In 2018, Disability Rights Louisiana (then known as Advocacy Center of Louisiana), in partnership with Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center, filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of people in custody at David Wade Correctional Center, a state prison in Claiborne Parish, over their improper use of solitary confinement, and inadequate mental health care. The trial is now set to begin on Monday, January 10th.
In an article published on January 6th by The Lens, Nick Chrastil writes,
(click this link to go to The Lens’ website to read the full article: https://bit.ly/3n65gUb)
“The 2018 suit, originally filed by the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center and Disability Rights Louisiana (formerly known as The Advocacy Center), claimed that prison officials do not properly screen, diagnose or treat mental illness for prisoners held in solitary confinement — also referred to as “extended lockdown” or “restrictive housing” — where they are held in their cell for 23 hours a day and rarely allowed social interaction.”
“These extreme conditions create mental illness, and exacerbate pre-existing mental illness, causing psychotic decompensation and propensity for acts of self- harm,” the complaint alleged. “Some people hear voices, or talk and scream to themselves. Some engage in cutting themselves and attempting suicide to escape the extreme conditions. Two men have sliced open their testicles and one attempted to cut off his ear. Another man climbed a barbed-wire fence and attempted suicide by diving off headfirst. Others bang their heads against the walls.”
“The conditions and lack of treatment for prisoners with mental illness at the facility violates their constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, along with the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act, the suit argues. The case was granted class-action status in September of last year.”
“…The claims made in the lawsuit illustrate a pattern in which prisoners with mental illness are not properly diagnosed or treated, placed in solitary confinement where their conditions get worse, and then are punished through undue uses of force, more disciplinary write ups, and placed on suicide watch, causing further deterioration.”
“But lawyers with Attorney General Jeff Landry’s Office, representing the Louisiana Department of Corrections, say that those claims are significantly overstated. They argue that all prisoners being held in solitary confinement at David Wade “either have no serious mental illness or are in remission or are stable,” and that the treatment provided to them is constitutionally sufficient.”
“Conditions of solitary confinement at the facility gained the attention of criminal justice reform advocates and the media last summer, when a group of prisoners housed in restrictive housing at David Wade went on hunger strike in response to the conditions of their confinement. The prisoners had been transferred to David Wade — which the state uses as a kind of disciplinary camp — from Elayne Hunt Correctional Center and were kept there for months beyond their disciplinary sentences. While there, they were being held in solitary beyond the amount of time dictated by the department’s recently adopted disciplinary sanctions matrix.”
“…A lack of adequate treatment can lead prisoners in solitary confinement to deteriorate, causing them to act out or attempt to harm themselves due to their mental illness. In response to these mental health crises, the attorneys say, David Wade prisoners are frequently placed on suicide watch — even when there is no indication of suicidal ideation or threat of self-harm. While on suicide watch they are stripped of all their clothing and belongings aside from a paper gown, and confined to a concrete cell — sometimes without even a mattress. On extreme suicide watch, they are placed in restraints while in their cell.”
In addition to being inhumane and causing further mental health deterioration, the lawsuit alleges that the harsh conditions of suicide watch also deter prisoners from reporting when they are experiencing mental health emergencies.On top of this, the lawsuit alleges that prisoners are frequently subject to both physical and verbal abuse from staff.”
The trial, in front of U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Foote, is set to last four weeks.
