Fairbrother to act on jailed teenager

Napier-based Labour List MP Russell Fairbrother is to meet the mother of 18-year-old Anthony Fredricksen who was remanded in custody this month after the mentally ill youth was left with nowhere else to go.
He will also meet the Hawke's Bay District Health Board to discuss the matter.
Fredricksen, 18, has a long history of mental illness, and drug abuse. In January, he pleaded guilty to breaching a protection order by threatening his mother, Deb Fredricksen, and wilfully damaging her car and a wooden door.
Anthony was bailed to a backpackers in Hastings but the owner, concerned at his odd behaviour, called a social worker.
New accommodation was found for Anthony, but his condition deteriorated and he needed constant supervision.
On February 13, Judge Geoff Rea remanded Anthony in custody to Hawke's Bay Regional Prison.
In doing so, Judge Rea told the Hastings District Court there was no other place for Anthony. It was either prison or on the streets.
"He is a sad case in the sense that it seems he falls between the criminal justice system and the mental health system," he said.
The Prisoners' Aid & Rehabilitation Society (PARS) said it held grave concerns for the safety of Anthony, and the community, if he remained homeless.
Mr Fairbrother, who is the chair of Parliament's Social Services Select Committee, said: "Jails are not designed as emergency housing and are especially no place for the mentally unwell whose criminal offending is minor.
"It is clear this young man's offending is not serious enough for jail and so it is both legally and morally wrong to send him there on remand for want of a better option.
"After speaking with the mother I will speak with the (Hawke's Bay) DHB. While it is desirable for mental health patients to be treated in the community, it is not desirable that those unable to live in the community end up in jail.
"It is simply not good enough for institutions to wash their hands of our more vulnerable citizens, if that is indeed what has happened. This case appears to make a mockery of the Mental Health Act and that is not to be tolerated," he said.
PARS Hawke's Bay manager Clem Thomson said it was "refreshing to see a politician prepared to get involved in what is a major problem for our community".
"This is not a one-off. There is a large number of people in our prisons for accommodation purposes. I hope something comes from his (Mr Fairbrother's) meetings, particularly with the DHB," Mr Thomson said.