Trial and terror

New York: Vantage Press, 1979. Hardcover. 255 p. hardcover, very good. Said to be a true story, describes "Bernie's" son "Phil" as waking up in a mental hospital, told that he had shot his two daughters and attempted suicide, without any memories of these events. "In writing this book, it is my purpose to point at some of the deficiencies in our police and judicial systems with the hope that they can be improved so that freedom, equality and justice, which our political orators mouth so easily, can become a reality to all Americans. So as not to embarrass anyone, but rather to improve the system, I have changed the names of all people involved in this true story of human tragedy and suffering. Furthermore, I also want to point out that rather than hospitals of rehabilitation, our mental institutions have become self-perpetuating places of confinement where the patients are stripped of their dignity and self-respect upon entering.... It is a shameful fact that only those who can rehabilitate themselves, or who are no longer a financial asset to the institution, are discharged. Patients who have assets, a regular income, or a special skill that the hospital can use, find it very difficult to get out until the institution has siphoned away whatever money it can from the patient's assets or found someone to replace the skilled person. When my son left after a year and a half of confinement, they secured a lien against him in the amount of $47,000, in the hope that he might have some assets lying around that they could attach." - from the Preface. Philip Salin was working in Oakland, CA at the time of these events.