Advertisement

In mental health support for others, a death row inmate finds his purpose

Craigen Armstrong
Incarcerated since 2001, including 12 years on death row, Craigen Armstrong has helped develop a program at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown L.A. for treating inmates with severe mental illness.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Share via

Good morning. It’s Thursday, Dec. 14. I’m Thomas Curwen, a reporter specializing in long-form narratives. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.

A death row inmate finds purpose in providing mental health support

I first met Craigen Armstrong last year during a tour of his floor in the Twin Towers Correctional Facility. I had never been inside the jail, which looms on the outskirts of downtown Los Angeles like a modern medieval fortress.

Sheriff deputies took me through a labyrinth of stairs, corridors and elevators to Module 141, where Armstrong was waiting.

Advertisement

We chatted a bit about a program that he and a fellow inmate, Adrian Berumen, helped develop for mentally ill inmates. Berumen had left for prison a few months earlier, and Armstrong was eager to talk about what they had accomplished.

Much is said about the mental health crisis in America‘s streets and jails. Politicians promise action, but action seems elusive.

Armstrong and Berumen’s work, however, suggests that the crisis is not entirely unsolvable. Their program succeeds on the merits of its simplicity and the radical thought that if people with mental illness are treated with kindness and encouragement, they can get better.

Advertisement

After the tour, Armstrong agreed to share the story of not just this program but also his journey as an incarcerated man, trying to bring meaning and purpose — if not redemption — to his life.

A man with glasses, in green uniform, smiles while standing next to a smiling man with a beard, in a blue top, who is seated
Sgt. Julian Flores with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has worked closely with Craigen Armstrong to help implement programs and protocols for treating inmates with severe mental illness.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Convicted of the murder of three brothers in Inglewood in 2001, he spent 12 years on death row in San Quentin before the state Supreme Court reversed the judgment after his appeal and returned the case to the Superior Court. Still charged, he waits in jail.

Advertisement

I first heard about the mental health assistants program — as it is called — while working on a story last year about a young man with schizophrenia who was held at Twin Towers.

Armstrong and the young man never crossed paths, but I wish they had. The mental health assistants program brings inmates from the general population into Twin Towers, where they live with inmates with mental illness and help them manage their medications, hygiene and social skills.

The work is demanding. Each assistant is responsible for up to two dozen inmates and must practice patience and empathy in the presence of paranoia, hallucinations, depression and other symptoms of mental illness. I wondered where that capability came from among those whose time in jail probably required the exact opposite skills.

Having spent more than half of his life incarcerated, Armstrong understood the question.

“This is a system that disincentivizes empathy,” he told me. “In jail, we’re thinking about ourselves in order to survive. So it is hard to think about others.”

He acknowledged initially being overwhelmed by the irrationality, randomness and volatility of many of the inmates, but then he realized how much they have in common.

“All of us are a life event away from mental illness,” he said. “That is how fragile the mind is — how delicate it is — and if you don’t have protective barriers — spiritual things to help you cope — you will become mentally ill, have nervous breakdowns, depression to the point that you are never the same again.”

Advertisement

Over the course of reporting this story — four visits to Twin Towers and a series of phone interviews with Armstrong — I was struck by the scale of his achievement. Inmates were living in an environment that reflected their humanity. They were engaged with one another and committed to a routine that kept them safe and healthy.

A bearded man with dark hair, in a blue shirt, holds a certificate at a lectern, surrounded by people seated at tables
In October 2023, Craigen Armstrong helped MC a graduation ceremony, held at Twin Towers Correctional Facility, for inmates who had taken classes designed to provide them with a better understanding of mental illness.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

I also came to appreciate what Armstrong had overcome. His life will forever be caught up in a terrible cycle of events that played out over two nights in Inglewood 23 years ago — events that tragically will not surprise anyone familiar with neighborhoods in Los Angeles caught up in gang violence.

(At his trial, an expert from the Inglewood Police Department testified that 50 gangs operated in Inglewood, most affiliated with the Bloods. In 2001, the year he was arrested, there were 25 gang-related homicides in Inglewood, according to The Times.)

Incarcerated at age 20, Armstrong was a young man driven by impulse and fear, trying to figure out how to survive. When anger failed, he turned to education and the hope that he might be able to prove his value to a society that wanted to cast him aside.

After his appeal in 2016, he returned Los Angeles and was lucky to meet Berumen, whose life had followed a similar course and who was just as eager to prove to the world that one moment in his life didn’t define who he was.

Advertisement

Jail in Los Angeles County is a bleak place. Inmates live in abject conditions with the constant threat of violence. Opportunity is limited, but against all odds, these two men found it and are now trying to share it with others.

Read the full story here.

Today’s top stories

 A man in a dark suit and red tie is flanked by two women in dark clothing
Reps. Michelle Steel (R-Seal Beach), left, Mike Garcia (R-Santa Clarita) and Young Kim (R-Anaheim Hills) are seen in the Cannon tunnel.
(Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images)

Politics

Local politics

Housing and homelessness

War in the Middle East

Business

More big stories


Get unlimited access to the Los Angeles Times. Subscribe here.


Commentary and opinions

Advertisement

Today’s great reads

photo illustration of blue Elon Musk as Grok with moving mouth and GROK in his eyes
(Illustration by Jim Cooke/Los Angeles Times; Photo by Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto)

We interviewed Elon Musk’s groveling new chatbot about its boss: ‘He’s the king of Twitter.’ The Times sat down — or logged in, rather — to interview Grok, Elon Musk’s new AI chatbot, about the billionaire tech mogul and his various controversies.

Other great reads


How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.


For your downtime

A hand holds a massive lobster roll in front of a vintage gas station's red "LOBSTER" signage.
Hawaii’s Royal Lobster is now open in Los Angeles, serving lobster rolls and lobster-topped salads in Koreatown.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

Going out

Staying in

Advertisement

And finally ... from our archives

Newspaper clipping from 1993 about the legacy of "Saturday Night Fever"
Sixteen years after “Saturday Night Fever” premiered, The Times’ Peter Rainer wrote about it attracting midnight movie crowds and striking a chord with Generation X.
(Los Angeles Times)

On Dec. 14, 1977, “Saturday Night Fever” premiered in Los Angeles at Mann’s Chinese Theater, catapulting then-23-year-old John Travolta to superstardom and his first Oscar nomination for best actor. Sixteen years after the film’s premiere, The Times’ Peter Rainer wrote about it attracting midnight movie crowds and striking a chord with Generation X.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Thomas Curwen, long-form narratives reporter
Elvia Limón, multiplatform editor
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Laura Blasey, assistant editor

Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.

Advertisement