Voters dumped Jackie Portman-Brown after
video showed her locking up her 6-year-old grandniece to teach her a
lesson. “Would I do this again?” Portman-Brown says. “Probably not. But
her behavior has been improved since this incident.”
By Maya Dukmasova | Injustice Watch
Then-Cook County Judge Jackie Portman-Brown as seen on a Cook County sheriff’s security video locking up her 6-year-old grandniece in 2020 as a tough-love lesson. Cook County sheriff’s office
For the first time in Illinois, a judge who was voted out of office is running to get back on the bench.
In 2020, Jackie Portman-Brown became only the second sitting judge in 30 years to lose a retention election in Cook County.
Her
dozen years on the bench ended after she was reassigned to
administrative duties following an incident involving her 6-year-old
grandniece in February 2020. Security camera footage
showed her leaving the young girl for about 10 minutes in an empty,
locked cell behind her courtroom at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse.
Months later, despite having the support of the Cook County Democratic Party, the county’s voters booted her from office.
Now,
Portman-Brown is running in the June 28 Democratic primary for a
vacancy on the bench from the fifth judicial subcircuit on the South
Side.
Albert Klumpp, a researcher on judicial elections, says Portman-Brown is
the first judge in Illinois to lose a retention election and then run
again for a judicial seat.
In an interview, Portman-Brown says a “private family moment” was taken out of context and sensationalized.
Her
grandniece had been having behavior problems in school, according to
Portman-Brown, who says the girl’s father, her nephew, had had a similar
“scared-straight” experience as a child. She says the girl’s mother
came to ask her for the favor after her court call had ended, wanting
her daughter “to know what happens to people who break the rules,”
saying, “If she keeps fighting in school and stealing people’s stuff,
this is what will happen to her.”
“Would I do this again?” Portman-Brown says. “Probably not. But her behavior has been improved since this incident.”
Portman-Brown previously had drawn criticism for her informal, brash style in the courtroom and her handling of an intensive-probation program called the HOPE Court
that the state shut down in 2018. Independent reviews found the program
rife with problems, some stemming from Portman-Brown’s leadership.
She says the evaluations didn’t present a full picture of a program that most participants completed successfully.
But it largely was the incident with her grandniece that haunted
Portman-Brown ahead of the 2020 judicial retention election. The
Illinois State Bar Association and six other lawyers’ groups found her
not qualified to continue as a judge that year. Two others — the Chicago
Bar Association and Chicago Council of Lawyers — still recommended that
voters keep her in office.
Portman-Brown narrowly missed the 60% threshold needed to win another six-year countywide term, getting 59.32% “yes” votes.
She blames the controversy for losing the judicial seat.
Portman-Brown
says she decided to run again, even after failing last year to win an
appointment as an associate judge, after analyzing the election results
and seeing that voters in her home subcircuit — in which she got “yes”
votes for retention from more than 68% of those who voted in the race.
The subcircuit covers a wide swath of the South Side — from Bridgeport
to South Shore, West Englewood to Lake Michigan — and includes nearly
240,000 people.
This time, eight of the 13 bar associations that evaluated her
found her not qualified or not recommended, including the Chicago Bar
Association, which reversed its favorable rating from two years ago.
She faces three others in seeking the judge’s seat:
Timothy Wright III, a lawyer who once worked
for former Mayors Harold Washington and Eugene Sawyer, represented
Roland Burris amid the controversy that followed his appointment by
then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich to fill the Senate vacancy left by Barack
Obama’s election as president and has been the biggest fund-raiser in
the race.
Judie Lyn Smith, an assistant Cook County public defender assigned to the courthouse in Markham.
And Tiffany Brooks, a lawyer with the Cook County circuit court clerk’s office who has been found not qualified or not recommended by five of the nine bar associations that evaluated her qualifications.
Our good friends at AASGAA (Australian Association to Stop Guardian and Admin Abuse) have worked so hard to expose the atrocities suffered by elderly and/or disabled Australians under the control of the Public Trustee -- and their hard work has paid off in a big way!
Awareness drives reform! This is an amazing report with shockwaves which will be felt for a long, long time.
A music video highlighting the mind crippling disease dementia. An estimated 50 million people worldwide have been diagnosed and this number is expected to double in the next 20 yrs. Dementia does more than just ruin the minds of those diagnosed but also devastates the lives of caregivers and entire families as well.
The elderly nursing home resident who was shown being beaten in his room
in a video that went viral two months ago has died, his family
confirmed this week.
In late May, horrifying footage
of a young person beating a helpless elderly person began circulation
online, and the disturbing nature of the video sparked widespread outcry
and an investigation. It even grabbed the attention of President Donald
Trump, who tweeted, "Is this even possible to believe? Can this be for
real? Where is this nursing home, how is the victim doing?"
