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New Day
Congressman Tim Murphy Pushing for Mental Health Overhaul; Impact Your World: A Mission to Find Bone Marrow Donors; CNN Special Report: The Great Prison Escape. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired July 28, 2015 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:30:00] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: My goodness. Keith, well done, to you and Kenny, for having the presence of mind to survive and ordeal and to help these two young men who will never forget this - the ordeal they survived.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
PEREIRA: All right. Thanks so much for joining us today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
PEREIRA: What a story of survival, John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Quite a story, indeed. All right, Michaela.
The gunman who opened fire inside a Louisiana movie theater suffered from mental illness issue. Is America doing enough to treat those who need help? We'll speak live with a lawmaker who has fought long and hard for more to be done. It's a discussion you don't want to miss. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: In the wake of Louisiana's deadly mass shooting by a man with a history of mental illness, the question of how mental illness is treated in this country is once again up for discussion. Congressman Tim Murphy has been fighting to overhaul the system with a bill called the Helping Families and Mental Health Crisis Act. And Congressman Murphy joins us this morning.
Congressman, thanks so much for being with us and for all your work on this issue.
REP. TIM MURPHY (R), PENNSYLVANIA: Good morning. Good to be with you.
BERMAN: So the latest news, reports that the shooter in Louisiana had been ordered by a judge to go to a mental health facility, but he was not involuntarily committed. And because he was not involuntarily committed, he did not show up on the background check. So, bad enough for a judge to order him to go to a facility, but still not enough to show up on the background check. Does that loophole need to be changed?
[08:35:00] MURPHY: Well, the problem that occurs that is several fold. One, you have judges who openly say it's not illegal to be crazy, which I think is derogatory and completely misses the point. It's not illegal to have a heart attack, but still we treat them. Secondly, there's often times not enough hospital beds, so many times doctors and hospitals don't want to go through the hassle and the problems of dealing with an involuntary commitment. So unless the person appears to be an imminent danger, and that's a standard of harming themselves or someone else, they will not force them to have commitment.
And this is where the underlying problem occurs, not enough facilities, not enough providers, not enough push, and you end up with people not taking a thorough history and not understanding that if a person with a serious mental illness and any kind of history of violence, schizophrenia, bipolar, et cetera, is 15 times more likely to engage in an act of violence if they're not in treatment, then these are - these are part of the standards we need to be looking at changing so we're getting people help instead of pushing them back on the street.
BERMAN: To be clear, it makes it sound like this standard, this standard of involuntary commitment, might not be the right one to determine if someone might be a danger. Someone with mental illness should not have a gun.
MURPHY: Sure. We actually have learned a lot since the 1800s, and that's when a lot of these standards were set up. We - a year ago this month there was an important study released where they now have genetic markers of schizophrenia and bipolar. If you look at someone who's abusing substance, has a severe mental illness diagnosis, a history of violence, those are all a huge red flag to something is amiss.
And there's another thing, too. States have the ability to use something called assisted outpatient treatment with such - with such persons. Instead of an involuntary commitment, they can have an outpatient commitment and work with them. The Louisiana legislature was the first one to really call for support of my bill, the Helping Families and Mental Health Crisis Act, because they saw a year ago there was problems occurring and they needed to do something about it. We have a long way to go.
But I'm telling you what, I'm getting tired and frustrated with these moments of silence in the House floor. Look, we need to do that for the victims and give them our respects and our prayers, but the silence of the - of Congress is deafening. And it just reaches the point where I go from frustrated to angry now, that we ought to be getting up and doing something besides being silent.
BERMAN: How do you explain the silence?
MURPHY: Well, I can't explain it. I mean it's - it's people who I think don't understand mental illness. People who think that if only you ignore it, it will go away. Denial is not a treatment. Ignoring it is not a treatment. You have - we'll have more of these instances. And I'm - and I'm sorry to say that it may take more of these before the House and Senate, the White House wake up and say, let's start dealing with this mess that we have of a very disjointed and fragmented mental health system in this country. One hundred and twelve federal agencies that don't work together. Barriers the federal government sets up where we don't have enough beds. Laws that keep parents and family members working together. Insurance companies that aren't working on parity. A whole host of problems. And that's why my bill addresses this in a comprehensive way, not some kind of piecemeal, feel-good way that we dust off our hands and then go home for summer recess.
BERMAN: Well, when you say I have this bill, when you say this is an issue that I have worked on for years, frankly, and when you say there keep on being these incidents where people with mental health issues are involved in mass shootings, when you say all these things, what does leadership say? What do the people who schedule votes on the floor say?
MURPHY: Well, I certainly have the attention of - had a brief discussion with Kevin McCarthy, the majority leader, on this, and having discussions with many people in the House and Senate. And what I hear from my colleagues is, let's move this bill. Now, Fred Upton, the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over this, has said in the month of August, we'll have staff working this out, working out the details and hopefully bring this before us for a vote in September.
