Purpose of the petition:

This is part of MindFreedom International's Shield campaign for Dawn Dziuba, who is currently being forcibly drugged and institutionalized in the state of Missouri in the USA.

We, the organizers and signers of this petition, demand that the officials involved in Dawn's case give her the right to:

  • make her own medical decisions,
  • make and receive phone calls while detained,
  • receive visitors while detained,
  • temporarily leave the ward (e.g. to visit the library) during her detainment,
  • possess and view her legal documents at will, and
  • ultimately be released from the ward to live in her community in accordance with her wishes.

We also urge the Missouri Protection and Advocacy (P&A) Services and the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division to investigate the Missouri Department of Health's treatment of Dawn and other people in Missouri who are being involuntarily subjected to guardianships, powerful psychotropic drugs, and indefinite institutionalization.

 

 

Overview of Dawn's case:

  • Dawn has been locked up since 2014 at the Forensic Treatment Center South in St. Louis, shortly after Washington University alleged that she "trespassed" on their property and made "terrorist threats" against them, which she denies. Dawn claims that she is a whitleblower and accuses Washington University of misappropriating millions of dollars of federal funding. She believes that had she received a jury trial, she would have been acquitted.

  • She is being subjected to forced drugging in retaliation for filing a complaint against a staff member, something she is legally entitled to do.

  • She has a law degree and practiced as an attorney before her arrest, but she was not allowed represent herself. Instead, she was declared incompetent, and was appointed a public attorney.

  • Her 10 years of detainment has cost Missouri taxpayers over 1 million dollars. If even a portion of her decades-long incarceration is being billed to Medicaid, this may constitute Medicaid fraud.

  • Dawn has never been convicted of any crime. 

  • Dawn petitioned that her father be appointed her guardian, but the public attorney made a motion on Dawn’s behalf to appoint a public guardian, acting against the expressed wish of her client.

  • Dawn’s legal documents were confiscated from her room by staff.

  • Her phone use is restricted and she is not allowed to have visitors.

  • Her ability to file a motion to terminate/change her guardianship (her right to due process) is being denied because all of her communication with the outside world has been terminated.

  • She is restricted to the ward and prevented from visiting the library to research her own legal case.

 

 

We will not publicize any of the information that you enter into our petition form.