On January 18, 2023, Alaska’s Principal of the Year, Mary Fulp, was forcefully removed from her home, admitted to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, subjected to psychiatric testing, tied to a gurney, and injected with psychotropic medication1. The chain of events that unfolded could provide the basic ingredients of a sci-fi horror tale. In the world of non-fiction, it was a personal nightmare for Mary Fulp. It also opened up a constitutional hornets nest.
My first encounter with involuntary confinement in a mental facility was through the books of Richard Wurmbrand and others who had survived the Communist gulag. Their testimonies followed a similar pattern. They were incarcerated due to their religious beliefs. Those beliefs were seen as evidence of mental instability that required treatment. They were subjected to solitary confinement, body constraints and drugs. Alexander Solzhenitsyn would also expand on this observation in his classic The Gulag Archipelago.
All this to say that “It would never happen here.” Not in America, where we have due process, the rule of law and a medical community guided by the highest standards of ethics.
On January 18, 2023, Alaska’s Principal of the Year, Mary Fulp, was forcefully removed from her home, admitted to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, subjected to psychiatric testing, tied to a gurney, and injected with psychotropic medication1. The chain of events that unfolded could provide the basic ingredients of a sci-fi horror tale. In the world of non-fiction, it was a personal nightmare for Mary Fulp. It also opened up a constitutional hornets nest.
My first awareness of this matter came through the Alaska Watchman, an alternative media platform.
Fulp is the 2022 Alaska Principal of the Year, and highly respected in the educational community. Last week, however, she posted several videos recounting a recent life-changing religious experience. Several of her family members were concerned about the videos and asked a judge to issue an ex parte order that she be forcibly required to undergo psychiatric testing and treatment.
To translate, a hearing was held without the defendant present (aka ex parte). Mary Fulp, in this case, was not provided the opportunity to explain her side of the story.
My first instinct was to learn more about Mary Fulp. As Solzhenitsyn would note, we often provide law enforcement the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she was a danger to herself or others. Who knows? As best as I can tell, one of the earliest reports on the incident was posted by Alaska News Source with the rather peculiar headline “Social media livestream made by Colony High School principal prompts concerns.” Maybe she was at fault. The same article ended with this rather creepy statement from her family.
We love and care for Mary deeply, and we are working with medical professionals to ensure she receives the necessary care. We hope the community will respect her and her family’s privacy.
I watched only a portion of those videos due to the kinky Internet connection I was battling. One was a live stream four hours in length, possibly another indicator of “mental instability.” The videos exhibited a woman with an exuberant evangelical faith, which for some people is another indicator of mental instability. I was surprised that she actually had a website (not many people do that sort of thing). I was further surprised to find out a clue to her mental instability. She writes religious devotionals!
I am sure you are asking the same questions I asked myself. On what basis was it determined she was mentally unstable? Who determined that she was mentally ill? Can they really just seize someone without a hearing and place them in a mental institution? And can someone who, twenty-four hours previous, was a recognized educator, be subjected to confinement, physical restraints and mood-altering drugs?
Before long, the story expanded further. The so-called “court order” turned out to be a forgery. The forger a “family member.” The arresting officers took the word (and not the document itself) of the family member who showed the court order. They then proceeded to Mary Fulp’s home and admitted her into the Mat-Su Medical Center’s mental health unit. In other words, the court order was never validated by law enforcement. Furthermore, there was no validation for the basis of mental treatment by the Mat-Su Medical Center staff!
What happened to Mary Fulp is known as “swatting.” Fortunately for all involved, this was a case of soft swatting. In many cases, a false report is submitted where someone is presumably about to harm themselves or others, a swat team of heavily armed law enforcement officers appear, and serious injury can result. In Mary Fulp’s case, the injury was to her mental and physical well-being and her future employability. Two well-behaved state troopers appeared rather than a company of sharpshooters.
Needless to say, I am sure all that will be calculated into the impending law suit that is surely to follow.
