From 80-thousand to 100-thousand inmates currently are segregated in prison cells nationwide for 22 to 24 hours a day, and many of them have mental illnesses that begin with isolation, or they have symptoms that are heightened because of it. A report put out this month by Amplifying Voices of People with Disabilities (AVID) found that prisoners with mental illnesses are routinely separated from everyone else. Dawn Adams with Indiana Disability Rights says there’s a lack of understanding about people who are mentally ill, and often what they do is mistaken for bad behavior.
Adam says that means they can’t afford legal help. Her group and the A-C-L-U recently won a court case against the Indiana Department of Corrections, alleging that mentally ill inmates were being kept isolated in harsh conditions. The court found that the department’s practices violated Eighth Amendment prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment.
Melissa Keyes, legal director of Indiana Disability Rights, says since then there have been several improvements made.
The report suggests ways to address the problem in the nation’s prisons, including more funding and data collection, better monitoring of inmates, and giving prisoners a place to turn for help while locked up.
Adams says there also needs to be more help for inmates once they’re released from custody.
The AVID project was developed by Disability Rights Washington and is now a collaboration among advocacy groups in 23 states, including Indiana.