Posted by Sandra, a resident of another community, on Sep 10, 2008 at 1:35 am

I am in desperate need to get in touch with Judge Stephen Manley, on anyone that can assist me legally. My son has been treated unfairly, he is now in jail without getting a proper hearing.

Sandra Aldana

sandrastherapy@comcast.net

Posted by M Ghizzoni, a resident of another community, on Sep 3, 2009 at 12:18 am

I too need to know how to contact Judge Manley. I have a son being charged with felonies in Santa Clara Co. for an incident that occurred on a 5150 transfer from Santa Rita to Santa Clara to receive further mental health treatment. He now is caught up in the criminal system without his mental health issues being addressed.

thank you,

mghizzoni2001@yahoo.com

Posted by Disillusioned, a resident of another community, on Aug 8, 2010 at 1:04 pm

All this raving about Judge Manley and his courtroom was not the case with us. My son got the book thrown at him for stealing an energy drink worth $2.99. I am appalled by our **Justice** System!!!

Posted by Robert Mulcrone, a resident of another community, on Feb 27, 2012 at 11:12 am

I am very familar with the efforts The Honorable Judge Manely puts into his efforts. One of those places that greatly assists in keeping his people out of trouble is in trouble finacialy do to financial cut backs accross the board. It is Grace cummunity center in San jose california. Web Link is a link to it as well as Web Link to donate to our efforts in not only keeping the mentally ill out of trouble but even helping them to be happy.... GOD BLESS YOU

Posted by Burt Musson, a resident of another community, on May 23, 2012 at 1:32 am

I would like to tell the people that Judge Manley does not send people to jail that shouldn't be there.I have sat in his court room

in and out of custody and have heard a lot of cases that he dealt with fairly. He has put me in jail a number of times and he did it

because I deserved it. In the end I made it through his program and

have stayed away from the things that got me there. He is a tough Judge but you have to be a real knuckle head before he gets tough.

I have been before some serious judges and I had a choice I would

pick him because I know how fair he is. If you are doing the right thing he is sure to be on your side and if you are not, he will give

you another chance to get right but don't challenge him or give cheap excuses for not doing what he wants you to do.

Posted by jackie, a resident of another community, on Sep 26, 2012 at 5:56 pm

I need to contact Judge Manley. I'm living in El Dorado County. My son has dual diagnosis and has a 3rd dui. He has been denied both for Behavior Health court or DUI court. They feel that he won't be successful. I thought that these specialized courts were an alternative to being incarcerated. I feel that they are being selective in who they allow in either courts. My son is on injectable meds,stopped drinking alcohol and has kaiser coverage.

He could get a court order for treatment but they want to send him to jail. We have been going to this Kangaroo court for 15 months.

Please help me! I met you when I was on the santa Clara mental health board. I loved your compassion and insight into those with a mental illness.

Sincerely, Jackie

Posted by john, a resident of Menlo Park, on Jun 3, 2013 at 9:54 pm

Judge Stephen Manly at the Terraine courthouse in San Jose California is forcing medication on inmates, setting up mentally ill inmates for failure by expecting them to complete programs and classes etc. on their own and when they fail to do so he issues bench warrants for their arrest and keeps them stuck in the system, and does not provide the proper evaluation of inmates for mental health.

He is keeping mentally ill people in jail and trapped within the system for much longer than the crime they committed calls for, up to 3 years in some cases for minor drug charges. He ignores evaluations done by professional psychiatrists outside of his program, he ignores the letters and grievances of the family's and lawyers of the mentally ill and tries to force the same plan of action on every person instead of evaluating each individual case, he is punishing people for being ill not for the crime.

He knows that the expectations he is putting on mentally ill inmates cannot be followed through by certain individuals yet he continues to recommend treatment plans that will just put the person back into jail.

The Eighth Amendment (Amendment VIII) to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights (ratified December 15, 1791[1]) prohibiting the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines or cruel and unusual punishments, including torture. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that this amendment's Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause applies to the states.

there is also a competence law

see below

In American law, competence concerns the mental capacity of an individual to participate in legal proceedings. Defendants that do not possess sufficient "competence" are usually excluded from criminal prosecution,

In United States law, this protection has been ruled by the United States Supreme Court to be guaranteed under the due process clause. If the court determines that a defendant's mental condition makes him unable to understand the proceedings, or that he is unable to help in his defense, he is found incompetent. The competency evaluation, as determined in Dusky v. United States, is whether the accused "has sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding—and whether he has a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him." Being determined incompetent is substantially different from undertaking an insanity defense; competence regards the defendant's state of mind at the time of the trial, while insanity regards his state of mind at the time of the crime. It has also been referred to as a "730 exam".

The word incompetent is also used to describe persons who lack mental capacity to make contracts, handle their financial and other personal matters such as consenting to medical treatment, etc. and need a legal guardian to handle their affairs.

also please read this below

In Robinson v. California, 370 U.S. 660 (1962), the Court decided that a California law authorizing a 90-day jail sentence for "be[ing] addicted to the use of narcotics" violated the Eighth Amendment, as narcotics addiction "is apparently an illness," and California was attempting to punish people based on the state of this illness, rather than for any specific act. The Court wrote:

"To be sure, imprisonment for ninety days is not, in the abstract, a punishment which is either cruel or unusual. But the question cannot be considered in the abstract. Even one day in prison would be a cruel and unusual punishment for the 'crime' of having a common cold."

Traditionally, the length of a prison sentence was not subject to scrutiny under the Eighth Amendment, regardless of the crime for which the sentence was imposed. It was not until the case of Solem v. Helm, 463 U.S. 277 (1983), that the Supreme Court held that incarceration, standing alone, could constitute cruel and unusual punishment if it were "disproportionate" in duration to the offense. The Court outlined three factors that were to be considered in determining if the sentence is excessive: "(i) the gravity of the offense and the harshness of the penalty; (ii) the sentences imposed on other criminals in the same jurisdiction; and (iii) the sentences imposed for commission of the same crime in other jurisdictions.