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Tyler spent 1,266 days in the Calhoun County jail in Pittsboro, Mississippi, waiting for a mental health evaluation. He had called 911 on Nov. 17, 2012. When police came, they arrested him for stabbing his father鈥檚 girlfriend.

Once in jail, he colored pictures of dragons and aliens for the sheriff and his deputies. Sitting in front of the television, Tyler held his feet and rocked back and forth. He misspelled his own name in two different court documents. He went without any of his prescriptions. He lost 90 pounds.

Tyler鈥檚 court-appointed lawyer told the judge it was clear Tyler didn鈥檛 have 鈥渟ufficient mental capacity鈥� to understand the charge against him. He asked that Tyler receive a psychiatric evaluation, and the judge 鈥斅爈ooking at Tyler鈥檚 history of seven different mental disorders, the first diagnosed when he was just 4 years old 鈥斅燼greed.

What happened next became a national scandal when last winter.

Waiting for an evaluation, Tyler celebrated his 18th, 19th, and 20th birthdays behind bars. Every month, Sheriff Greg Pollan called the state mental hospital and asked when Tyler would be admitted.

鈥淗e should have been evaluated, for God鈥檚 sake, within a couple or three months after he was arrested,鈥� Pollan told us by phone this week.

The hospital told Pollan that Tyler was third on its list and then, in the very next call, that he had inexplicably slipped to No. 10. It would admit him 鈥渋n two weeks.鈥�

It would actually take nearly four years.

鈥淗as the system let him down?鈥� Pollan asked. 鈥淗ell yeah, it let him down! It let me down trying to help him. I had no tools. None. And I threw fits, I yelled, screamed, cussed, prayed, I did whatever I needed to do, to try to get him the help.鈥�

But it wasn鈥檛 until the spring of 2016, when a prompted Mississippi鈥檚 attorney general to call the state hospital, that he was finally evaluated. According to one of Pollan鈥檚 staff members, who drove Tyler to his exam, he emerged in an hour sweating and in tears: The psychiatrist had asked him to add two plus one, and he couldn鈥檛 do it.

The evaluation for which Tyler had waited so long found him competent to stand trial. He took an for a reduced sentence and seemed to think he鈥檇 get out in two or three weeks.

鈥淭yler was literally like talking to a 6- or 8-year-old kid,鈥� said Pollan. 鈥淎nd I don鈥檛 know that he understands. I don鈥檛 think he has the ability to understand and comprehend that when they let him out, at some point in time, he is going to have to meet with a PO [probation officer] every 30 days or once a month. I don鈥檛 think he has that ability.鈥�

But as of last Tuesday, that鈥檚 exactly what Tyler will have to do. Tyler was released from custody this week 鈥� and he has nowhere to go.

His mother has moved out of the state. His father has disowned him. Although Tyler told Pollan years ago that he'd go live with his grandfather, Pollan doesn鈥檛 think Tyler鈥檚 grandfathers are actually alive, or even in the picture.

鈥淚鈥檓 scared of what鈥檚 going to happen when he gets out,鈥� Pollan said this week. 鈥淗e鈥檚 either going to hurt somebody or somebody is going to really bad hurt him because Tyler鈥檚 not gonna know how to survive. He doesn鈥檛 know how to pay a bill! He doesn鈥檛 even know how to go get an apartment! And if he did he can鈥檛 work to support himself. He really can鈥檛. It was literally like having a small child in my jail that was 5-foot-10.鈥�

We鈥檝e been fighting to end the prosecution of children as adults in Mississippi for years. Had he been placed in the juvenile justice system instead of an adult jail, Tyler might at least have gotten some treatment while he waited for his competency evaluation. Cases like Tyler鈥檚 highlight how far we have to go to reform the state鈥檚 mental health system and its criminal justice system 鈥斅燼 system that prosecuted Tyler as an adult and kept him locked up in an adult jail and without a trial for almost four years.

鈥淲hen I am retired and probably in the nursing home and my mental faculties are only halfway working, this is that case that will haunt me forever,鈥� Pollan said.

It should haunt all of us.

The Editors

P.S. Here are some other pieces that we think are valuable this week:

• by Jessica Valenti for The Guardian
• by Cheryl W. Thompson for The Washington Post
• by Catherine Flowers for The New York Times
• by Jared Keller for Pacific Standard

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Photo credit Mike Belleme.聽