When Peter Robbins, the original voice of cartoon character Charlie Brown, was released from prison in 2019, he expressed hope that he could finally turn his life around after struggling for years with mental illness, addiction and “manic,” threatening behavior that led to his five-year sentence.
But the former child actor’s suicide last week, a little over two years after his release from prison, could raise questions about whether the conditions of his incarceration worsened the symptoms of his bipolar disorder and caused lasting trauma. Being in prison is known to be “inherently damaging” to mental health and to worsen symptoms for people who already have been diagnosed with a mental illness, according to a 2021 Prison Policy Initiative report.
Robbins, who died at age 65, told the Providence Journal in November 2019 about prison being a “trip through hell.” He said that White gang members once covered his head with a blanket and beat him for going to a Catholic Mass with Latino prisoners. The Escondido native also told Fox 5 TV in San Diego that his “lowest” point in prison came in solitary confinement.
“These people were screaming all throughout the night,” said Robbins. “Plus, the guards knocked on your door every 20 minutes to make sure you’re still alive.”
But Robbins tried to put a positive spin on going through “hell,” saying that he had finally received the treatment he needed. He was sent to Atascadero State Hospital after also being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
“At the end, I was successfully paroled into the hospital, where for the first time in my life I received treatment,” said Robbins, who voiced Charlie Brown in the classic 1960s Peanuts TV specials.
Robbins also told Fox 5 TV: “I came out of prison and I’m a better person for it. I’m much more humble, grateful and thankful that I lived through the experience.”
But on Tuesday, Fox 5 TV anchor and friend Phil Blauer broke the news that Robbins had died by suicide last week. Blauer chronicled Robbins’ ups and downs over the years, including interviewing him in jail following his arrest for criminal threats he made against several people, including a girlfriend, a sheriff’s deputy and the owners of a mobile home park where he had lived.
Blauer tweeted: “My heart is broken today. May he rest in peace and soar in heaven. I only hope he finally kicks the football among the angels.”
My heart is broken today. I just found out that my good friend #PeterRobbins, the original voice of #CharlieBrown has died. May he rest in peace and soar in heaven . I only hope he finally kicks the football among the angels..
My tributes on @fox5sandiego news from 430-730 pic.twitter.com/zthoaFihqu
— Phil Blauer (@PhilBFox5) January 26, 2022
My tributes on Information was not immediately available about how Robbins had been doing in the time before his suicide. But extensive research on incarceration’s impact on mental health suggests that his prison experience could have contributed to his recent struggles.
As the Prison Policy Initiative said in its 2021 report: “The carceral environment can be inherently damaging to mental health by removing people from society and eliminating meaning and purpose from their lives. On top of that, the appalling conditions common in prisons and jails — such as overcrowding, solitary confinement, and routine exposure to violence — can have further negative effects.”
In particular, solitary confinement, a common practice in many U.S. prisons, is known to be especially harmful to mental health, the report said. Robbins didn’t say how long he had been kept alone. But depriving humans, who are naturally social beings, of the ability to interact with others can cause “social pain” and lead to permanent changes to people’s brains and personalities, the report said.
It’s well known that high numbers of people with mental health disorders are locked up in America’s prisons and jails, the Prison Policy Initiative also said. According to a 2017 Bureau of Justice Statistics report, half of the people incarcerated in prisons and two-thirds of people in jails had either current “serious psychological distress” or a history of mental health problems.
It’s hard to expect that these people will come out of prison in better mental health, Christine Montress, a Brown University associate professor of psychiatry, told NPR in 2020.
“People who are mentally ill to begin with are in circumstances that are not therapeutic and supportive at all, that are extremely punitive,” said Montress, a 2015 Guggenheim fellow. “It’s unrealistic for us to imagine that people can emerge from those situations psychologically intact.”
Researchers have further theorized that incarceration can lead to “Post-Incarceration Syndrome,” a syndrome similar to PTSD, the Prison Policy Initiative report said. This means that even after serving their time and returning home, many people will continue to suffer the mental effects of incarceration.
Solitary confinement in particular can add to people’s difficulties after leaving jail or prison. A 2020 study from researchers at the University of North Carolina, Emory University and the North Carolina Departments of Public Safety and Public Health found that any amount spent in solitary confinement increases a person’s risk of death in the first year after they return to the community — including deaths by suicide, homicide, and opioid overdose.
Robbins left prison after serving 80% of his five-year sentence. He returned to making appearances at comic book conventions, including the 2019 Rhode Island Comic Con, where he told a reporter how his mental health struggles began in his teens, after he aged out of playing Charlie Brown. He got caught up in alcohol and prescription drug abuse and a dysfunctional relationship that led to his legal troubles and jail stints.
Still, Robbins said he had come to embrace the role that made him famous.
“I am alive today, in part, because of Charlie Brown,” he told the Providence Journal. Signing autographs at conventions helped him earn a living. Making such appearances also was “a testament that parole works. Going to anger management works. Taking the proper medication works,” he said.
“I would recommend to anybody that has bipolar disorder to take it seriously, because your life can turn around in a span of a month like it did to me,” Robbins added.
He also noted parallels between himself and his fictional counterpart, saying that Charlie Brown famously kept trying “time and time again” to kick the football.
“That is why Charlie Brown is such a wonderful character,” Robbins said. “He does see a psychiatrist, so he knows he has got some problems, and he is trying to get help. They always say that Charlie Brown is a lovable loser but, at the end of the day, he gathers everybody around the tree.”
If you or someone you know might be having thoughts of suicide, help is available at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Their number is 1-800-273-8255 — or 1-800-273-TALK.