorder and learning disabilities.
Laurie Ahern, President of MDRI, states, “The cruelty perpetrated against children and adults at JRC is psychological and physical abuse, couched in the name of ‘treatment.’ The severe pain and suffering leveled against residents there violates the United Nations Convention against Torture. And to the best of our knowledge, JRC is the only facility of any kind in the US – and perhaps the world –that uses electricity combined with long-term restraint and other punishments to intentionally cause pain to children with behavioral challenges and calls it treatment.”
MDRI calls on the Special Rapporteur, along with the Obama Administration and the Department of Justice, to end the abuses against people with disabilities at JRC. MDRI is an international human rights and advocacy organization dedicated to the rights protection and full participation in society of people with disabilities worldwide. Visit http://www.mdri.org Help us put an end to the torture of children with disabilities in JRC.
http://http://www.mdri.org/PDFs/USReportandUrgentAppeal.pdf
486
Feed Your Head / Re: Don’t talk to aliens, warns Stephen Hawking
« on: April 29, 2010, 07:11:27 AM »
http://http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/04/seti-hawking
Back on topic here.....
This was on NPR last night.
Back on topic here.....
This was on NPR last night.
487
Tacitus' Realm / Re: IBM's new foretelling software to be used by Florida DOC
« on: April 28, 2010, 06:40:54 AM »Quote from: "Julia Kochetkova"
DJJ Billing codes
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. d4 a6 6. g3 Bg4 7. Bg2 Nc6 8. O-O O-O-O 9. d5 Nb4 10. Bf4 Qc5 11. Be3 Qd6 12. h3 Bh5
Redirection Project
http://http://www.evidencebasedassociates.com/what_we_do/redirection/index.html
In 2004, the State of Florida, Department of Juvenile Justice contracted with Evidence-Based Associates to launch the Redirection project in an effort to "redirect" troubled youth from residential placements to more effective, family-focused, evidence-based treatment options. The Redirection project focuses on two Blueprints for Violence Prevention model programs that have demonstrated strong positive outcomes in addressing the needs of delinquent youth and their families - Multisystemic Therapy and Functional Family Therapy. In 2008 Brief Strategic Family Therapy (BSFT) was added to the Redirection Program because of its success with Latino and African-American families.
Since inception, Redirection has expanded to 18 circuits, providing alternative, effective treatments for more than 3,100 troubled youth and families as of October 2008. Redirection programs have successfully addressed the mental health needs of referred youth and families, helping to promote a more functional family system based upon more effective parenting and improved communication between family members and those outside the family. A recent independent evaluation by the Justice Research Center shows that Redirection has significantly reduced felony adjudications and avoided nearly $40 million in residential placement costs.
"Using evidence-based family therapies allows us to build protective factors into the youth's home environment without shouldering the costs of residential placement," states Darryl Olson, former assistant secretary for probation and community intervention, Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. "Redirection is one of our effective intervention and treatment services that help turn around the lives of troubled youth."
Testimonials about Redirection
"The positive benefits of Redirection compared to residential commitment are sustained and increase over time."
OPPAGA Report June 2008
"Earlier this year, we joined the Redirection network of service providers and shifted to evidence-based programs - the results were immediate. We've learned to have faith in the model, to focus on the entire family, and work as a team with parents to affect positive change. One of the most important and immediate benefits of this approach is the change in attitude in the families - there is now hope where there once was none."
Kathy Trapp, LMHC, a Redirection therapist at VisionQuest
"Redirection services save the state approximately $27,059 per completion when compared to those completing low, moderate and high-risk residential placements."
Justice Research Center, 2007
"By keeping kids in their homes, it allows us to work with the entire family system - changing the way the family functions and preventing future crimes by all of the children in the home. It is challenging work, but it is also the most rewarding and effective work I've ever done with adolescents."
Aaron Runion, MS
"Nothing makes juvenile crime disappear, but research from around the country, and now Florida's own data and analysis, show that for many troubled youth the risk of committing future crimes can be cut in half if they receive effective interventions. Redirection successfully teaches families to control their delinquent children."
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 2007
"Long-term, not only can this approach prevent these adolescents from becoming involved with the justice system as adults, but it will also improve the relationships and communications between family members. Most importantly, the hope is that these children will become adults that use these effective parenting skills with their own children in the future, breaking the maladaptive cycle."
