Wednesday, October 16, 2002
It will be two years in December that Jackie Colon, 14 at the time, threw 3-month-old Alex Zalovcik out a second-story window and then stabbed him while in lay on the concrete. But there was an inkling of Jackie's state of mind when police arrived at her school to question her. She asked, "Is this about the dead baby?"
Jackie subsequently confessed that she threw the baby out the window because she thought it would be "funny" and then stabbed him to death to stop his crying.
In March 2001, a judge ruled that she is incompetent to stand trial on murder, and mental health officials have concluded that she is incapable of being restored to competency. Yet, today, Jackie is in the Mahoning County juvenile detention center while everyone involved in this sad case, including her lawyer, Don L. Hanni Jr., and juvenile court Judge Theresa Dellick try to figure out what to do.
The problem is that Ohio does not have a facility to house children who are found incompetent after being accused of a serious crime.
Jackie Colon, who is now 16, is in limbo
Mahoning County officials contacted more than 25 facilities around the country in an effort to place Jackie, but to no avail. She spent several months in an Oklahoma residential treatment facility but was returned to the area in April.
Initially, she was supposed to have gone to a treatment center in Indiana, but that state rejected the arrangement. That's how she ended up in Oklahoma. She was brought back to Mahoning County for re-evaluation and a determination of a long-term plan -- and therein lies the problem.
No facilities
Ohio has eliminated the facilities that had the resources to treat children with major mental health problems, which means that Jackie may be readmitted to the Oklahoma facility or some other treatment center outside Ohio.
But as Judge Dellick points out, sending children to facilities where they do not have frequent contact with family members defeats a juvenile justice goal of reunifying minors with their relatives.
"If there's a way to get her closer to home, we'll get her closer to home," the judge says.
It is obvious to us that a couple of things need to be done immediately. First, state government officials, especially mental health experts, need to work with Dellick and others who have been involved in Jackie Colon's case to find a facility in Ohio where she can receive the type of treatment that is necessary.
Second, the state should consider Youngstown Sen. Robert F. Hagan's idea of establishing a multicounty treatment center that would serve children in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Ashtabula counties. We certainly understand that funding is a major hurdle, given state government's financial crisis, but there are times when decision-makers must look beyond the balance sheet and consider the human cost involved in cases like Jackie's.
"We won't pay for what children really need," Dr. Patricia Goetz, a youth psychiatrist who does consulting for the Ohio Department of Mental Health, contends "It's a problem around the country, not just around Ohio."
Ohio must address this problem -- now.