| SDNY Judge Berman Orders
Residential Treatment For Ortiz Who Says He'd
Prefer Jail
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
May 17 – Sammy Ortiz was
sentenced to 72 months in
prison by U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of
New York Judge Richard M.
Berman on November 4, 2014.
Judge Berman
recommended that Ortiz
"receive a mental health
evaluation and treatment while
incarcerated," as well as
participate in a substance
abuse program.
On July 16, 2020
Judge Berman held a telephone
proceeding with Ortiz. Inner
City Press covered it.
Ortiz was and is
in crisis, it seemed.
He wanted to
enroll in a 28 day residential
drug treatment program, but
the program, called
Cornerstone, required that he
be taken three other
mentally-related medicines.
In essence, he
faces remand to jail unless he
takes these medications.
Judge
Berman asked, Do you have your
meds? Ortiz' answers shifted,
from that the meds were lost
in his bag, to that he did not
want to take them.
His
lawyers, who named all three
-- Inner City Press will not
-- said that one in
particular, her client did not
want to take.
She committed to
quarterback the process of
getting Ortiz into Crossroads,
since Judge Berman said he
will be "out of pocket" most
of next week. He told Ortiz,
I'd come there myself if I
could.
Ortiz said, We're
known each other for years and
I thank you.
That
transcript is still not in the
docket, where the most recent
one is from April 21.
On October
21, there was another
telephone conference, with
Ortiz' (and Natalie Edwards')
lawyer Stephanie Carvlin.
Things got heated and another
conference was set.
Now on May 17,
2021, Judge Berman held
another proceeding. Inner City
Press called in and identified
itself. As Ortiz spoke in
opposition to be forced into a
residential treatment program,
an admonition was given not to
report on health, particularly
mental health, issues.
Inner City
Press generally agrees - but
usually the request for
confidentiality is by the
defendant. In this case,
without here revealing more,
Ortiz repeatedly said he would
prefer to simple serve and
finish prison time rather than
be in this ongoing "court"
supervision. It is his right
that is at issue here, even as
Judge Berman assured that he
is not about punishing Ortiz.
This is
one reason Inner City Press
would err on the side of
transparency rather than
opacity or artibrary air-brushing
of what is being done in the
criminal justice system.
Said
otherwise, if a defendant is
detained or ordered into a
location in the name of mental
or other health, the issue of
not reporting it is different.
Inner City Press will continue
to follow and report on this
case.
The case is US v.
Ortiz, 13-cr-687 (Berman)
***
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