Tatyana Farietta-Murray, MD, Department of Child and Adolescent, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Miami
"The level of cooperation, partnership and support that we've experienced with the Redirection project has been invaluable. Research proves that Blueprint programs work - the added ingredients of accountability, quality assurance, and teamwork have been critical to getting us to this level of success."
Linda Jewell Morgan, Vice President of Performance Improvement, Eckerd Youth Alternatives
hmmmmm......... :clown:
488
Tacitus' Realm / Re: IBM's new foretelling software to be used by Florida DOC
« on: April 26, 2010, 05:06:02 PM »
This reminds me of the Violence Initiative. http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQZdUmxG1Es
They had a "Weed and Seed" program for intercity kids.
They weeded them all into Juvi and oops forgot to seed...........
They had a "Weed and Seed" program for intercity kids.
They weeded them all into Juvi and oops forgot to seed...........
489
Open Free for All / Re: Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!
« on: April 26, 2010, 10:32:48 AM »
Oldy but Goody
[attachment=0:18e37ido]humor22.jpg[/attachment:18e37ido]
[attachment=0:18e37ido]humor22.jpg[/attachment:18e37ido]
490
Open Free for All / Re: Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!
« on: April 24, 2010, 08:47:59 AM »
[attachment=0:uc40l5m6]1271980832-drawmohammedposter.jpg[/attachment:uc40l5m6]
:roflmao:
:roflmao:
491
Open Free for All / Re: How long ago were you in a program?
« on: April 22, 2010, 01:26:49 PM »Quote from: "Maximilian"
I have found fornits to be a useful resource and was discussing it's legitimacy with a colleague of mine, and they explained that the posters on fornits are people who were in programs years ago, or even decades ago. Is this accurate? I think it's important we tell our readers how relevant our own experiences are compared to the safer, well designed, contemporary programs.
Let's work together to find out how relevant the experiences on this website are to current programs operating.
If you were a child who was sent to a program against your will, then please participate in this study. If you were an adult and chose to enter treatment or chose to go to AA or rehab or another of the off shoots of what you consider programs, please do not participate. Thank you, and remember this will help everyone.
I think it is important to remember that the program I attended is still opperating a continuing criminal enterprise.
http://http://theelanschool.tumblr.com/
:beat:
492
News Items / Lawsuit filed in Taycheedah inmate's death
« on: April 17, 2010, 09:47:15 PM »
Lawsuit filed in Taycheedah inmate's death
http://http://www.postcrescent.com/article/99999999/APC0101/704250628/Lawsuit-filed-in-Taycheedah-inmate-s-death
Treatment used alleged to worsen mental state
Poor mental health care as well as a slow response from guards and medical staff contributed to the suicide of a mentally ill prison inmate, a lawsuit alleges.
James Gende, a Waukesha attorney, filed the suit Monday in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee on behalf of Angela Enoch's estate and surviving family members.
Enoch, a mentally ill teen who had been in and out of institutions and foster care, died in June 2005 when she was 18. She used a ripped seam from a pillow to strangle herself in an observation cell of the segregated unit at Taycheedah Correctional Institution, the state's largest prison for women near Fond du Lac.
"I think the system turned her into a throwaway child," Gende said Tuesday. "The treatment she received while incarcerated by the Department of Corrections was a substantial cause of the deterioration of her mental health status, which resulted in her successful suicide."
The suit, which names Gov. Jim Doyle, Corrections Secretary Matt Frank, and 20 corrections employees as defendants, seeks a jury trial and damages of $10 million. Enoch's mother, Roxanne Enoch of Hayward, is named along with Enoch's two minor sisters as plaintiffs.
"We are in the process of reviewing the lawsuit and conferring with our legal counsel and it would be premature to comment on the matter at this time," John Dipko, a Department of Corrections spokesman, said Tuesday. "However, we take any suicide that occurs in our prison system very seriously and we re-evaluate our practices and policies in each instance to see if there are any actions that could have prevented the death and if there are any changes that need to be made."
ACLU, Justice Department also cite Enoch case
The lawsuit comes on the heels of a pending class-action lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union and a separate U.S. Department of Justice investigation, both of which allege grossly deficient medical and mental health care at Taycheedah.
