The order reverses a ruling from Missoula's 4th Judicial District Court that kept the records under wraps, citing the individual's right to privacy.
However, upon investigating the man's death, a statewide advocacy program discovered he died during an illegal and involuntary court-ordered commitment to the Montana Developmental Center in Boulder.
But in 2003, two separate evaluations determined the man was no longer an imminent threat to himself or others and recommended him for community placement. Despite these recommendations, T.L.S. was recommitted to the Montana Developmental Center in Boulder, where he died several months later.
Deputy Missoula County Attorney Leslie Halligan blamed the mistake on a “clerical error.” According to Halligan, the error was committed by the District Court when it signed the “wrong order,” recommitting the man even though the Residential Facility Screening Team recommended the opposite.
According to Margaret Borg, formerly Missoula County's chief public defender, she did not object to the court's order because she believed the man had to be recommitted in order to receive any services at all.
“From these explanations, two distinct rationales emerge to explain how and why T.L.S. was involuntarily committed contrary to state law. The first explanation is that it occurred by design. The second explanation is that it occurred entirely by mistake. Both explanations demonstrate the importance of public disclosure of this involuntary commitment,” wrote Beth Brenneman, an attorney for the Montana Advocacy Program who argued the case this summer.
The Montana Advocacy Program is a private, nonprofit civil rights organization that protects and advocates for the rights of Montanans with disabilities. The program's objective in this case was to expose to public scrutiny “a flawed commitment proceeding so that similar errors can be avoided in the future,” Brenneman said.
“The District Court and T.L.S.'s own attorney admit that they ignored state law, ostensibly for T.L.S.'s own good,” wrote Brenneman. “These revelations are the essence of what must be revealed to the public. They demonstrate that the system has so confounded a district court and defense attorney so as to lead them to believe that the only way to ‘help' a person with a developmental disability in this circumstance is to violate his most fundamental rights.”
Brenneman said involuntary commitment for people with mental illness is common in Montana, and courts typically seal the records of mentally ill people who exhibit criminal behavior to protect their privacy rights.
But the Americans with Disabilities Act requires that state government's work to re-integrate people with mental illness in the community through smaller, homelike settings.
“Unfortunately, Montana has yet to reach a place where everybody who could be served in a community setting are actually served in a community setting,” Brenneman said. “Honestly, I think it's revealing of how confusing the system is. We don't know which of these explanations to believe, but obviously they're contradictory. Everyone said they recommitted this person for a different reason. People with good faith feel they have to violate statutes in order to place people with developmental disabilities.”
Reporter Tristan Scott can be reached at 523-5264 or at tscott@missoulian.com
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