The
victim was identified as 75-year-old Norman Bledsoe, a resident at the
Westwood Rehabilitation Nursing Center in Detroit. Shortly after video
of the attack went viral, Bledsoe's roommate at the facility,
20-year-old Jaden Hayden, was arrested in connection with the beating.
Authorities said at the time that Bledsoe was hospitalized for "non-life-threatening" injuries. The Detroit News reported that those injuries included "four broken fingers, broken ribs, and a broken jaw." Bledsoe died Monday morning.
The victim's nephew, Kevin Bledsoe, told the outlet of his uncle,
"His eating habits went downhill after (the alleged assault on May 15),
and he lost quite a bit of weight."
Kevin Bledsoe noted that the
family had been prohibiting from visiting Norman Bledsoe at the nursing
home following his release from the hospital, due to COVID-19
restrictions.
"We finally were able to see him last week," Kevin
said. "He wasn't doing very good. I guess there just wasn't anything
else they could do for him."
The Bledsoe family is reportedly moving forward with a lawsuit against Westwood.
Anything else?
Hayden
is accused of not only recording himself beating up Bledsoe, but
posting the footage online and stealing the elderly man's credit card
following the attack. The accused reportedly has mental issues, and is
due in court Thursday to determine whether he's mentally fit to stand
trial.
WJBK-TV
pointed out that the 20-year-old was placed in the long-term care
facility after being diagnosed with COVID-19 due to Michigan Gov.
Gretchen Whitmer's (D) controversial policy of sending coronavirus
patients "to nursing homes as a way to isolate them from the rest of the
state to avoid spreading the virus further."
Detroit — Police made an arrest
Thursday after a video circulating on social media appeared to show a
man punching elderly victims lying in bed.
Police
said in a statement that they are holding a 20-year-old man in
connection to the assault and battery of an elderly male at a nursing
home on Detroit’s west side.
A screenshot from a video that went viral showing a suspect abusing an
elderly man. Detroit Police acknowledged that the sharing of the video
helped them track down and arrest the suspect. (Photo: Twitter)
Detroit Police Chief James Craig said the department
is investigating the incident that allegedly occurred at Westwood
Nursing Center on the city's northwest side.
"The
nursing home was unaware of the assault until they saw the video," Craig
said during a press conference Thursday. "We are still investigating
that aspect of the case, but we do have a suspect in custody."
A
video had been posted on social media and shared several times by
concerned citizens of an incident that allegedly occurred on May 15.
Police said both the 75-year-old male victim and the suspect are
patients at the nursing home located in the 16500 block of Schaefer.
The victim was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for his non-life threatening injuries, police said.
The
suspect was taken into custody at the nursing home and transported to
the Detroit Detention Center (DDC) without incident. Detroit Police is
still investigating. Ann Arbor Police Department and the Washtenaw
County Sheriffs Office helped in the case.
At the 50.34 minute mark of this video (click the link below), NASGA member Mike Jacobs stands before a crowd who has gathered to support candidate Delegate Mark Levine.
Mike hasn’t seen his love, Jane, for two long years – ever since she was placed in a guardianship. Jane’s guardian does not allow him to visit or communicate with her, even though it is clear Jane misses him and wants to see him. She has sneaked in phone calls to Mike when she can and begs him to come and see her.
Her health is fragile and Mike fears he’ll never see her again. His testimony is emotional and raw. THIS is the hurt, worry, and devastation people feel who have wrongfully been shut out of their loved one's life. As bad as Mike feels, we know Jane feels even worse because she doesn’t understand why Mike isn’t with her and comforting her now when she needs it most.
Wrongful isolation by court-appointed guardians is the number one complaint of our members and it’s why we work so hard to combat it.
Compilation of sound interviews with some of the oldest people living in the United States in 1929. Footage is from the early Movietone sound cameras. Condensed/worked on footage.
Three
assisted living center employees were arrested by Georgia police after
the trio appeared in a profanity-laden Snapchat video surrounding a
dying elderly woman.
The Jefferson Police Department told the Athens Banner-Herald
the three women made the June 13 Snapchat video inside the Bentley
Senior Living center in Jefferson, Georgia. The employees were in the
hospice care room of a 76-year-old resident and were waiting on a
hospice nurse. The employees were seen smoking a vape pen and yelling
curse words at the camera as the septuagenarian woman laid dying from a
recent stroke in the background. The Snapchat video they posted online
was labeled “The End.”
