Why Unheard Indy exists
Stories and facts from where mental illness meets the justice system in Indianapolis.
My son lives with a serious mental illness on the schizophrenia spectrum. During a psychotic episode, he committed crimes. What followed was more than four years inside the system: the arrest, the Marion County jail, home detention, a trial, prison, and now probation.
I walked every step of it beside him. I sat in courtrooms and visiting rooms. I made the phone calls, learned rules that kept changing, and watched how people treated my son while his brain was telling him things that were not real.
Some of what I saw was kind. Much of it was confusing, slow, and harsh in ways that failed my son, the people he hurt, and the public.
I came home with a lot of anger. I have decided to put it to work.
What we do
We tell the stories of people living with serious mental illness and the families beside them. Told by role, anonymized, and shared with permission.
We investigate. We sit in Marion County courtrooms, read court records, request public data, and report what we find, good and bad.
We push for one fix at a time. Right now, that means bringing in-person family visits back to the Marion County jail.
What we believe
- People in psychosis are still people. Everyone they meet in the system, from the first officer to the judge, shapes whether they recover.
- Families serve a sentence too.
- Facts come first. We document what we report and correct what we get wrong.
- We start with an open slate, and we will tell you about the people who get it right alongside the failures.
- Every story points toward a fix.
Who we are
Unheard Indy is written by Kate Vale, a mother in the gallery. Kate Vale is a pen name, used to protect my son's privacy and our family's.
Reach me at kate.unheard@gmail.com.
Kate Vale, a mother in the gallery