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Prisons in the News

By Jeralyn, Section Inmates and Prisons
Posted on Fri Feb 04, 2005 at 05:02:47 AM EST
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With all the attention that has been focused on abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and at Guantanamo, are we forgetting to look at our own prison system? In this week's news:

Conditions within the Secured Housing Unit of western Indiana's Wabash Valley Correctional Facility have caused prisoners to hallucinate, rip chunks of flesh from their bodies, rub human excrement on themselves and attempt suicide, the ACLU charged.

The unit in Carlisle houses up to 288 prisoners in solitary, windowless cells, and one-half to two-thirds of them are mentally ill, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Terre Haute. The complaint seeks a ban on the state placing mentally ill prisoners in the unit and class action status to represent all mentally ill prisoners assigned to the unit at the prison about 30 miles south of Terre Haute. It does not seek monetary damages.

Los Angeles County's largest jail is so outdated, understaffed and riddled with security flaws that it jeopardizes the lives of guards and inmates, the county's expert on the jail system concluded in a confidential report recommending that the facility be closed.

< Prisoner Strangled on Bus, Returning From Court | Rumsfeld Avoids Visiting Germany Due to Lawsuit Naming Him >

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    • Prisons in the News | 4 comments (4 topical)
    Re: Prisons in the News (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Feb 04, 2005 at 02:30:48 AM EST
    There was also a civil rights lawsuit filed recently against the Dallas County Jail regarding mentally ill prisoners.

    Re: Prisons in the News (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Feb 04, 2005 at 07:33:09 AM EST
    Something needs to be done, from good citizens. Criminals who are not redeemed, just get worse and are returned to society much sicker.

    Re: Prisons in the News (none / 0) (#3)
    by kipling on Fri Feb 04, 2005 at 03:41:01 PM EST
    "hallucinate"? Are they by any chance being injected against their will, like this former gitmo "terrorist"?:
    "The ERF team would come into the cell, place us face down on the ground then putting our arms behind our backs and our legs bending backwards they would shackle us and hold us down restrained in that position whilst somebody from the medical corps pulled up my sleeve and injected me in the arm," said Ahmed. His statement continues...
    Shorely not!!

    Re: Prisons in the News (none / 0) (#4)
    by chris on Sat Feb 05, 2005 at 05:31:42 PM EST
    When are people going to either inform themselves or educate themselves about prisons? Wanting better results requires money Taxes etc. If you want to turn prisons into productive systems to manage criminals than it is expensive. Tougher rules, Tighter controls and committment to succed from the criminals should be matched with decent programs and funding. A program fully funded such as "no criminal left behind" is a start

    Prisons in the News | 4 comments (4 topical)