The Alaska Watchman posted the full statement from the Thompson Law Group.
At no time did she pose a risk of harm to herself or others, and she should have never been forcibly placed into a mental health facility. It is clear there was no court order and no judicial finding. Yet she was forced by law enforcement, who carry the badge of trust and the authority of a weapon on their side, into a mental health facility, a horrible nightmare in and of itself.
To compound matters, the mental health facility knew it had no valid court order to hold her, yet they allowed the DPS to place her in the facility and kept her there without her consent for days, during which time she was traumatized by inhumane treatment.
She was strapped to a gurney, held down by several staff and forcibly injected with psychotropic medication without her consent and without a court order authorizing the administration of such medications.
She spent days in a cold dark mental health hospital room, during which time staff breached her federally protected HIPPA rights by disclosing their “opinions” as to her circumstances to individuals who did not possess any authorization to receive her federally protected HIPPA private mental health information. This traumatic experience is a free citizen’s worst nightmare, and this broken system has caused her, and her children, inexcusable and immeasurable harm.
Things are Not So Dark
Unlike the victims of the gulag, Mary Fulp did not spend ten years in hard labor in Siberia (or central Alaska for that matter). She is free again after three days in the Cuckoo’s Nest. The Alaska State Troopers stepped up to the plate and apologized for the incident, admitting their mistake in not validating the document they were presented. Furthermore, the officers failed to obtain a copy of the document, which continues to allude investigators.
We still have recourse in a court of law, and laws govern what is permitted or not. Mary Fulp will have her day in court where all the nasty details of this incident will be clarified. I think, in the end, she will have justice.
Pity the “family member” who forged a court order! — If that is true.
I am certain Mary Fulp will never be the same again. The faith that some in her family fear may be the faith that saves her.
Police officers basically blew it at the procedural level by not verifying the court order. But these guys are normally well-trained and conduct themselves in a professional manner. It is sobering to consider that despite the best training, a poorly written law can be applied in a terrible way.
Which goes back to the law. It has already drawn the attention of legislators. Ex parte cases involving indigent or mentally ill defendants are rather common. Yet they can be grievously misapplied. Fulp’s lawsuit will bring under the microscope this regime of law.
Finally, it is apparent that this type of case does not have just one checkpoint, but three. The first is a hearing before a judge, which apparently never occurred or a ruling was never submitted. The second checkpoint should have been the police officers who forcefully admitted Mary Fulp to the Mat-Su Medical Center. Yet it is the third checkpoint that truly mystifies me. You would think that “medical professionals” would have the sense to know that a person is actually ill before treating them. As the Thompson Law firm asserts, the staff were apparently aware that there was no documented order from a judge.
It is interesting that no media outlet has reported about the HIPPA violations. That will come out in the court hearings, but this charge asserts that Fulp’s right to privacy was violated, with information regarding her status and treatment leaked to unauthorized third parties.
The Mystery of Faith
What makes us tick is also on trial here. Mary Fulp was not only honored to be Principal of the Year in 2022, but she was marked out as one of five principals to be watched for 2023 by a national education website. She was obviously doing something right. Yet I watched parts of the video segments on Facebook and noticed that she had a deep abiding faith. My guess is that she does not communicate with her staff and students in the same way she was discussing her faith on Facebook. Yet it was also evident that part of what made her an effective principal was because of her faith, her “spirit-led” empathy with minority students (something she was noted for by her peers). Strip away the faith, would she be a good principal?
It appears that at least one family member thinks she would be better off without the faith, even to the degree of allegedly misleading law enforcement officials. That is currently under investigation. Yet Charisma News asserts that is exactly what is happening because the complaint was based on Mary Fulp’s testimony regarding speaking in tongues. The complaint equated “being filled with the Spirit” with mental illness.