Three assisted living center employees were arrested by Georgia police
after the trio appeared in a profanity-laden Snapchat video entitled,
"The End," while standing over a dying elderly woman. Jefferson Police Department
Jefferson
Police charged Jorden Lanah Bruce, 21, of Jefferson; Mya Janai Moss,
21, of Colbert; and Lizeth Jocelyn Cervantes Ramirez, 19, for exploiting
an elderly and disabled person. A police spokesman told WSB-TV
the elderly resident seen in the video “had a stroke and [the three
employees] were waiting on a hospice nurse.” Bruce, Moss and Ramirez
were supposed to be monitoring and caring for the critically ill woman
but instead, “one of them was smoking a vape pen, they were using
profanities and making obscene hand gestures at the camera,” police
alleged.
“It was going to be an extensive time before the hospice nurse could
be there, so these three employees were supposed to closely monitor the
patient,” a Jefferson police spokesman told the Banner-Herald. “They were completely ignoring her and posting the Snapchat video” with the caption “The End.”
Days
after the June 13 video recording was made, another employee at the
senior living facility discovered and reported the lewd Snap story. All
three women were arrested on June 22 and were employed at the facility
at the time of their arrest. Administrators did not immediately return Newsweek’s calls for comment on the incident Monday.
The
pair of 21-year-old employees, Bruce and Moss, were released from
custody after posting bond. But 19-year-old Ramirez is still being held
by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, the Banner-Herald
reported. The Georgia Department of Behavior Health and Developmental
Disabilities offers a service for family members or people concerned to
report potential abuse of at-risk elderly patients.
Georgia’s legal code defines
separates elderly exploitation into both felony and misdemeanor crimes.
The charge is defined as anyone “who knowingly and willfully exploits a
disabled adult, elder person, or resident, willfully inflicts physical
pain, physical injury, sexual abuse, mental anguish, or unreasonable
confinement upon a disabled adult, elder person, or resident, or
willfully deprives of essential services a disabled adult, elder person,
or resident.”
John Oliver exposed the troubling flaws of the guardianship system on Sunday's Last Week Tonight,
detailing how court-appointed individuals often abuse their power while
assisting people with mental or physical disabilities, particularly the
elderly, who can't make responsible decisions about their health or
finances.
The comedian opened the exhaustive segment with some startling
statistics. There are currently 49.2 million Americans aged 65 or older,
and that figure is expected to surge in what some experts have dubbed
the "Silver Tsunami." As ages rise, so does the need for guardianship,
and 1.3 million people currently require such services.
Guardians
wield major power over the people under their care, or "wards" – since
they're making important decisions about health and finances, they have
access to people's bank accounts and health records.
"Guardians
can bill for each individual service they provide, from leaving voice
messages to opening the mail. And they can take payment directly out of
their ward's estate," Oliver said, exploring how the system often leads
to absurd charges that can cripple a person's finances. In one egregious
example, a guardian charged a woman for Phoenix Suns basketball
tickets, tacking on $228 for determining the game's "effect on [her]
mood." Another billed for 100 hours of services in a single day – a
mathematic impossibility that Oliver anchored home with a science joke.
"One
hundred hours a day is not physically possible, unless she was working
on the planet Mercury, where, as we all know, each day lasts 1,407 Earth
hours," he said. "I'll be honest: That's a joke designed specifically
for Neil deGrasse Tyson, so I do hope you enjoyed it, Dr. Tyson, because
absolutely nobody else did."
Dr. Tyson, in a pre-recorded
response, interjected to question the definition of a "day" on Mercury,
irritating Oliver. "Shut up, Neil! Shut up! Why do you have to ruin
everything?" the host fumed, later throwing in a half-reference to Samantha Bee's Full Frontal "feckless cunt" controversy. "Just enjoy something for once in your fucking life! What is wrong with you, you feckless – oh, nevermind. It's not worth it."
Oliver
clarified that guardianship is the responsibility of state and local
courts, "meaning in most places everything about it – from who becomes
one to who they oversee to what they can charge is up to local charges,
who may be elected and may have no legal training." In Texas, for
example, county judges handle guardianship decisions, and only 29 of
them are lawyers. Equally shocking, only 12 states require professional
guardians to be certified at all.
With the "Silver Tsunami"
approaching, Oliver said, it's crucial to outline with your family how
your care and finances should be handled in such a scenario. To iron
home that point, Last Week Tonight recruited a group of famous
seniors – William Shatner, Cloris Leachman, Lily Tomlin, Fred Willard
and Rita Moreno – to offer some pointers about aging, or not. "You may
not age at all," they said. "You may die tonight, young, by getting hit
by lightning or eating too many Tide pods or getting killed by a hippo.
