The Unjust "Justice"
Getting the Truth Out
by
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It was a night in late November 1994, when the autumn chill had started penetrating the flesh toward the bones. It was unusually cold for the location of the scene. It was dark, and silence reigned in a house in the city of Venice, in Southern California, except for the harmonious beeping of a video game a young man in his late teens, Henry Carmel, was avidly playing in his room, while slicing fruit on a dish, placed at the side of the video screen, by lazy strokes of a long silver, one-piece kitchen knife he usually kept in his room for that purpose. Suddenly, the silence turned total; no more video game playing; no more beeping. But for Henry there was no silence!! Rather, terribly tormenting sounds were hammering in his brain. He then run out of his room, passed the kitchen, nervously opened a door and grabbed a few wooden sticks from the garage, clumsily carried them to his room and arranged them in front of his body, like a barrier for some sort of shelter. His father, Edmund Carmel, as he noticed the silence, thought that everyone in the house had already gone to bed, walked out of his room and noticed his son’s room door half-open and light-reflecting shadows inside; as he was walking along the dark hall that leads toward the living room and the contiguous kitchen, he peeked into his son’s room and saw him covered with the long sticks.
“Son”, asked Edmund, “why are you covering yourself with those sticks? Is there anything wrong? What’s happening? Are you recreating or imagining some kind of a video game action?”
“Dad”! Answered Henry in a loud, shaky and tenebrous voice, “there are some people out there hitting the front door, violently banging it and trying to knock it down! They are assaulting us, Dad! We must shelter ourselves from those attackers! They intend to take everything of value that we have, and worse, they will hurt us!” Henry added with a clamorous voice.This was the beginning of a life full of torment. From this moment on, in his inner-self, Edmund committed to help his son in the best humanly possible way for the rest of their lives, Henry's and his own. His ordeal was aggravated by abuses on him from a discriminatory and heartless judicial system of a county in California.
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About the Book
In his late teens, Henry Carmel was stricken with schizophrenia—a life-altering mental illness characterized by tormenting voices, impaired judgment, and acute paranoia. In 1996, Henry was attacked by a huge dog. Fearing for his life, he panicked and killed the animal. Despite test results and reports supplied by an unbiased veterinary pathologist, the corrupt county veterinarian contradicted the pathologist and aggravated the incident with a false theory. At the hands of a power-hungry deputy district attorney (DDA), Henry was prosecuted. The jury remained unaware of his illness, so he was sentenced to prison rather than the hospitalization he needed. Expecting acquittal, the defense agreed to the nondisclosure of the illness. As desired by the DDA, Henry was sentenced to serve an exaggerated prison term. When his sentence was complete, his illness was disclosed. He was certified as a mentally disordered offender (MDO) and kept hospitalized year after year. In the years after his trial, Henry’s condition improved; however, at annual hearings the DDA and judges ignored Henry’s successes and extended his confinement each year. This was abusive and unjust. No socially accepted rules of ethics were followed. The Unjust “Justice” is the story of a young man who, because of the social stigma that prevails over individuals plagued with schizophrenia, lost his freedom within an abusive system of injustice.
About the Author
Edward Castle holds a master’s degree from the University of California–Berkeley. He has avidly followed the intricacies of mental health and its conflicting relationship with the judicial system for over fifteen years. He currently resides in Southern California.