I have worked with intensely deeply religious people frequently in my career and have observed that with rare exception people understand how to integrate their faith with their profession, working with people of different backgrounds and beliefs. We all appreciate that our beliefs have, or should have, an influence on our work. Virtues such as honesty, trust, kindness and grace are attributes that have roots in religion. Every career path has a code of ethics or standards of professionalism, and many of those standards are rooted in religion and ancient philosophy.
What should not be on trial, but which will be implicitly on the dock, is whether a principal who “speaks in tongues” is competent to manage a high school. It has been revealed through Project Veritas that some school districts screen applicants by asking questions that may indicate the applicant’s political or religious bias. Will the same crucible of “professionalism” be applied against all Christians who teach and administer in Alaska’s public schools?
Before January 18th, it appeared that this was not a problem for the Matsu School District. As long as Mary Fulp met the professional standards of the school district, she could walk on water for all they care. But the upcoming trial will expose a great deal about how some Christians believe and I am skeptical whether the world will understand.
No doubt it will not be easy for Mary Fulp to re-integrate into her past life as a principal. But it is possible. It is also quite likely that a financial settlement may free her to pursue other avenues.
Mental Ward
It will be interesting to follow what exactly happened at the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center. Most of us do not take the time to know what happens when someone is admitted into a mental institution. I have known people who suffer from mental illness and I am somewhat familiar with the cycle of concern, admission and treatment. But these are usually people who have documented mental challenges or suffering addiction. A perfectly healthy, exuberant, successful school principal? This gets a bit scary, because her profile includes about everybody in Alaska.
No doubt Fulp’s case is exceptionally rare, but so is systemic incarceration. Solzhenitsyn noticed this, as do others who follow what is happening in China. There is a group called the Falon Gong which has been fervently persecuted by the Communist regime, even to the extent of killing them for their organs. They are also subjugated to “mental treatment.” I can well imagine that some of my readers have no clue what I am talking about. It is always “them” or “that one particular person.” As long as it is not “us”, is it really a concern?
Fortunately for Mary Fulp, when she suddenly became “that one particular person” who strangely disappeared from society, she had a support community. She was not forgotten. Her church rallied behind her and championed her welfare.
But she was evidently treated like a mental nut case from the moment of admission. She had no voice. No advocate. No outside help. She was alone being treated by so-called “medical professionals.” You would think they would know better. Yet simply on the word of a single police officer, a person could be involuntarily injected with mood-altering drugs. So it seems, at least. The trial should reveal exactly how that can happen.
Media Coverage
This case is gaining traction in social media to some degree, but it is surprising that little has been said about it in national media. Only OAN has posted a report on the incident. This may be due to the fact that there are a lot of questions out there and it involves the entanglement of mental health, religion, and family conflicts. You view and you decide.
Resources
“Social media livestream made by Colony High School principal prompts concerns,” Alaska News Source, by Lauren Maxwell, January 19, 2023
“Troopers say they mistakenly transported Mat-Su principal to hospital for psychiatric evaluation on invalid court order,” Anchorage Daily News, by Tess Williams, January 25, 2023
“State troopers, misled by false court order, detained school principal for mental health check,” Alaska Public Media, by James Brooks, January 25, 2023
“Alaska’s ‘Principal of the Year’ who was unlawfully detained & drugged, hires attorney,” The Alaska Watchman, by Joel Davidson, January 26, 2023
“Spirit-Filled Christian Detained in Psych Ward for Testimony,” Charisma News, by James Lasher, February 1, 2023
“5 principals to watch in 2023,” K12Dive, by Roger Riddell, Kara Arundel, Naaz Modan, and Anna Merod, January 19, 2023
Footnotes
1 Psychotropic drugs are mood-altering medications. Many are quite beneficial such as treatment for Parkinson’s or applied to anesthesia. Wikipedia defines this class of drugs as follows: “A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, psychoactive agent or psychotropic drug is a chemical substance that changes functions of the nervous system, and results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior.[1]“
© Copyright 2023 to Eric Niewoehner