Trating the Mentally Ill 1999

Prison health care in crisis - Aging inmates, hard cases and a violent environment contribute.
By SYDNEY P. FREEDBERG
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 15, 1999
http://www.sptimes.com/News/81599/news_pf/State/Prison_health_care_in.shtml
Treating the mentally ill
“At Florida State Prison, many of the 1,300 prisoners spend days, weeks, months -- and until Valdes' death last month -- years in confinement cells. Some cells have metal doors and have been likened to coffins, space capsules, and dungeons. Inside, most of what can be seen is another wall. Human contact is minimal. Inmates tap into the gossip mill by plunging all the water out of their toilet and shouting down the pipe.
As researchers study the effects of sensory-deprivation conditions on inmates' mental health, Burke said confinement units nationwide will come under increasing scrutiny. The jury is still out, he said.
But prison advocates say the verdict is in: Inmates in isolation experience audio and visual distortions, hallucinations, aggressive fantasies, paranoia, suicide attempts and violent outbursts.
Before he was allegedly beaten to death, Valdes spent years off and on in solitary confinement at FSP, said his family's lawyer, Stuart Goldenberg. He said guards repeatedly tried to provoke Valdes and break him down.
Though it is not clear whether he had any trouble understanding instructions, Susan Cary, a prisoner attorney, said the mentally ill are trapped in a prison system they can't comprehend.
"These seriously mentally disturbed people sometimes don't understand what officers are telling them to do," she said. "The assumption by people in the system is that the inmate is lying if he says he wants to commit suicide. The assumption is he's faking illnesses to get better housing.”