CAMDEN, N.J. -- Outraged by the murder of

Joel Seidel, a person who had mental illness, in the Camden County jail on

January 27, , mental health advocates will hold a vigil and Community Walk

for Justice on Friday, Feb. 27, the one-month anniversary of the tragedy.

The Vigil for Joel Seidel will take place at St. Paul's Episcopal Church

at 422 Market St. from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. and will be followed by a

Community Walk for Justice from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. from the church, past the

Camden Hall of Justice, to the Camden County jail.

Advocates will call for higher investigations into the tragedy and reform

in both the mental health and criminal justice systems, which have been

neglected and under-funded in New Jersey for many years.

Mary Lynne Reynolds, executive director of the Mental Health Association

of Southwestern New Jersey, said, "Judges sentence nonviolent mentally ill

offenders to prison because they believe there are no alternatives to ensure

their safety, as well as that of the community.  Our under-funded mental

health system is unable to provide the services for these disabled but non-

threatening citizens.  The time has arrived to end this inhumane practice

before another Joel Seidel is murdered."

"Many of the consumers attending this event know firsthand how Joel must

have felt at the hands of the guards in the jail," said Marie Verna, director

of the Consumer Advocacy Partnership, a coalition devoted to the rights of

people with mental illnesses.  "Those who knew Joel know that he never should

have been in jail in the first place, and absolutely never should have been

alone in a cell with someone who had a known history of violent behavior."

The group will also call for passage of a state bill, A663, sponsored by

Assemblyman Francis Blee (R-2) and Assemblywoman Mary Previte (D-6), that

would appropriate $1.8 million toward pilot programs to divert people with

mental illness from jail.  On the federal level, mental health advocates will

demand passage of the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of , which has passed unanimously in the Senate (S) and is in

committee in the House (H).

Source: Mental Health Association of Southwestern New Jersey