Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Joan Lipinski : Battles for Her Autistic Daughter's Freedom
Sat, 12 Apr 2025
Send us a textJoan Lipinski shares her deeply personal journey fighting for her daughter with Asperger's syndrome who received a 63-month federal prison sentence after being manipulated into bringing contraband into a facility where she worked. Through multiple prison transfers, denied medical care following back surgery, and judicial misunderstanding of autism, Joan has become a determined advocate battling against a system that fails to accommodate neurodiversity.• Joan's daughter was manipulated by an inmate professing love to bring in a package with unknown contents• Judge acknowledged her autism but wanted to "make an example" of her to other prison workers• After sentencing, she endured a harrowing four-month journey through five different facilities• Basic necessities like underwear, socks, and pain medication were withheld for weeks• Her compassionate release was denied when the judge claimed "her autism was overstated"• Joan traveled to Washington DC to meet with senators and representatives• She successfully met with Senator Cruz's staff and personally with Senator Greg Stubbe• Clemency paperwork has been filed as the next step in seeking her daughter's release• Other inmates don't understand her daughter's autistic behaviors, putting her at risk• Joan flies to Texas three times monthly to provide brief respite from the prison environmentIf you know anyone who would like to tell us their story, send them to TonyMantor.com contact, then they can give us their information so one day they may be a guest on our show. Tell everyone everywhere about Why Not Me The World, the conversations we're having and the inspiration our guests give.https://tonymantor.comhttps://Facebook.com/tonymantorhttps://instagram.com/tonymantorhttps://twitter.com/tonymantorhttps://youtube.com/tonymantormusicintro/outro music bed written by T. WildWhy Not Me the World music published by Mantor Music (BMI)
Chapter 1: Who is Joan Lipinski and what is her story?
Joining us today is Joan Lipinski, who has graciously agreed to share her deeply personal and inspiring story to navigate the complexities of the legal system on behalf of her daughter. a journey that led her all the way to the halls of power in Washington, D.C., where she courageously advocated for change.
The challenges she faced have been formidable, forging a path marked by resilience and determination. Through it all, she's gained invaluable wisdom and perspective, making her extraordinary voice in this conversation. Truly grateful to have her here with us today. Thanks for coming on. Thank you so much. Oh, it's my pleasure.
Now, if you would give us a little update on your daughter and her journey that she faced with the legal system.
So initially, when she had her sentencing, it was three years after her first arrest that they actually did the sentencing. And then upon sentencing, they actually remanded her on the spot, which is not what was supposed to happen. She was supposed to self-report. But at the end of the sentencing, his comments were, I would love to have her as my neighbor.
Chapter 2: What led to Joan's daughter’s sentencing and what was the judge’s perspective?
I know that she was manipulated into doing this, but I need to make an example of her. to other nurses and janitors that work in a prison that you can't do this. So, and what happened in my daughter's case was she was manipulated by inmates where she was working to bring a package in that she had no idea what was in the package where she would have never taken it in.
This one inmate was professing his love for her and totally used her and befriended her and you know, built her up and told him he would take care of her. And she just needed to do this for him.
So can you explain, was she in jail for three years before she got the verdict? How did this three-year period come about?
No, she was at home on probation, pre-trial probation for three years till she got sentenced. We were waiting for a sentencing date.
So it took three years from the time that she was arrested until she finally got the verdict. That took three years to do this?
Yes, and it was almost exactly three years. It was April 2nd of 2021, and it was April 5th of 2024.
When the sentencing occurred, I believe you said the judge made a notable remark concerning autism. Can you provide more details about what was said? Additionally, can you elaborate on her journey after the conviction was finalized and the challenges she faced along the way to her final destination?
So at the sentencing, he was like, you know, it was stated that, you know, people with autism don't do well in prison, you know, and she had just had major back surgery too on top of it and was supposed to let her see her neurosurgeon before she was, you know, taken into prison. But anyway, they didn't let her do that. They took her on the spot.
And so the journey was she ended up going to a local jail. She was there for three months. So she was supposed to get medical help and counseling. But they put her in a county jail for three months with no treatment. And then they moved her to a private facility for eight days. And there was no medications. Food was scarce. And they made her sign paperwork that wasn't even hers.
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Chapter 3: How did Joan's daughter’s prison journey unfold after sentencing?
So after she got there, we were going to file for compassionate release because of the horrible treatment. I mean, she almost died a couple times. And mentally, she just was, you know, about out of her mind. So when they filed the compassionate release in the end, which took a couple months to do,
The judge, there was over 500 pages sent with a compassionate release of medical records and requests and what had happened in the previous prisons. And she hadn't gotten any medical treatment for her back or her heart or anything. I don't think the judge read any of it.
And his comment was that her autism, which was Asperger's, that was her diagnosis was Asperger's, was overstated at sentencing and all prisoners have medical issues.
Well, that's sad to hear that the judge dismissed her compassionate relief request. His remark that her Asperger's diagnosis was overstated and that all prisoners have medical issues feels dismissive of her unique struggles, adding insult to an already painful situation. Now, how did you feel witnessing this response from the judge knowing the extent of your daughter's suffering?
Well, that was like stabbing me right in the heart. No, the autism is what got her in there. And then no treatment for medical was what was putting her in so much pain. And she's disabled now. She can barely walk. She's in constant pain. She still, it's a year later, and we still haven't seen a neurosurgeon or a back doctor of any kind.
And she had one day of physical therapy 11 months after her surgery. And her neurosurgeon's never seen what he did, if everything turned out the way it was supposed to. But in the meantime, there has been no counseling of any kind. No medical treatment.
So that started my journey of, well, my journey started back in the county jail, taking her medications away, you know, giving someone who just had major back surgery on a one-inch cot with no pillows, no blankets, you know, sleeping pretty much on metal. which was hard.
And then, which still is the case now, or a year later, she's got a thicker mattress and she does have a pillow, but she's had no treatment. So I started being vocal with the health services people, lieutenants in the prison, fighting for just simple things like underwear and socks. For four weeks, she had no underwear and no socks.
And it was, being a female, it was very, very difficult at the time of the month when you really need that. And I begged and pleaded for underwear and socks and four weeks.
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Chapter 4: What medical and mental health challenges did Joan's daughter face in prison?
I mean, she was in agony.
What was the response when you brought things up that she needed?
Oh, we'll check on her. We'll check on her. And next thing I know, 10 days later, they threw her in solitary. I couldn't find her. I thought she was on her way to federal, you know, because they said she probably wouldn't be there very long. So I'm thinking she's on her way to a federal prison. And I happen to have a video scheduled with her because there's no visitation there.
But I happen to have a video and I thought, I'm going to stay on this video and see what happens. She came on the video and was still there and told me they threw her in solitary confinement. And she wasn't allowed out. She couldn't make phone calls. She wasn't getting her medications. And I was on the phone a lot then. I'm like, are you trying to kill her?
And they're like, well, we don't know why she was put in there. And I said, well, somebody needs to find out what she's doing in there because they said she's going out of her mind. It's feces infested. It's Cockroach infested. And I said, she can't call me. And he goes, well, there's a phone there. I go, yeah, there's a broken phone that an inmate pulled off the wall because they got mad.
So there's no phone.
So what happened after all of that?
So finally, there was no explanation as to why she was put in solitary. And that just about made her crazy. And finally, psychiatry got involved. And finally, after two months, she got some anxiety medicine that helped finally calm her down. So then she started this journey, but with autism, these journeys are very difficult and need change.
And plus she had been changed from unit to unit, to unit, to unit, wasn't allowed outside, never saw daylight, had no exercise for four months. when she started this whole journey, and here she's had back surgery. So when they put her in a car, she could barely get in the car.
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Chapter 5: How did the compassionate release request get handled by the judicial system?
And then when they went to put her on a plane, she could hardly get up the steps, shackled and chained, you know, and on heart medicine on top of it.
So where is she now?
She is at Federal Medical Center in Carswell. And that's, I mean, that's her destination for now. But when she got to Carswell, they had no medical records on her and didn't know what she was doing there. So once again, so here I am, I'm calling. This is when I really started calling people on senators and people, I'm like, I need help. I was working with Walt with prisonology.
I'm like, what do we do? I had attorneys. I'm like, we got to get in touch with somebody. She needs help. They don't even know what she's doing there. They put her in camp clothes, put her in medical clothes, put her back in camp clothes, put her in medical clothes, all the while hauling mattresses and stuff. She was fit to be tied.
And I thought her first day there, she was not going to make it through the night.
Now, this whole process we've been talking about is over the last year?
We're now at a year.
Okay, and there was three years before that. So how long is her sentence that's remaining?
63 months. Five years and three months.
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Chapter 6: What was Joan’s experience fighting for basic necessities and medical care?
Yes.
Okay, so what are you doing now?
So what I'm doing right now is, especially after they denied the compassionate release, which everybody, everybody was thinking she should be able to get that with her medical condition, the way she's been treated, the mental aspect of it, you know, and the judge said... We want her in a medical facility where she gets care. Well, okay, so four months went by. We had no care, no medical facility.
So we thought that would be reason for him to grant the compassionate release plus the autism. And then, like I said, his statement was, well, her autism was overstated and all prisoners have medical issues. No, not all prisoners have major back surgery, heart conditions, and don't get treated for any of it.
right right and get moved to five prisons in four months that's not a normal journey so anyways the more she's there and she keeps in touch with me and i you know i just find out what's going on and so i'm like i have to do everything i can in my power to try and get her out so the next step is clemency and we just filed clemency paperwork
Okay, so in trying to get clemency, what are the steps you had to take to get this started?
So you go online and you pull the form off online.
Okay.
And you fill it out. But then I was able to get another attorney to help me with clemency. He goes, we need to add more to the clemency form. It's an 11-page form.
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Chapter 7: Where is Joan’s daughter now and what is the current status of her sentence?
I'm going to go, and I'm going to carry my papers. I'm going to put them in front of people, and I'm going to talk about this issue. I'm going to talk about the inhumanity that they face in the prisons right now. It's understaffing, no medications. They're hungry. There's not much food. There's been no commissary. They put people on lockdown. The inhumane treatment is unreal.
And Michelle, being a nurse by trade, she has to see people who've lost their legs. They've lost limbs. You know, they're sick. They faint. They have seizures. She can't help them. And she's in a maximum security facility because it's medical. So she's in with white collar crime. She's in with minimum offense, first offenders, and she's also in with murderers.
So your next step was Washington, D.C. How did it go when you went up there?
Yes. So I went to Washington last week and I took a whole packet with me. I put an agenda together. I had a meeting with Senator Cruz's office. I went to his office. I couldn't get a personal visit with him, but I was able to go to a coffee that he had where his staff was there, and I did get to meet him.
So I got to sit down with his staff, and I had my packet of her clemency paperwork and what's happening and just a brief description of why I was there. And I was fighting for her life. I'm fighting for her being now being disabled. I'm fighting for prisoner rights because they don't understand how bad things are in there. We've got no leader right now of the BOP.
A lot of the wardens have resigned. The leadership is lacking. And the treatment within the facility is just inhumane. So I got to sit down and really have a long talk with his legislative aide. And he was like, I really appreciate you letting me know this. He said, I had no idea.
So do you think that the time that you spent up there was productive and did you walk away happy with it?
I think if you take any message away from this at all, they are involved in so many different things that if you have 10 people that go and talk to the same person about the same issues, that's where you start having an impact. And when you start having more people, like 100 people or 1,000 people that are complaining about the same thing, then you start getting people's ears.
Right. That makes a tremendous amount of sense. So you got to see Senator Cruz and talk with some of his people. Did you get a chance to see anyone else?
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Chapter 8: What actions is Joan taking now to advocate for her daughter’s release and care?
Well, then I went from Senator Cruz's office. I went to Rick Scott's office, Senator Rick Scott's office, and dropped the packet off there because I had been in communication with his office. I was not able to get an actual appointment with him. And then I went from there. I went to two other House of Representative offices. And then I went to Senator Greg Stubbe's office.
And I got to sit down with him personally for 15 minutes and his legislative aide, who is responsible for this type of thing.
That's great to hear. How did everything turn out at the meeting once you arrived?
That was my best conversation. At that point, the clemency was filed, but we had no record that it had been received. So they were going to look into that. They were going to talk to people at the office of pardon, find out what options we might have to move forward, see if we can get her paperwork to anybody specifically.
They have a pardon czar who was pardoned by President Trump, who's in charge of pardon, but they don't even know if she's in Washington or where she's at. I've tried to reach out to her. I've reached out to her organization that she personally had. I got word of who might be the next head of the Bureau of Prisons.
I have tried to reach out to that person and get a note sent to them and let them know I'm fighting on behalf of my daughter. I'm concerned about, I already know she's disabled. I'm worried about her coming home in a body bag. I appreciate any help. We can get, you know, people think I'm being overdramatic. I'm like, I'm not being overdramatic.
Two weeks ago, there was a female in her prison that was bullied. Michelle's bullied all the time. That was bullied, constantly was asking for help, and she ended up committing suicide. Is that a concern of mine? Yes, that's a concern of mine.
But she can't say anything because if she acts like that as a problem, she will get thrown into solitary and they will put her in a straight jacket or in a mental ward or whatever they'll do. And then she'll just really go downhill.
Yeah, we definitely don't want that to happen. So what's your next steps? What are you doing now? Are you following up the calls that you had? Have you got any calls coming in?
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