The prison, which has about 730 inmates, has the highest ratio of mentally ill offenders of Wisconsin's 19 correctional institutions, state Department of Corrections officials say. About two-thirds of its inmates have mental health needs.
The ACLU suit notes that the suicide rate among inmates in segregated units is 10 times the rate of those in the general-population units in Wisconsin prisons. In segregation, inmates typically spend 23 hours of each day alone in a cell, and are given about one hour outside of it to exercise.
Corrections officials say they have been working to improve mental health care at the prison and now give a closer review of inmates considered for segregation.
Enoch's death is recounted in both the ACLU and Justice Department complaints. But the latest 20-page lawsuit offers new details alleging how Taycheedah's response to Enoch's mental illness ultimately led to her death.
"That because of her severe mental illnesses, Enoch was placed in solitary confinement in (Taycheedah's) Segregation Unit," the suit alleges. "… Solitary confinement results in exacerbation of previously existing mental illnesses. It is also likely that individuals, like Enoch, will suffer permanent harm due to their solitary confinement."
Suit alleges prison failures
Enoch entered Wisconsin's juvenile court system at age 12 and was charged with her first adult crime at 14. She had a history of assaults, as well as self-destructive and suicidal behavior.
She had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, personality disorder, mood disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Despite a court order to give Enoch her prescription medications, Taycheedah staff "failed to take the necessary action in administering (her) prescribed medications in the days immediately preceding her death of June 19, 2005," the lawsuit alleges.
The suit also alleges it took staff six to eight minutes to enter Enoch's cell after observing her strangling herself.
"(Taycheedah) staff's reaction to Enoch's self-strangulation was unreasonably delayed and in violation of their standard operating procedures for response to an emergency situation, which was a substantial cause of Enoch's death," the suit reads.
Among the violations of law, the suit alleges wrongful death, cruel and unusual punishment, violation of equal protection, and violations of the federal Rehabilitation Act and the American with Disabilities Act.
The suit also alleges gender-based disparities. Female prisoners are not afforded the same level of psychiatric care available to male offenders at the Wisconsin Resource Center, a specialized mental health facility administered by the state Department of Health and Family Services through a partnership with the Department of Corrections.
"If Angela had been a man, she never would have been in that segregation unit," Gende said. "She'd have been in a mental health facility."
The Department of Corrections' Committee on Inmate/Youth Deaths reviewed Enoch's suicide, Dipko said. However, the committee's findings are confidential under state law, he added.
In Doyle's proposed two-year budget, the state Building Commission has approved an $11 million proposal for a 45-bed female inmate treatment facility at the Wisconsin Resource Center. His budget also includes a request for 33 additional permanent positions for medical and mental health care at the prison, at a cost of $2.7 million.
Wendy Harris can be reached at 920-993-1000, ext. 526, or [email protected]. Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers contributed to this report.
I just want to bring an important issue to everyones attention....................
Angela was my good friend for about a year.
She killed herself at 18. (honestly I do not blame her)
This girl was funny and beautiful and talented.
The State of Wisconsin TORTURED her for years. :suicide:
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjGgy1iibio
The Good news is I have a presentation to do for D.H.S. and D.O.C. on Monday.
http://http://www.postcrescent.com/article/99999999/APC0101/704250628/Lawsuit-filed-in-Taycheedah-inmate-s-death
Treatment used alleged to worsen mental state
Poor mental health care as well as a slow response from guards and medical staff contributed to the suicide of a mentally ill prison inmate, a lawsuit alleges.
James Gende, a Waukesha attorney, filed the suit Monday in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee on behalf of Angela Enoch's estate and surviving family members.
Enoch, a mentally ill teen who had been in and out of institutions and foster care, died in June 2005 when she was 18. She used a ripped seam from a pillow to strangle herself in an observation cell of the segregated unit at Taycheedah Correctional Institution, the state's largest prison for women near Fond du Lac.
"I think the system turned her into a throwaway child," Gende said Tuesday. "The treatment she received while incarcerated by the Department of Corrections was a substantial cause of the deterioration of her mental health status, which resulted in her successful suicide."
