人兽性交 trial over mental health treatment in Alabama prisons concludes
After hearing two months of testimony, a federal judge will now decide whether Alabama鈥檚 troubled prison system violates the rights of prisoners by failing to provide adequate mental health care.
U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson is expected to rule in the 人兽性交 case within the next few months, following a trial that began Dec. 5 and ended last week.
The 人兽性交 presented witnesses and evidence depicting a cash-strapped, understaffed prison system whose failure to ensure proper mental health care amounts to 鈥渄eliberate indifference鈥� 鈥� a violation of the U.S. Constitution鈥檚 ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
As the trial progressed, a picture emerged of an Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) that rarely connects prisoners with their mental health caregivers 鈥� a system that cannot provide them with a safe environment and the therapy they need, or even identify those who most need help. The Department is quick to give involuntary medication orders, fatally slow to respond to suicidal thoughts and keen on saving money when it can.
Incarcerated witnesses told the judge about horrific conditions, especially in the spaces designated for mental health treatment. Expert witnesses recounted hearing inmates plead with them from their cells during official visits. 鈥淭his place is killing me,鈥� a 24-year-old prisoner named Jamie Wallace had said, 鈥減lease get me out of here.鈥�
鈥淣o one in Alabama鈥檚 prisons was sentenced to this kind of suffering,鈥� said Maria Morris, 人兽性交 senior staff attorney and lead counsel in the case. 鈥淭o be locked away in isolation and forgotten by the prison system, just because of a mental illness, is a punishment that fits no crime.鈥�
Prison officials, for their part, had little to say in their defense. Officials with MHM Correctional Services, the for-profit company hired by ADOC to provide mental health care, pinned the blame on a lack of resources, a difficulty in recruiting staff, and the thin ranks of security officers that leave the prisons unsafe for their employees.
The trial in Montgomery, Alabama, was part of a broader suit filed by the 人兽性交 in 2014 against ADOC, which operates some of nation鈥檚 most overcrowded and understaffed prisons. A second trial, expected later this year, will focus on the 人兽性交鈥檚 allegations that the state also routinely ignores the medical needs of prisoners.
The trial began with Wallace showing the judge the scars on his arm and neck. They were the telltale signs of the wounds he had opened and re-opened on his body with razors and improvised blades, including the sharpened top of a Skoal can. Wallace, who suffered from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, testified that when he was held in isolation he simply had nothing to do 鈥渂ut pace the floor.鈥�
Ten days after his testimony, Wallace was found dead in his cell from suicide.
He had hanged himself, fresh off a stay in a suicide watch cell. The jarring turn of events gave new urgency to a trial that showed the system鈥檚 failures begin the moment prisoners enter the system.
Dr. Kathryn Burns, chief psychiatrist for the Ohio Department of Corrections, testified that ADOC fails to identify many prisoners with mental problems when they arrive.
In most prison systems, Burns said, 20 to 30 percent of prisoners need mental health services. In Alabama, just 14 percent are listed as needing care. That likely means many people aren鈥檛 even eligible for therapy, she said.
In one case, shown in a 2015 email between top ADOC officials, a prisoner who tried to kill himself had attempted once before, in 2014. Despite two attempts, the prisoner was not on the mental health caseload and received no more care than a prisoner without any mental illness at all.
鈥淚t鈥檚 difficult to call this a system, because it misses people at intake and people can鈥檛 join,鈥� Burns said. 鈥淭his is the worst system I鈥檝e ever seen.鈥� Because of that initial failure, she testified, the system 鈥渇alls apart at the front door.鈥�
After intake, Burns and other experts testified, the treatment gets no better. Even those who are identified as needing mental health services are cared for by underqualified mental health staff. The psychotherapy they receive, if any, is rarely more than a superficial check-in. And the Department struggles to properly respond to inmates with mental health problems that cause harmful behavior.
Burns interviewed 77 prisoners and visited nine of the 15 Alabama prison facilities. In testimony that became especially important after Jamie Wallace鈥檚 death, she discussed the substantial risk of serious harm for suicidal prisoners who are observed only at 15-minute intervals rather than being observed continuously or at staggered intervals.
Burns also testified that during her tours of Alabama prisons, she saw isolation units where cell windows were covered with metal, letting in only 鈥減inpricks of sunlight.鈥� Some were occupied by prisoners who had been there for months and who would not respond when spoken to.
The dangers of segregation 鈥� essentially solitary confinement 鈥� were also highlighted by Dr. Robert Hunter, who is in charge of psychiatric services for the prison system.
Hunter, the chief psychiatrist and medical director for MHM, testified that a stint in segregation 鈥� or the prospect of facing one 鈥� is a common factor among inmates who have died by suicide in Alabama鈥檚 prisons.
鈥淎ny inmate in [segregation] is at risk of deterioration,鈥� Hunter said. 鈥淚 think, overall, the concept of segregation in corrections should be re-thought 鈥� it鈥檚 generally recognized that prolonged segregation is deleterious to a person鈥檚 mental health.鈥�
When Hunter met with prison officials and MHM employees in October 2015 to discuss the rising number of suicides in Alabama prisons, solitary confinement was part of the discussion. Prison officials, however, never followed up and made no substantive policy changes. Hunter testified that more than a dozen prisoners had killed themselves between October 2015 and December 2016.