That's actually a lot more likely than you think."
The
celebrities recommended selecting someone to serve as a health care
representative and "durable power-of-attorney" should the need arise.
Their suggestion? National treasure Tom Hanks.
NASGA is re-posting the first in a series of films about people with disabilities needlessly locked away in institutions in the US. It's happening across the country and we appreciate dedicated filmmakers who are bringing this national disgrace to the public's eye.
Jody Santos is an award-winning journalist, author, and documentary filmmaker. She has reported for television, print news, and public radio for the last 20 years, and has been producing and directing documentaries for PBS and cable networks like Discovery Health and the Hallmark Channel since 2000. She has traveled to more than a dozen countries across five continents, documenting everything from the trafficking of girls in Nepal to sustainable agriculture efforts in Honduras.
Regardless of the medium, her goal has remained the same: to shed light on the social injustices of the day. Her reports often focus on the issue of violence against women and children and ways to prevent violence in our communities. As a special projects producer for Boston’s NBC news affiliate, she was nominated for an Emmy for a special report on an effort to rid the city’s streets of black market guns. Her documentary, No One Left Behind, just won a Telly Award in Film/Video in the social responsibility category. It was selected from over 12,000 entries from all 50 states and five continents.
Over the years, Santos has appeared on National Public Radio, Unsolved Mysteries and other news outlets to defend her writings and weigh in on important current events. She teaches broadcast journalism and documentary film at Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts. Her book, Daring to Feel: Violence, the News Media, and Their Emotions, was released by Rowman & Littlefield in December 2009.
At 86-years-old, Ed Moseley picked up a meaningful hobby: knitting.
The retired engineer learned his new skill after a nearby hospital in Atlanta reached out to his assisted living home asking people to knit hats for premature babies. Moseley accepted the challenge, picked up a pair of needles and eventually made 55 of the 300 hats his team donated. He says there is a constant need for the tiny hats and, along with his care manager Lisa, plans to keep make about 30 every month.
Meet 87-year-old Lillie. Since 2012, she has been caught in the Florida Elder Guardianship web and is being robbed and silenced by an estranged granddaughter and the legal system set up to protect her.
Her New York-based niece went to Florida to film her aunt and uncovered a web of systemic corruption. The Florida Elder Guardianship process is so vicious that it has been called “Liquidate, Isolate, Medicate.” The victims are seniors. The partners in crime are financial predators and agents of the system–judges, attorneys, professional guardians, medical experts, and others waiting for the fire sale.
Now, they are pressing to take away Aunt Lillie's last two remaining rights: the right to vote and the right to choose with whom to socialize–in essence, shutting out her family.
Since the court is trying to silence her, meet Aunt Lillie in her own voice. Does she seem mentally frail and incapable of making decisions? Does she deserve to be treated like a human trafficking victim and open piggy bank? This could happen to you. Watch the video and weigh in.
Go to www.elderdignity.org to learn how to #FREELILLIE from this corrupt yet legal system.
Freedom Partners Action Fund today announced a new TV and digital ad campaign backed by $1.2 million in Nevada illustrating how Catherine Cortez Masto let down Nevada seniors by failing to hold a state government program accountable.
Guadalupe Olvera was a veteran of World War II. Olvera was also thrust into Nevada’s guardianship program, which the Las Vegas Review-Journal later described as “ripe for abuse.”
When his wife passed away in 2009, Olvera wanted to move to California. His daughter, who lived in California, wanted him to move there, too. So Olvera was assigned a temporary guardian until conservatorship could be transferred to California. However, his guardian soon after petitioned the court to make it permanent, and, just three months after his temporary Nevada guardian was assigned to him, Olvera’s trust was charged tens of thousands of dollars.
Growing worried, Olvera’s daughter filed a lawsuit to remove her father’s guardian—but the guardianship commissioner said no. Olvera finally escaped to California, but his guardian led an expensive court fight to maintain his control. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were billed to Olvera’s own estate, which his guardian still controlled.
I was up again at 4 a.m. the other night, one of five nocturnal ramblings in the early morning, the new me. No sleep. Picking my way in the dark, familiar territory of a home on Cape Cod where I have lived with my family for 34 years.
I fumbled into the bathroom as I felt the numbness creep up the back of my neck like a penetrating fog, slowly inching to the front of my mind. It was as if a light in my brain had been shut off. I was overcome by the darkness of not knowing where I was and who I was. So I reached for my cellphone that substitutes as a flashlight, and called the house. My wife, deep asleep in our bed just 20 feet away, rose like Lazarus from the grave to grab the phone in angst, fearing a car crash with one of the kids or the death of an extended family member.
