This article submitted by Connecticut corrections officer Jessy in a State Justice Mental Health Unit;
I have come to know the troubled lives many of my charges have lived on their path to this institution. Acanto was a gentle inmate. He was shy and could only communicate with other inmates by playing cards. He could be joyful when he won. Acanto regularly spent days depressed in solitary on suicide watch dressed only in a turtle suit, also known as a Ferguson gown.
Repeated self-harm and hospital trips for healing were his normal behavior when he was depressed. He would cut himself and stuff objects into the wound – a paper clip, staple or anything he could find. This poor boy was a product of rape and incest.
His mother was raped by her father when she was 13. She abandoned her son to State Care at birth. Acanto never experienced love or the warmth of a family. Acanto shared with me that the only love or tenderness he ever felt was nurses caring for his wounds.
His most triggering time of year comes around the holiday season, and his birthday.
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