Thursday, August 27, 2009

"I feel like I'm in jail"

A court is keeping Isabelle Jessich in a nursing home even though a doctor says she's sane, sober and fit to leave. Is this how guardianship laws should work?

Last summer, incapacitated by malnutrition and a prolonged bout of heavy drinking, Isabelle Jessich was removed from the filthy bed in her Edina home and taken to a nearby hospital. A month later, with no improvement in her mental condition, the state courts took over Jessich's life, making all decisions on where she would live and how she would get better.

These days, Jessich bears little resemblance to the disheveled woman who refused to leave her bed. She lives in a nursing home, where she is able to eat, dress herself and use the bathroom without assistance. Though she still uses a wheelchair because of persistent dizziness, she exercises each day on a recumbent stepper machine. She has been sober and well fed for a year. In May, her neurologist pronounced her healthy enough to move back home.

Yet three months later, Jessich remains at the Robbinsdale nursing home, her future in the hands of a court-appointed professional guardian. Jessich, 56, has discovered a painful fact about the Minnesota guardianship system: It's set up for permanent oversight of people no longer able to make decisions for themselves. In fact, the more Jessich tries to take control of her life, the harder the system has fought to keep her a ward of the state.

"I'm not saying I didn't make mistakes," Jessich says. "Is that a crime? What the heck am I doing here?"

Jessich's deepest concern is not for herself, but for her teenage daughter, Allison. Since Jessich went into institutional care last year, her 16-year-old daughter has mostly fended for herself, depending on friends, relatives and neighbors for a place to sleep and something to eat. Her mother has come so far since last year, Allison says, that she is ready to be a parent again.

"Just let my mom come home," Allison says. "If she could prove to them there's a reason she has to be locked up like she is, then let her prove it."

Full Article and Source:
I feel like I'm in jail

12 comments:

wisernow said...

Present day Guardianship system in almost all cases ends up being a life sentence with no chance for early out for good behavior, no chance for release under parole or probation with or without supervision for people who are innocent of crimes.

For people who were not charged or prosecuted or found guilty or plead guilty in the criminal justice system for criminal activities, incarceration in a nursing home or other institution for life is their sentence with no chance for due process including the right to retain a lawyer or chance for appealing the decision, while the guardian / conservator seizes all property, assets and income of their ward.

How did this happen and why?

How is it that the guardianship system evolved into a very profitable racket with no one questioning the ultimate powers, just like that this system is being abused and misused under color of law into the harshest punishment process of taking away all rights of an innocent US citizen which ends in til death does the ward and his/her guardian part?

Thank you for educating society. Thank you for another current example of a system being used abused and misused with court approval.

Anonymous said...

I am glad Jessich is doing better and has her life back -- now if she can get control of her life???

Anonymous said...

Folks listen up before its too late ~ are you paying close attention to these true accounts of guardianship case files one of the biggest threats to us hanging over our heads and wallets and when it's a done deal you're declared a ward the system works in the best interest of the guardian, leaving the ward with no voice, no rights, no property and no assets.

we the people said...

Isabelle Jessich is in jail whats the difference with only the name of the lock up facility without cell bars surrounding her living quarters?

She is better now but she is not allowed to speak to persons without approval of her guardian, she cannot just walk out and be free can she?

If not, she is being forced to reside in a lock up place that she doesn't want to be living and sleeping and eating and hoping.

Anonymous said...

You're right, wisernow, an emergency could result in a lifetime of servitude...

Anonymous said...

This article is so well written and it walks right through guardian abuse as if reading a script.

I am so very sorry for what Isabelle Jessich is going through.

Mike said...

Boy, aint that the truth?!

Guardianship is like jail.

Anonymous said...

Two victims here: Mother and Daughter.

Let her go, judge, let her go.

Anonymous said...

My heart aches for this family.

Once again, the cold, hard system intervenes and then won't let go.

I hope all of those who are responsible for holding Isabelle Jessich hostage are held accountable.

Anonymous said...

Once they've got you, that's it.

Anonymous said...

This is plain ol' NUTS. I would just walk outa there and go home.

Diane said...

That is really f'd up. excuse my abbreviated language. They let murders and rapist free. This woman has suffred enough, her daughter has suffered enough.

Let her go home NOW.