A clash is brewing nationwide between prison wardens and inmate advocates over long-term detentions of mentally ill prisoners in solitary confinement, according to an Associated Press report. The report highlights several recent cases.
Advocates in several states are fighting over cases of mentally ill inmates being held in long-term solitary confinement.
They include a $22 million jury award to a New Mexico prisoner who "extracted a tooth by hand, rocking it back and forth in the socket for hours, after going without medical or dental care while in solitary confinement for 2 years."
Advocates for other mentally ill inmates have failed to persuade judges that staying locked away for as much as 23 hours a day amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. According to the report, prison officials say keeping some mentally ill inmates in long-term isolation amounts to a safety benefit, both for the prison population and the inmates who are deemed dangerous enough to be kept in "administrative segregation."
Advocates, however, including the American Civil Liberties Union, say it only exacerbates the troubles of mentally ill inmates. Activists are pushing the issue in several states, the report says. It is unclear just how many of the nation's inmates are held in long-term solitary confinement.
The arguments against solitary confinement for the mentally ill appears similar to a debate over the death penalty for the mentally ill. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that executing mentally retarded criminals amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
In 2007, the high court found that courts weighing execution need to consider whether a condemned inmate is so out of touch with reality that he can't understand the link between the crimes and the ultimate punishment, or the point of it.
Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, May 18, 2012
