Wrong to take imprisoned son off psychiatric drugs, mother says

A woman living in southern Newfoundland says her son is receiving poor medical treatment while incarcerated in a St. John's jail.

Justin Bungay, 26, is serving time in Her Majesty's Penitentiary after he was convicting for twice breaking into a gas station and stealing beer.

Meta Bungay, his mother, told CBC News that her son has been taken off some of his medications, and that she fears his mental illness could get worse.

"Justin might go psychotic again," said Bungay, who lives in Grand Bank.

"It's very, very stressful — very stressful. You're trying to get help but you are helpless."

Bungay has spoken out in the past about Dr. David Craig, a St. John's physician who is the attending psychiatrist for inmates at HMP.

Four years ago, Bungay complained to the provincial College of Physicians and Surgeons after Craig took Justin Bungay off his medications.

Bungay said her son was admitted to the psychiatric ward of the Waterford Hospital in St. John's after that decision.

The complaint with the College of Physicians and Surgeons, though, went nowhere.

"They said it would probably be better if Justin put in his own complaint, because what I was saying was only hearsay. It probably wouldn't go very far — there was nothing," she said.

Bungay said she is deeply worried about her son's welfare.

"It seems like there is no one there to help you. We went through this situation before," she said.

Craig has not responded to calls from CBC News about the matter.

CBC News also tried to contact Craig earlier this summer, when another woman complained about her son's treatment at the penitentiary. Susan Cooper claims that her son, Andrew Dunne, tried to commit suicide after he was taken off his medications.