Court denies Mathewson Street Church the ability to help one of their own
“The hearing today is [to determine] whether or not [Noel] shall be forced to take a list of 21 specific medications, 10 of which are psychotropic, to try to make him competent."
“You can't come in. You can't come in,” said the private security guard from inside the Adolph Meyers building in Cranston, part of Eleanor Slater Hospital. “No, you can't come in. I'm sorry. Please, please step back out. Can you please step out?”
“We have letters,” said United Methodist Minister Duane Clinker in Providence.
“Okay, but you have to step out,” said the security guard. “You can't just walk in the building. Sorry.”
“We cannot attend the hearing?” asked Kevin Simon, Director of Mathewson Street UMC and Ministry Team.
“No.”
“Will somebody come out and talk to us?” asked Reverend Clinker.
“Yes,” said the security guard.
The person Eleanor Slater sent to talk to the people outside was a very polite Cranston Police Officer.
Around a dozen people had gathered outside the building in support of Noel Dandy, an employee at Mathewson Street Church who is facing court warrants stemming from missed communications over court dates.
“The hearing today is [to determine] whether or not [Noel] shall be forced to take a list of 21 specific medications, 10 of which are psychotropic, to try to make him competent,” said Reverend Clinker to the small group of Mathewson Street members, allies and members of the Rhode Island Poor People’s Campaign gathered outside.
“Brother Noel, in our eyes, is being treated unfairly and unjustly and being denied what we all think are basic human rights,” said Director Simon. “For those of you who know Noel, he's nothing but kind and compassionate to everyone he crosses paths with. In his time at Mathewson Street, over the last year, he has helped many people who are in varying states of crisis take positive steps forward.
“We are here today because this hearing revolves around his competency and whether he can stand in a courtroom to represent himself, to clear up some lingering legal issues,” continued Director Simon. “All of us know, who have talked with him, that he's fully competent, very strong-minded. So we are glad that you were here today to support Brother Noel. and hopefully, we can get this issue cleared up and get him back to being a member of Mathewson Street Church, continuing to contribute, in a positive way, to our society.”
State Representative Cherie Cruz was there as an ally to Mathewson Street Church, which has served unhoused members of the community in downtown Providence for decades, offering free breakfast every Sunday morning. Noel Dandy was a constant, calming presence at the church, until his arrest and detention. Representative Cruz was not allowed to attend the hearing, which is closed to the public as part of HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a federal law requiring that sensitive patient health information not be publicly disclosed without the patient's consent or knowledge.
Ironically, a law designed to protect the privacy of Noel is making it very difficult for the people who care about him to understand the process he is going through, and perhaps help him. Noel had reached out to Mathewson Street Church and the Poor People’s campaign to be at the hearing. He expressed to both groups his desire for the public to be present for the hearing.
“I think that human rights mean you have a right to a defense and you have a right to a public hearing and you have a right to enter evidence,” said Reverend Clinker, who read from the Rhode Island General Laws (40.1-5.3-3) about the right to a public hearing to determine competency. “Are there other Noels in there? We don't know. Has this happened before? Is this one special incident? Might be, but...?”
“The scary piece for me is, I've seen it firsthand with family members,” said Director Simon. “There are so many instances where people get misdiagnosed with mental health conditions. So Noel could be one of those people. And the effects of those medications for people who don't need them, and aren't prescribed the right ones, can have very lasting effects on a person's well-being. So, doing some research on statistics, not only within the criminal justice system but mental health in general, there's a percentage that's pretty alarming of people getting misdiagnosed [in terms of their] mental health.”
In the video, you can see Sister of Mercy Mary Pendergast approach Noel as he was brought to the Adolph Meyers building, in chains, for a hearing to determine his competency to stand trial. He acknowledged her and his supporters.
“The biggest thing is, you can't be videotaping,” said the Cranston Police Officer to those assembled to support Noel. “Because there are patients in here, [and] it's against HIPAA for you to video them. That could end up on the internet, a violation of privacy. Also, they're asking if you could stand on the sidewalk because also we have people coming out and again and we don't want these patients being bombarded by people.”
[Note: I didn’t video any patients entering or leaving the building except for Noel Dandy during his brief interaction with Sister Pendergast.]
Noel’s hearing did not happen. It was pushed to next week sometime.
“The information that we just got from the security guard is that Noel's case has now been pushed until next week,” said Director Simon to the people gathered outside. “We don't have a day yet, but that's the information that we got from her. She did ask that if we do come back next week, we move to the sidewalk and peacefully hold our support on the sidewalk and not in front of the building."
“That was all the information we got from her, but we'll find out when the next hearing is and go from there. Thank you all for being here today for showing support for our brother Noel. He's an important member of our community and he felt the love. We could see it.”
The small show of support ended with a prayer led by Reverend Clinker:
“Sometimes we refer to you the mystery as the Mystery. Sometimes we refer to you as God. Many of us talk to you as Jesus. Guide us. Guide us with the same kind of presence in all of us. Remind us that we stand on firm ground when we stand on the ground of justice. And give us the perseverance, the humor, the insight, the tongues to speak and to not speak, feet to walk in awe as we go forward. Keep us mindful of the thousand insufferable ways that the poor are ground down every single day. And help us, in the face of that, to find sparks of resistance and hope and breath.”
