Solitary confinement conditions in a Pennsylvania state prison are unconstitutional, worsening and creating mental illness in those held there, according to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday on behalf of five inmates who say they have spent long periods in “torturous conditions.”
With limited mental health resources, some of the plaintiffs inside the Department of Corrections’ State Correctional Institution at Fayette have attempted suicide, flooded their cells with dirty toilet water, punched walls and written in their own blood, their lawyers said.
The lawsuit accuses prison officials of placing inmates into confinement based on secret evidence, leaving them unable to challenge their placement. Those practices violate the constitutional rights of those incarcerated to due process and freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, their lawyers said.
A number of lawsuits nationally have targeted the conditions of solitary confinement, saying that the treatment of incarcerated people there has led to psychiatric episodes of self-mutilation and death due to lack of adequate care.
I wish we saw prison as a process of preparing people to be productive members of society. Prisoners should at least have the opportunity to learn about making healthy decisions , what triggers anger, ways of controlling/dealing with anger, ways to combat substance abuse, and maybe some kind of skill so they have a chance at employment after release.
But no. We need to focus everything on punishment. The more inhumane the better. Then when you throw private for profit prisons into the mix now there’s an economic insensitive to treat prisoners horribly. (1) it’s cheaper & (2) it increases recidivism rates so that means more money for the shareholders.