Darrell Brooks’ Mother Speaks: He ‘Suffered from Mental Illness,’ ‘System Is Broken’

 

The mother of Waukesha attack suspect Darrell E. Brooks Jr. has penned a lengthy letter charging that the American legal system failed to provide her mentally ill son adequate resources throughout his life.

 

According to Dawn Woods, Brooks came from a “loving Christian family and is the grandson of ministers,” alleging that he has “suffered from mental health issues since he was very young.” Woods wrote:

 

Darrell did not come from a bad family like many people have said. He came from a loving Christian family and is the grandson of ministers. Darrell has suffered from mental health issues since he was very young. In those years he received counseling and was on medication.

 

As Brooks became an adult, however, “a decision was made” that deemed him mentally fit, according to Woods, which allegedly “left him with no insurance or financial means to pay for medication and, when determined, necessary counseling.” Woods went on:

 

Mental illness is not cheap to treat but what’s more important dollars spent on treatment and resources or lives lost. Instead of offering help and resources to combat the problem, a jail cell was given. Over and over again. When mental illness is not properly treated the person becomes sicker and sicker.

 

Woods clarified that she was “not making excuses” for her son’s actions and only wanted to stress that mental illness should be taken more seriously by the legal system. She said:

 

Mental illness is real and the system is broken it can and must be fixed NOW, not next year or with a new legislation NOW. So many like Darrell that have fallen through the cracks because of a broken system that no one cared to address, can get the help they so desperately need.

 

Woods prefaced her letter by offering her “condolence to the families of those whose lives were so tragically taken” during the parade massacre.

 

Also on Wednesday, Darrell Brooks lamented that he has been unfairly “demonized” in his first jailhouse interview since he allegedly plowed an SUV through crowds of people.

 

“I just feel like I’m being monster – demonized,” Brooks told Fox News Digital on Wednesday at the Waukesha county jail.

 

The alleged murderer, Brooks, reportedly “offered no details about what prompted the carnage.”

 

“Brooks appeared calm, lucid and took time to answer each question – even repeating reporters’ questions and answers at times,” noted the outlet.

 

Brooks also complained that his mother has yet to visit him in jail. He has since been charged with six counts of intentional homicide, including the death of one child: eight-year-old Jackson Sparks, who died days after the attack. The other five were killed hours after Brooks allegedly rammed the SUV through the parade: Tamara Durand, 52; Jane Kulich, 52; LeAnna Owen, 71; Virginia Sorenson, 79; and Wilhelm Hospel, 81.

Read More Here: Breitbart