Tyler Deserves Compassion, Not Jail

Tyler's story is truly heartbreaking. My brother was diagnosed as schizophrenic when he was about 25. Before then, we grew up very poor and neglected. I had friends that helped me get through my teenage years. My brother was not so fortunate. He has always been the outcast or the easy target for people to bully or judge for things he cannot control, like his mental health.

Right now, my brother is in the Humphreys County Jail, where he has been held for going on three years now for a simple trespassing charge, which he got when he was unmedicated, homeless, and confused. He was seeking shelter at one of our old homes in his old bedroom. They refuse to let him stand trial but also refuse to get him the mental health help he needs. He has been thrown in a single cell with little to no human contact, unmedicated for the first year, and denied visitation because of his “behavior.” Another inmate had to contact the health department and report how my brother was being treated and his living conditions. The conditions were reported to be inhumane and “worse than the kennels at the animal shelter.” The jail was fined, and Tyler had been moved to a cell. Since then, he has been abused and many nights has slept on the wet floor due to overpopulation and multiple leaks in the facility. His medicine has been changed multiple times unnecessarily because they refuse to listen to me about what medication he actually needs. They still refuse to let him stand trial, and they refuse to release him on time served. Their plan right now is to hold him. That’s it; that’s the plan. His civil rights have been violated in so many ways I have lost count. He has never even stepped in front of the judge. They continue his case every month on the third Wednesday of every month. Never changes.

I have found him placement for when he can be released at a mental health facility that he has been to before and did very well at. He can’t go to this facility until he has health insurance. He cannot get health insurance while in jail. And obviously, Humphreys County has no intentions of doing the right thing and releasing him. Therefore, I have to become his legal guardian, bond him out so I can get his insurance and take care of him. I can only do so with a lawyer because the judges in this town, who could easily just grant it to me because they know the situation very well, refuse to do so. I have a family of my own, and I feel like I have been saving forever just to get nowhere. Every day I dwell on what I could do differently to help my brother, but at this point, I feel hopeless and helpless. I never reach out and ask for help, but I have seen people come together and help people more capable with more than what I need and figured what can it hurt.

For the people that knew my brother before this awful disease took his mind over, know he is a good person and deserves so much more than what he has been given. He is a loving, caring man who has had his twenties robbed from him by the justice system. Tennessee has very little resources for people with mental health issues, and Humphreys County has even fewer. I’m just hoping people will read my story and hear my plea. My brother needs help!!! I need help! This is truly tearing me apart. It’s been long enough, and he has suffered enough. Please, if y’all could put yourselves in our position and feel the heartbreak we have felt for most of our lives and help out, I would be forever grateful, and I know my brother will be too. If I could get him out and in the facility, as his guardian, he will not be able to leave unless it’s with me. I will get his insurance, social security, disability, and I will always look for ways to improve his quality of life. He will be cared for and loved, not thrown in a hole to rot like he is right now. So again, I’m asking for any help anyone can provide. Thank you guys so much, and GOD BLESS EVERY SINGLE PERSON STRUGGLING WITH MENTAL HEALTH AND BEING TREATED LIKE YOU ARE LESS THAN! You are important and deserve more than what this world has to offer. I’ll never give up on my brother, and I hope everyone going through similar things never gives up either! $hannakate12 is my cash app . Hannakate12 is my Venmo.

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I bank at regions in Waverly TN.