ABSTRACT
A male Caucasian inmate is sent from prison to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation. The patient is over six feet tall, highly muscular, and heavy. He has pasty white skin and an angry glare. His voice is slow, but loud; he has a thick accent from the southern United States. Officials bring him from the prison in shackles to be evaluated by a diminutive and bespectacled African-American psychologist. The patient just glares at the evaluator, refusing to answer any questions with a demeaning, "Not to you," and is ushered away. In reviewing the records, the psychologist finds that the patient is serving a sentence for murdering an elderly woman. The patient did not know the woman, but tackled her, football style, on a city sidewalk, lifted her in the air, and dumped her some yards away. She later died of her injuries. The patient had difficulties in the most secure section
of the state's highest security prison. He is convinced that the correctional officers mean him harm. He believes that they make noises on the loudspeaker, spy on him, poison him, and plan to kill him. According to unconfirmed reports from the prison, some of the officers responded to the patient's beliefs by acting them out-actually announcing his name on the loudspeaker for no reason or whispering threats a few feet away from his room. He spends his days lifting weights, writing grievances and praying. He is a devout Christian. He shows no remorse for the murder, as he believes that the victim was part of a plot against him. During times of increased agitation, he threatens the prison officers with violence. The records indicate that the patient was brought up in Alabama, and worked for years in a series of warehouses. He was a loner, with few friends. Little is known about his family or his personal beliefs, but the evaluator believes that the man is a racist, probably due to the long history of racism in the southern United States. He suspects that the patient is unwilling to be examined by an African-American professional.