The suit, which names Gov. Jim Doyle, Corrections Secretary Matt Frank, and 20 corrections employees as defendants, seeks a jury trial and damages of $10 million. Enoch's mother, Roxanne Enoch of Hayward, is named along with Enoch's two minor sisters as plaintiffs.
"We are in the process of reviewing the lawsuit and conferring with our legal counsel and it would be premature to comment on the matter at this time," John Dipko, a Department of Corrections spokesman, said Tuesday. "However, we take any suicide that occurs in our prison system very seriously and we re-evaluate our practices and policies in each instance to see if there are any actions that could have prevented the death and if there are any changes that need to be made."
ACLU, Justice Department also cite Enoch case
The lawsuit comes on the heels of a pending class-action lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union and a separate U.S. Department of Justice investigation, both of which allege grossly deficient medical and mental health care at Taycheedah.
The prison, which has about 730 inmates, has the highest ratio of mentally ill offenders of Wisconsin's 19 correctional institutions, state Department of Corrections officials say. About two-thirds of its inmates have mental health needs.
The ACLU suit notes that the suicide rate among inmates in segregated units is 10 times the rate of those in the general-population units in Wisconsin prisons. In segregation, inmates typically spend 23 hours of each day alone in a cell, and are given about one hour outside of it to exercise.
Corrections officials say they have been working to improve mental health care at the prison and now give a closer review of inmates considered for segregation.
Enoch's death is recounted in both the ACLU and Justice Department complaints. But the latest 20-page lawsuit offers new details alleging how Taycheedah's response to Enoch's mental illness ultimately led to her death.
"That because of her severe mental illnesses, Enoch was placed in solitary confinement in (Taycheedah's) Segregation Unit," the suit alleges. "… Solitary confinement results in exacerbation of previously existing mental illnesses. It is also likely that individuals, like Enoch, will suffer permanent harm due to their solitary confinement."
Suit alleges prison failures
Enoch entered Wisconsin's juvenile court system at age 12 and was charged with her first adult crime at 14. She had a history of assaults, as well as self-destructive and suicidal behavior.
She had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, personality disorder, mood disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Despite a court order to give Enoch her prescription medications, Taycheedah staff "failed to take the necessary action in administering (her) prescribed medications in the days immediately preceding her death of June 19, 2005," the lawsuit alleges.
The suit also alleges it took staff six to eight minutes to enter Enoch's cell after observing her strangling herself.
"(Taycheedah) staff's reaction to Enoch's self-strangulation was unreasonably delayed and in violation of their standard operating procedures for response to an emergency situation, which was a substantial cause of Enoch's death," the suit reads.
Among the violations of law, the suit alleges wrongful death, cruel and unusual punishment, violation of equal protection, and violations of the federal Rehabilitation Act and the American with Disabilities Act.
The suit also alleges gender-based disparities. Female prisoners are not afforded the same level of psychiatric care available to male offenders at the Wisconsin Resource Center, a specialized mental health facility administered by the state Department of Health and Family Services through a partnership with the Department of Corrections.
"If Angela had been a man, she never would have been in that segregation unit," Gende said. "She'd have been in a mental health facility."
The Department of Corrections' Committee on Inmate/Youth Deaths reviewed Enoch's suicide, Dipko said. However, the committee's findings are confidential under state law, he added.
In Doyle's proposed two-year budget, the state Building Commission has approved an $11 million proposal for a 45-bed female inmate treatment facility at the Wisconsin Resource Center. His budget also includes a request for 33 additional permanent positions for medical and mental health care at the prison, at a cost of $2.7 million.
Wendy Harris can be reached at 920-993-1000, ext. 526, or [email protected]. Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers contributed to this report.
I just want to bring an important issue to everyones attention....................
Angela was my good friend for about a year.
She killed herself at 18. (honestly I do not blame her)
This girl was funny and beautiful and talented.
The State of Wisconsin TORTURED her for years. :suicide:
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjGgy1iibio
The Good news is I have a presentation to do for D.H.S. and D.O.C. on Monday.
493
News Items / Bill Looks to Curb Medicating State Foster Kids
« on: April 16, 2010, 11:07:51 AM »
Bill Looks to Curb Medicating State Foster Kids
http://http://cbs4.com/local/florida.legislators.legislation.2.1629212.html
Bill Is Named For 7-Year-Old Gabriel Myers
TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) ? Florida lawmakers are scheduled to discuss a measure
Tuesday designed to curb the prescription of mental-health drugs to children in state care. Senate Bill 2718, also known as the Gabriel Myers Bill, would allow officials to more closely monitor the powerful psychiatric drugs dispensed to Florida foster care children.
The proposal is largely based on the findings of a task force formed after Gabriel locked himself in a bathroom and hung himself with a shower cord last April in his Margate foster home. Gabriel was on Seroquel, used to treat bipolar disorder, and other psychiatric drugs linked by federal regulators to potentially dangerous side effects, including suicide, but the risks may not have been adequately communicated to his foster parents. The drugs are not approved for use by young children. But doctors often prescribe them 'off-label,' for purposes for which the drugs have not been approved.
Sen. Ronda Storms (R)-Brandon, who filed the bill, said prescribed drugs have replaced talk therapy and are over-prescribed to subdue unruly children.
The proposed law would require the state Department of Children and Families to assign volunteer guardians to oversee each child's mental health care. It prohibits foster children from being the subject of clinical drug trials and raises the age at which children are allowed to take these drugs from 6 to 11 in many cases.
It would also give children some say in the drugs they take because it would require foster children to agree to the use of the psychiatric drugs and would require caseworkers to explain to children, in a manner they can understand, why the drugs are necessary and what risks they carry.
The measure would also require an independent review before psychiatric drugs can be administered to children 10 or younger. The bill also requires children to have a mental health treatment plan that includes counseling for children prescribed such drugs.
The state's growing use of adult medication on emotionally and mentally troubled children has sparked debate for years. Florida has approximately 19,000 children in state care and of those about 3,200 are in Miami-Dade County, according to DCF spokeswoman Flora Beal.
Gabriel's death prompted a statewide investigation that found 13 percent, or 2,699, of all foster children are on such drugs, according to a DCF study. That compares with only an estimated 4 percent to 5 percent of children in the general population.
A state appointed panel recently reviewed all cases and released a report that found that the policies requiring parental consent or a second opinion were not uniformly followed. Gabriel Myers was on psychotropic medications without the required consent, the panel concluded.
http://http://cbs4.com/local/florida.legislators.legislation.2.1629212.html
Bill Is Named For 7-Year-Old Gabriel Myers
TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) ? Florida lawmakers are scheduled to discuss a measure
Tuesday designed to curb the prescription of mental-health drugs to children in state care. Senate Bill 2718, also known as the Gabriel Myers Bill, would allow officials to more closely monitor the powerful psychiatric drugs dispensed to Florida foster care children.
The proposal is largely based on the findings of a task force formed after Gabriel locked himself in a bathroom and hung himself with a shower cord last April in his Margate foster home. Gabriel was on Seroquel, used to treat bipolar disorder, and other psychiatric drugs linked by federal regulators to potentially dangerous side effects, including suicide, but the risks may not have been adequately communicated to his foster parents. The drugs are not approved for use by young children. But doctors often prescribe them 'off-label,' for purposes for which the drugs have not been approved.
Sen. Ronda Storms (R)-Brandon, who filed the bill, said prescribed drugs have replaced talk therapy and are over-prescribed to subdue unruly children.
The proposed law would require the state Department of Children and Families to assign volunteer guardians to oversee each child's mental health care. It prohibits foster children from being the subject of clinical drug trials and raises the age at which children are allowed to take these drugs from 6 to 11 in many cases.
It would also give children some say in the drugs they take because it would require foster children to agree to the use of the psychiatric drugs and would require caseworkers to explain to children, in a manner they can understand, why the drugs are necessary and what risks they carry.
The measure would also require an independent review before psychiatric drugs can be administered to children 10 or younger. The bill also requires children to have a mental health treatment plan that includes counseling for children prescribed such drugs.
The state's growing use of adult medication on emotionally and mentally troubled children has sparked debate for years. Florida has approximately 19,000 children in state care and of those about 3,200 are in Miami-Dade County, according to DCF spokeswoman Flora Beal.
Gabriel's death prompted a statewide investigation that found 13 percent, or 2,699, of all foster children are on such drugs, according to a DCF study. That compares with only an estimated 4 percent to 5 percent of children in the general population.