A prisoner identified in the trial as M.P. was held in segregation for six years. He testified about living in a 鈥渟ingle-man cell鈥� with an area smaller than a parking space. The cell had no central air during Alabama鈥檚 brutally hot summers. M.P. said he struggled with suicidal thoughts and survived several suicide attempts. In segregation, he testified, he heard voices in his head saying, 鈥淚t鈥檚 not worth it. Give up.鈥�
Trial testimony also revealed that prisoners receiving treatment don鈥檛 necessarily find themselves in a better situation. Dr. Craig Haney, a nationally renowned prison psychology expert who toured some of Alabama鈥檚 prisons, told the court he found that cells used to 鈥渢reat鈥� severely mentally ill prisoners 鈥� therapeutic cells 鈥� are indistinguishable from the harshest solitary confinement cells.
In fact, Haney said, the prison system so blurs the line between a therapeutic cell and a solitary confinement cell that it 鈥渃onflates punishment and treatment in terms of the harshness of the conditions.鈥� Overall, he told the court, the risk to mentally ill prisoners is 鈥渟ubstantial and the harm is serious.鈥�
Eldon Vail, the former head of Washington state鈥檚 prisons, testified that Alabama prisons are simply getting it wrong when it comes to dealing with prisoners who harm themselves. The proper response is to intervene with therapy, not discipline. Placing an inmate in segregation for self-harm will exacerbate the behavior, Vail said.
Many of the system鈥檚 failures 鈥� to provide proper psychotherapy, medication and a more appropriate response to self-harm 鈥� are rooted in the severe understaffing of Alabama鈥檚 prisons. Vail said the lack of ADOC security staff and overcrowding in general puts more stress on mental health patients and leads to inadequate treatment.
鈥淚f you don鈥檛 have enough staff to do the job, some things have to go,鈥� he said.
As prison system officials and others took the witness stand, ADOC鈥檚 failure to take responsibility became a common theme.
When Anna Davis-Walker, one of MHM鈥檚 top managers in the state, was asked who takes responsibility for implementing plans to correct problems, she dodged the question.
A frustrated Judge Thompson questioned Davis-Walker himself.
鈥淲here does the buck stop?鈥� he asked.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 stop with anyone,鈥� she answered.
Ruth Naglich, ADOC鈥檚 associate commissioner for health services, blamed her failure to correct problems at the feet of the Alabama Legislature, citing funding cuts and staffing shortages.
Attorneys for the state tried to divert attention from the failures by suggesting the possibility that new prison construction would resolve the problems. The prospect was raised as Gov. Robert Bentley has once again proposed a plan to build four massive prisons at an ultimate cost to taxpayers of $1.5 billion.
Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn, however, admitted under questioning by Judge Thompson that the construction plan did not specifically address the provision of mental health care.
When Vail, the former Washington state prisons chief, was on the stand, a defense attorney asked whether 鈥渕odern design鈥� and 鈥渁dvances in the art鈥� of correctional design could allow fewer correctional officers to watch a larger number of inmates.
Vail鈥檚 response: No, it would not.
The exchange led the judge to question the relevance of the issue or new prison construction to the allegations in the suit. 鈥淲e鈥檙e talking about buildings that don鈥檛 exist in Alabama?鈥� Thompson asked before the defense quickly moved on.
Throughout the trial, Wallace鈥檚 death cast a long shadow.
In the wake of his suicide, the 人兽性交 filed an emergency motion to force the ADOC to take immediate action to protect suicidal prisoners. It described how other prisoners were at 鈥渟ubstantial risk of profoundly irreparable harm.鈥�
The motion, which sought a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction, asked the court to ensure that the state provides a 鈥渕easure of basic compliance with Plaintiffs鈥� constitutional rights鈥� that will 鈥減rotect against immediate threat to human life.鈥�
Lawyers from both sides worked to hammer out an agreement to protect the prisoners. The order, issued by the judge, was a 15-point plan mandating that the ADOC hire more staff, implement a 鈥渃onstant watch鈥� system for suicidal inmates and report the number of people on suicide watch to the plaintiffs.
鈥淚 think we were all affected by the suicide of [Wallace],鈥� said Dunn, the corrections commissioner. He told the court he was committed to implementing the interim plan.
The order provided a temporary fix 鈥� a plan to get the prison system through the next 60 days 鈥� but it was clear that a permanent solution would be needed.
Haney, the prison psychology expert, offered testimony during the last week of the trial that underscored the need. He repeatedly expressed disbelief as he recounted his visits to some of Alabama鈥檚 worst prison facilities.
鈥淭he conditions of the Holman [Correctional Facility] segregation unit are really difficult to capture in words,鈥� he said. He described having to step over a puddle of urine in front of one cell and hearing 鈥渟creaming, shouting 鈥� people yelling, 鈥楶lease help me.鈥�
鈥淚t was a shocking experience.鈥�
At Donaldson Correctional Facility, Haney found therapeutic cells to be virtually identical to Alabama鈥檚 harshest solitary confinement cells.
It was there, he said, that he met Jamie Wallace.
鈥淭he level of desperation among the prisoners who were housed there, the physical conditions 鈥� were striking and surprising,鈥� Haney said. 鈥淐ertainly the level of desperation among the prisoners did not suggest that they were in a therapeutic environment.
鈥淚t suggested something quite the opposite.鈥�
