The Nation - News from Sept. 8, 1988

Joyce Brown, the first target of a New York City policy to hospitalize mentally ill homeless people, was arrested on charges of carrying four bags of heroin and two hypodermic needles, authorities said. Brown, 41, who also goes by the name Billie Boggs, was arrested outside an East Harlem housing project on drug possession charges, according to Officer Peter O’Donnell, a police spokesman. Brown drew nationwide attention by battling the city’s policy of hospitalizing street people the city considered mentally ill. She subsequently lectured at Harvard on the plight of the homeless and appeared on national talk shows.