Habitual Offender to get Mental Health Treatment

 Posted on August 02, 2013 in Criminal Defense

The Chicago Sun Times recently published a story about a woman who has been arrested 396 times since 1978. She is now being housed in the Logan Correctional Center from which she is to be released in November of this year.

If the Chairman of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board has anything to say about it, Shermain Miles will be admitted to a mental health and substance abuse program as soon as she completes her sentence with the Illinois Department of Corrections. Her current counselor states that she has been “very cooperative and informed” while receiving care for her mental health issues while she has been in Logan.

While she has applied to several different programs and considered different options for her releases, the one that was rejected was for her to be paroled to the ward where she assaulted a council member. Most of her arrests have been for thefts, 92 in fact. She was arrested 65 different times for disorderly conduct, 59 times for crimes such as prostitution, and another 5 times for robbery related offenses. She has also been arrested under at least 83 different known identities.

Alderman James Cappleman was quoted as saying that Ms. Miles is a telling case that shows exactly what is wrong with Illinois’ prison system. There are an overwhelming amount of people that are in the prison system who need mental health treatment as well as substance abuse and addiction treatment. He also stated that it is time to stop the revolving door system that is currently in place and get offenders that help that they need to become better citizens.

Whether you are a first time offender or a repeat offender like the above story, an Illinois criminal defense attorney can present the best possible defense in your criminal case.