Dottie Pacharis

On Oct. 28, 38-year-old Tyler Reeves, a Fort Myers resident, was sentenced to five years in prison for assault. Tyler has mental illness and a very long history of physical aggression dating back to the young age of 11 when he was first Baker-Acted for chasing his brother with a knife.

The Baker Act is a Florida law that allows for the temporary detention and examination of people showing evidence of mental illness who are in danger of harming themselves or others. Tyler has been Baker-Acted 35 times for trying to harm himself and lashing out at family members.

At age 6, Tyler was diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder. In his early teens, he received a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, Extreme Anxiety, and Panic Attacks. He became destructive and began cutting himself. In addition to prescribed medications, Tyler began using alcohol and illicit drugs to self-medicate, both of which affected his behavior in a very negative way.

Tyler struggled in elementary school. His mother, Debra, home schooled him in the fifth grade. He returned to public school for the sixth and seventh grades, got into trouble with the Juvenile Justice System and was subsequently sent to the Marine Institute, an alternative school for kids who have been in the Juvenile Justice System. Tyler performed well there and advanced to the 10th grade before dropping out of school. He later obtained his GED.

Tyler has had multiple juvenile arrests as well as multiple arrests as an adult for aggravated assault and battery. Tyler’s lack of compliance with therapy and medication played a significant role.

At age 31, Tyler broke into his mother’s locked bedroom. He found her handgun and threatened to shoot himself. Fortunately, his mother was successful in retrieving the gun from her son. He was once again Baker-Acted.

In December 2023, at age 37, Tyler was charged with a hit-and-run automobile accident and spent 27 days in jail. This occurred during a time when Tyler was already on a four-year probation period for criminal charges in Sarasota County for battery by strangulation, a third-degree felony.

Because of Tyler’s mental illness and arrest history, he has had difficulty finding long-term employment. His parents have spent over $48,000 trying to set their son up in various business ventures. They all failed. Tyler has been receiving disability benefits since 2015.

Debra loves her son, but it has been very painful to witness his ongoing mental struggles. He attempted suicide four times in 2023. He has threatened her, and she is afraid of him during his outburst, not knowing what he might do next. Though she is certain that her son loves her, she has often slept with her doors locked.

Although heartbroken, Debra feels somewhat relieved that prison will provide Tyler with a controlled environment for the next five years that will prevent him from doing things that are harmful to himself and others. She is very disappointed with Florida’s Mental Health System that destroyed her son by not forcing him to get treatment and take his medications. Instead, this system allowed him to deteriorate to the point of being charged with a felony and locked up for five years.

Housing individuals with mental illness in Florida’s prisons cost the state approximately $1.7 million per day according to the Florida Health Justice Project. Debra wants to know why Florida is OK with spending money to incarcerate so many inmates suffering from mental illness, yet not OK with implementing laws and spending money to address the serious problem of untreated mental illness. Florida’s prisons have become its largest psychiatric institutions, placing a significant burden on taxpayers.

According to the May 2023 Behavioral Health Profile, Florida ranked No. 1 in the nation for the highest number of adults experiencing a mental illness –an estimated three million adults.

Mental illness is not particular who it attacks. It affects both Democrat and Republican families. Now is the time for both parties to come together and fix the mental health crisis in Florida.

Dottie Pacharis is a Fort Myers-based mental health advocate and author of Mind on the Run – A Bipolar Chronicle.