A state appointed panel recently reviewed all cases and released a report that found that the policies requiring parental consent or a second opinion were not uniformly followed. Gabriel Myers was on psychotropic medications without the required consent, the panel concluded.
494
Open Free for All / Re: HEAL Coordinator
« on: April 15, 2010, 08:14:05 PM »Quote from: "DannyB II"
To psy and Ursus, Che, Joel, Inculcate,
Ursus and psy, remember this below, it speaks volumes of your lack of experience and your need to overcompensate with your intellect. Your mommy and daddy held the cards and dealt you both like a straight flush, whether you want to admit this or not. Your lack of experience and real life maturity does not qualify you as having a credible input into the decision your referring to. I find it hard to believe nobody had any idea what was going on and when you did realize why it did not stop immediately. Parents not being able to talk with their children draws a major red flag in most households I know, especially since you two were such wonderful children.
What a fucking stretch in thinking from you two.
Che and Joel, you did not even go to a program. Working for one buys you a cup of coffee buts stills doesn't let you in.
Inculcate, I just don't know....? Yet you actually really care for this site and people. I feel that and never acknowledge it.
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=30239&start=90
Examples:
Psy spoke:
I wasn't. I was sent to a boarding school recommended by an educational consultant. Neither myself or my parents (they claim, and i believe them) knew it was a behavior modification program. At the time we weren't getting along due to various complex reasons and since it was too late to enroll in a normal school and since we all really wanted a break from each other I agreed to enroll in what I thought was a fairly normal place with *optional* therapy in the afternoons which I did not plan to participate in. I had no idea there was a level system or that the school was not actually a school (education was done at a local adult school we were bussed to and supervised at). I had no idea communication would be cut, that my property and identification would be confiscated, etc etc...
Ursus spoke:
Lol. Same thing at Hyde School! The plan was that I go to boarding school. There were some issues at home that weren't working out and putting a change of physical location and separation between differing parties was considered to be the ticket. There were no issues with my school attendance, drugs, sex, what-not. I was, all things considered, a pretty boring kid. Hyde gave my family a real hard sell. It was "just like those other prep schools, but with an added bonus" - the 'character education' component.
<cough>
Little did we know that it actually was a character cult.
The degree of spin that these places employ when it comes to their marketing is pretty difficult for the average person to believe.
DannyB II spoke:
About as complicated as your spin on what happened. Not very!!!!!!!
I guess you missed this:http://http://edwork.edgeboss.net/wmedia/edwork/fc/fc042408.wvx
http://http://edlabor.house.gov/hearings/2008/04/child-abuse-and-deceptive-mark.shtml
:agree:
495
Elan School / State Supreme Court denies Skakel new trial in Moxley murder
« on: April 15, 2010, 10:39:10 AM »
State Supreme Court denies Skakel new trial in Moxley murder
http://http://www.ctpost.com/default/article/State-Supreme-Court-denies-Skakel-new-trial-in-445274.php#page-1
The state's highest court denied Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel a new trial Monday for the 1975 slaying of his Greenwich neighbor, Martha Moxley, discrediting evidence that linked two other men to the crime.
In the 4-1 ruling released Monday morning, the state Supreme Court sided with a lower court's 2007 decision to uphold Skakel's conviction, finding that the evidence implicating others in Moxley's death was not strong enough to warrant a new trial.
The court's decision has been pending for more than a year after lawyers for Skakel argued that evidence, including videotaped testimony, pointed to two other men as Moxley's killers.
The videotape involves Gitano "Tony" Bryant, cousin of NBA star Kobe Bryant, who told private investigators hired by Skakel's family that two of his friends bragged about getting Moxley "caveman style" after the murder occurred.
But the high court found no credibility in Bryant's account, according to the ruling.
"There is no evidence, independent of Bryant, to corroborate any significant aspect of his account of the events of the night of Oct. 30, 1975, whereas there is a plethora of evidence to contradict his account," Justice Joette Katz wrote for the majority.
In their ruling, the court agreed with prosecutors that it was hard to believe no one would have noticed the three Bronx, N.Y., teenagers in the largely white, private community the night of the murder.