But in the meantime, the American people have to get fired up, call their congressmen and say, get on this bill, support this. And members of Congress have to become co-sponsors so we can continue to show the energy behind this, and not just keep going to funerals, but going to a vote on the floor and say we're going to do something here instead of just mourn the losses.
BERMAN: Moments of silence are not enough. Congressman Tim Murphy, thank you again for your work and thanks for coming on NEW DAY this morning.
MURPHY: Thank you.
BERMAN: Alisyn.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, John.
Joyce Mitchell, the woman accused of helping the inmates escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility, goes to court today. CNN is taking a deeper look at their Hollywood-esque getaway. We have a sneak peek ahead.
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[08:43:20] PEREIRA: All right, here we go with the five things to know for your NEW DAY.
The search continues for two missing teens. It is now expanding off the Florida coast. The 14-year-olds have been missing since Friday. Their capsized fishing boat was found Sunday.
President Obama's approval rating in positive territory for the second straight month, although a new CNN/ORC poll shows a majority of Americans don't like the nuclear deal with Iran nor the direction of the economy.
NATO envoys holding an emergency meeting on Turkey's two-prong defensive against ISIS and Kurdish militants. Turkey once reluctant to get involved is now behind a series of ISIS targeted air strikes in Syria.
Joyce Mitchell, the former prison worker in upstate New York, accused of helping convicted killers Richard Matt and David Sweat escape, well, she faces arraignment today. Her attorney expected to push for a plea deal.
The city of Boston has dropped its bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The city's mayor refusing to sign an agreement that would leave taxpayers on the hook for the cost overruns. There is rumor on the streets Los Angeles is interested in taking Boston's place.
For more on the five things to know, be sure to visit newdaycnn.com for the latest.
Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: OK, Michaela.
In this week's "Impact Your World," thousands of people rely on blood, cell and bone marrow transplants to live. One young woman struggled to find her match, so she hit the road to sign up donors to help people just like herself. And our Chris Cuomo has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAM KIMURA, "SAM": I was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia, which is a really rare bone marrow failure disease. And it requires a bone marrow transplant to cure it. And we learned about the huge need for more donors.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): But organizing a few bone marrow drives in Kentucky wasn't quite enough for Sam's sister Alex and neighbor Taylor.
[08:45:04] TAYLOR SHORTEN, "SAM": There is 15,000 people a year looking for a bone marrow transplant. And the reality is that only half of them will find a matching donor.
ALEX KIMURA, "SAM": And we said, why just Kentucky? Let's go to universities all across the country.
S. KIMURA: Thank you so much.
A. KIMURA: SAM stands for Sharing America's Marrow or S-A-M, in honor of Sam.
CUOMO: SAM is signing up donors to the Delete Blood Cancer registry.
A. KIMURA: We do a cheek swab and that puts you on the donor registry. The bone marrow donation is an outpatient procedure. 75 percent of the time, the donor gives blood stem cells through a donation that's similar to giving platelets for plasma.
ELEINA PEREIRA, BU STUDENT: I can suffer a little bit of discomfort for someone else, I guess, if it actually can help save a life.
CUOMO: Sam is in remission but has a 50 percent chance of relapse.
S. KIMURA: The potential of it returning is very scary but it keeps us moving forward and it's always in the back of our minds to find that match for me. But for the most part, we try to just help out the people who are in their fight right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAMEROTA: So for more information on how you can impact your world, go to CNN.com/impact.
CUOMO: Two prisoners break out of a maximum security prison in upstate New York. They evade police before it all comes to an end. We give you a sneak peek at a "CNN SPECIAL REPORT" into their brazen movie- like escape. That's ahead.
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[08:50:28] CAMEROTA: This morning, former prison worker, Joyce Mitchell, will appear in court for her alleged role in helping inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat escape from that upstate New York prison. Mitchell is accused of providing the prisoners with tools and was supposed to be their getaway driver.
Well tonight, CNN's Randi Kaye has a "SPECIAL REPORT" on this prison escape that gripped the country. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A massive manhunt underway. Fugitives David Sweat and Richard Matt on the run. Law enforcement moving into neighborhoods, going door-to-door, leaving nothing to chance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are leaving no stone unturned.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They could be literally anywhere.
KAYE: But where were they and what did the prison seamstress, now accused of aiding in their escape, really know?
(on camera): What do we know about their plan after they left the prison?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, she's been consistent. She's been consistent that it was seven hours from this area and she didn't know whether it was somewhere in New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Canada. If we believe her to be telling the truth on that, then they were keeping her at bay about what their alternate plan may have been.
