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Tom Davis
Columnist, The Record
Metuchen, N.J., USA


TOPIC: Follow the progress of a New Jersey program designed to divert people from the prison system and find alternative help for people with mental illnesses

Projects:

Mental Services: A Model
When Robert Correll's son was diagnosed with schizophrenia, he promised to fight to find treatment for him.

A Crime, Penalty, and Illness
His crime was stalking Lauren Bush, the president's niece. His problem is that he suffers from bipolar disorder.

Codey's Carteris Beckoning
As acting governor, Richard Codey changed the long-held belief that only crazy people care about mental health.

Hidden Wounds of the War
When Christian Lopez began his second tour of duty in Iraq, he was 'psyched.' Then came the dreams. In them, the Marine watched friends die. He dreamed that an IED blew off his leg. Eventually, he became too scared to sleep.

Success, setbacks in jail diversion
Barely 10 months ago, Ron Trocheleft the Bergen County Jail a reformed man. He'd never had a steady job before. He always spent whatevermoney he had on heroin.

Mentally Ill get Prison, not Couch
Violet Popadich doesn't look at newspapers anymore - not after what they said about her son. The "Midtown Madman," as the tabloids called him, killed a woman in Elmwood Park, then drove to Manhattan and plowed his car into crowds of pedestrians. One victim later died.

Helpful Messages, No Jargon
Ira Minot likes this headline for his life story: "From the Depths of Despair to a Mission of Advocacy."

You may remember A Time to Kill, a 1996 movie from a John Grisham novel about a lawyer who took on a racist town. He defended a black man accused of murdering two white men after they raped his young daughter.

Some say the Senate financial bailout bill is loaded with pork. But that may be the first time anybody's ever implied that ensuring "mental health parity" is pork.