"These three young men did not look like the average 14- or 15-year-olds who would have blended into the crowd," wrote Katz. "Particularly not in an area that was described by one witness as `a fairly lily-white community.' "
Bryant and one of the teens he implicated are black. The other teen implicated has been described as mixed race with Asian ancestry. All three have all asserted their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination since Bryant gave the videotaped statement.
Senior Assistant State's Attorney Susan Gill, who argued against the granting of a new trial, said she hoped the ruling would spare "the Moxley family from any further ordeal," in a statement released Monday. "Despite numerous claims of newly discovered evidence, the majority of the court has found nothing that undermines its confidence in the guilty verdict rendered by the jury in 2002," Gill said.
However, Skakel's Hartford-based attorneys, Hubert Santos and Hope Seeley, criticized the ruling and vowed to continue fighting for Skakel's freedom.
"We are disappointed that the Connecticut Supreme Court refused to grant a new trial to an innocent man," wrote Skakel's attorneys in a statement. "The jury that convicted Michael Skakel in 2002 simply did not have all the evidence. It is a travesty that the Connecticut courts continue to deny Mr. Skakel's request that the new information be examined and considered by a jury."
"Mr. Skakel's appeals are not over, and we will continue to vigorously pursue both his state and federal habeas corpus actions," the attorneys said.
In a concurring opinion released Monday, two justices wrote that Bryant's statements were "inadmissible hearsay" that would not change Skakel's fate in court.
"None of Bryant's statements that exculpate the petitioner would be admissible, and, therefore, the Bryant evidence could not produce a different result at a new trial," Justice Peter Zarella wrote.
Skakel, a nephew of Ethel Skakel Kennedy, was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison in June 2002 for beating Moxley to death with a golf club on Oct. 30, 1975, when they were 15. Skakel has maintained his innocence.
State Superior Court Judge Edward Karazin denied Skakel's bid for a new trial in 2007 based on the Bryant evidence, ruling it was not credible, sending the case to the state's high court.
Justice Richard Palmer was the sole judge to rule in favor of Skakel on Monday, saying he believed the evidence might have swayed a jury against convicting Skakel. At the March 2009 oral arguments in Hartford, Palmer called the videotape "pretty compelling."
"I reach this conclusion because the evidence that Bryant provided during the course of his lengthy and detailed video-recorded interview satisfies all of the requirements necessary for a new trial," Palmer wrote. "Finally, at the very least, it is likely that this new evidence, when considered in light of the state's thin case against the petitioner, would give rise to a reasonable doubt about whether the petitioner was involved in the victim's murder."
John Moxley, brother of Martha Moxley, said Monday he was "flabbergasted" Palmer sided with Skakel.
Moxley said he was pleased the majority of the court denied the motion for a new trial. "There was no credibility (to Bryant's story), and so I would have been very surprised had they granted the motion," Moxley said.
The justices also said there wasn't enough evidence to support a claim that a book deal affected the outcome. The defense said that the lead investigator in the Moxley case, Frank Garr, and journalist Leonard Levitt entered a book deal during the trial, and that tainted the verdict.
Since his conviction, Skakel has lost numerous bids seeking to overturn his conviction.
In March 2006, Skakel lost an appeal before the state Supreme Court after his lawyers claimed, among other things, that the statute of limitations had expired when he was charged in 2000. That same year, Skakel's lawyer filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court asserting that Skakel's due process rights were violated by the state Supreme Court decision. The U.S. Supreme Court denied Skakel's request to review his case in November 2006.
Skakel still has an appeal pending in federal court. He is incarcerated at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield.
http://http://www.ctpost.com/default/article/State-Supreme-Court-denies-Skakel-new-trial-in-445274.php#page-1
The state's highest court denied Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel a new trial Monday for the 1975 slaying of his Greenwich neighbor, Martha Moxley, discrediting evidence that linked two other men to the crime.
In the 4-1 ruling released Monday morning, the state Supreme Court sided with a lower court's 2007 decision to uphold Skakel's conviction, finding that the evidence implicating others in Moxley's death was not strong enough to warrant a new trial.
The court's decision has been pending for more than a year after lawyers for Skakel argued that evidence, including videotaped testimony, pointed to two other men as Moxley's killers.