KAYE (voice-over): And that plan remains elusive. All investigators know is that their getaway fell apart when Joyce Mitchell backed out, leaving the escaped prisoners without the ride they needed. With no transportation, the fugitive killers were just blocks outside the prison, scrambling to avoid capture.
Checkpoints and roadblocks were quickly set up as police searched each vehicle for anything out of the ordinary, imploring the public to be on the lookout.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They could be holed up in a home somewhere, canned food, maybe watching the whole search on television, nice and cool, nice and dry.
KAYE: Lee Bates is a former accomplice of Richard Matt's.
LEE BATES, FORMER ACCOMPLICE OF RICHARD MATT: They have something in common that says, you know, we are out and when they catch us, we are done. Their mind set is probably going to be, they are not going to take us alive.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAMEROTA: Wow. OK, let's bring in Randi Kaye now. Great to see you.
KAYE: You, too.
CAMEROTA: So one of the most gripping elements of this entire story was this supposed love triangle between Joyce Mitchell and the men. What did you find out about that?
KAYE: Well, we know that they all worked in this prison tailor shop, tailor shop one, together and we spoke to a former prisoner from Clinton Correctional Facility who really noticed the unique relationship, as he described it, between Joyce Mitchell and David Sweat, one of the escapees. He said that when all the rest of the guys would go to the mess hall for lunch, Joyce Mitchell would keep David Sweat back in tailor shop one and bring him fried chicken, bring him barbecue chicken on a nice Styrofoam tray.
Now, of course, her lawyer says she had no relationship at all with David Sweat, there was nothing sexual going on, it was nothing more than a working relationship there. But it was enough to raise eyebrows and have him moved out of this prison tailor shop in 2013. And another thing is, it seems as though, from this former prisoner told me that a lot of the people in the tailor shop really did think there was something going on. They used to call Joyce Mitchell David Sweat's boo. Their slang term for his girlfriend and they'll tease him about it.
CUOMO: She's in court today. She appears in court today, maybe looking for some kind of a plea deal. What more have you learned about this contention that she may have wanted Sweat and Matt to kill her husband or they wanted to kill her husband? Who wanted this? What's going on?
KAYE: Well, her lawyer says she was never aware and certainly didn't take part in any plot to have her husband killed and then run away with the two of them into the sunset somewhere. But, when David Sweat was caught, he started talking, as you know, and sharing a lot of things and he told authorities that it was actually Joyce Mitchell's idea to have her husband killed so she could run away with them.
But - this, apparently, she had this change of heart. She was out on a dinner date with her husband, Lyle -- who also worked in a prison tailor shop and knew these guys -- out for dinner, Chinese food, I guess it was going well and she had a change of heart there and didn't want to see her husband hurt and that's when she decided not to show up, not to bring the getaway car and run away with these guys.
PEREIRA: I can't help but just think of that poor husband.
KAYE: Can you imagine?
PEREIRA: Imagine finding all of this out.
KAYE: And he still has gone to visit her in jail. It's incredible.
CAMEROTA: Cant wait to see more.
KAYE: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: You can watch Randi Kaye's "CNN SPECIAL REPORT: THE GREAT PRISON ESCAPE" tonight at 9:00 p.m., only on CNN. We'll be watching.
PEREIRA: All right. We have "The Good Stuff" coming up. What has this real life Forrest Gump running all the way from Maine to California?
[08:54:50] He's our "Good Stuff."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PEREIRA: All right, "Good Stuff." Let me introduce you to, Moninda Marube, he's running some 3700 miles from Maine all the way to California. He's doing it to raise awareness of human trafficking. It's sadly, something that he knows all too well. He was actually tricked by a corrupt sports agent into leaving Kenya to come to America, where he was kept in conditions of near slavery and poverty.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MONINDA MARUBE, RUNNING TO RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT HUMAN TRAFFICKING: Traffickers are the sweetest (INAUDIBLE) ever you will ever meet. They'll promise you heaven, show you chocolates, show you everything of the sweet things. But when it comes to delivery, they deliver hell.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PEREIRA: Moninda was actually able to tell his story to another coach who then worked to free him. So on their run through D.C., they actually had this opportunity to meet Senator Susan Collins. She sponsored a bill against human trafficking. They have about 2700 miles to go. He's living the good stuff right there. CAMEROTA: You can't believe in this day and age that that's happening.
That slavery and human trafficking - But, you know, he's living proof it is.
PEREIRA: Living proof.
CAMEROTA: What a great -
PEREIRA: Tremendous. And he can spread the word along the way.
CUOMO: And hydrate.
PEREIRA: Yes. Good advice.
CAMEROTA: All right. Time now for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello. Good morning, Carol.
PEREIRA: Good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Thanks so much. Have a great day. "NEWSROOM" starts now.