The videotape involves Gitano "Tony" Bryant, cousin of NBA star Kobe Bryant, who told private investigators hired by Skakel's family that two of his friends bragged about getting Moxley "caveman style" after the murder occurred.
But the high court found no credibility in Bryant's account, according to the ruling.
"There is no evidence, independent of Bryant, to corroborate any significant aspect of his account of the events of the night of Oct. 30, 1975, whereas there is a plethora of evidence to contradict his account," Justice Joette Katz wrote for the majority.
In their ruling, the court agreed with prosecutors that it was hard to believe no one would have noticed the three Bronx, N.Y., teenagers in the largely white, private community the night of the murder.
"These three young men did not look like the average 14- or 15-year-olds who would have blended into the crowd," wrote Katz. "Particularly not in an area that was described by one witness as `a fairly lily-white community.' "
Bryant and one of the teens he implicated are black. The other teen implicated has been described as mixed race with Asian ancestry. All three have all asserted their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination since Bryant gave the videotaped statement.
Senior Assistant State's Attorney Susan Gill, who argued against the granting of a new trial, said she hoped the ruling would spare "the Moxley family from any further ordeal," in a statement released Monday. "Despite numerous claims of newly discovered evidence, the majority of the court has found nothing that undermines its confidence in the guilty verdict rendered by the jury in 2002," Gill said.
However, Skakel's Hartford-based attorneys, Hubert Santos and Hope Seeley, criticized the ruling and vowed to continue fighting for Skakel's freedom.
"We are disappointed that the Connecticut Supreme Court refused to grant a new trial to an innocent man," wrote Skakel's attorneys in a statement. "The jury that convicted Michael Skakel in 2002 simply did not have all the evidence. It is a travesty that the Connecticut courts continue to deny Mr. Skakel's request that the new information be examined and considered by a jury."
"Mr. Skakel's appeals are not over, and we will continue to vigorously pursue both his state and federal habeas corpus actions," the attorneys said.
In a concurring opinion released Monday, two justices wrote that Bryant's statements were "inadmissible hearsay" that would not change Skakel's fate in court.
"None of Bryant's statements that exculpate the petitioner would be admissible, and, therefore, the Bryant evidence could not produce a different result at a new trial," Justice Peter Zarella wrote.
Skakel, a nephew of Ethel Skakel Kennedy, was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison in June 2002 for beating Moxley to death with a golf club on Oct. 30, 1975, when they were 15. Skakel has maintained his innocence.
State Superior Court Judge Edward Karazin denied Skakel's bid for a new trial in 2007 based on the Bryant evidence, ruling it was not credible, sending the case to the state's high court.
Justice Richard Palmer was the sole judge to rule in favor of Skakel on Monday, saying he believed the evidence might have swayed a jury against convicting Skakel. At the March 2009 oral arguments in Hartford, Palmer called the videotape "pretty compelling."
"I reach this conclusion because the evidence that Bryant provided during the course of his lengthy and detailed video-recorded interview satisfies all of the requirements necessary for a new trial," Palmer wrote. "Finally, at the very least, it is likely that this new evidence, when considered in light of the state's thin case against the petitioner, would give rise to a reasonable doubt about whether the petitioner was involved in the victim's murder."
John Moxley, brother of Martha Moxley, said Monday he was "flabbergasted" Palmer sided with Skakel.
Moxley said he was pleased the majority of the court denied the motion for a new trial. "There was no credibility (to Bryant's story), and so I would have been very surprised had they granted the motion," Moxley said.
The justices also said there wasn't enough evidence to support a claim that a book deal affected the outcome. The defense said that the lead investigator in the Moxley case, Frank Garr, and journalist Leonard Levitt entered a book deal during the trial, and that tainted the verdict.
Since his conviction, Skakel has lost numerous bids seeking to overturn his conviction.
In March 2006, Skakel lost an appeal before the state Supreme Court after his lawyers claimed, among other things, that the statute of limitations had expired when he was charged in 2000. That same year, Skakel's lawyer filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court asserting that Skakel's due process rights were violated by the state Supreme Court decision. The U.S. Supreme Court denied Skakel's request to review his case in November 2006.
Skakel still has an appeal pending in federal court. He is incarcerated at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield.