Tuesday, December 6, 2016

SPLC Begins Trial on Behalf of Alabama Prisoners with Mental Health Needs


SPLC lawyers went to trial today to force the state of Alabama to provide constitutionally required mental health care to prisoners living in the nation’s most overcrowded prison system.

The opening arguments today kick off the first trial in the SPLC’s broader suit, filed in federal court in 2014, alleging that the mental health and medical needs of prisoners with serious – even life-threatening conditions – are routinely ignored.

This phase of the trial is expected to last eight weeks. A separate trial on the medical issues is expected next year.

The suit describes how the lack of care from the cash-strapped, under-staffed system amounts to “deliberate indifference” by the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) – a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

U.S. District Judge Myron H. Thompson granted class action status to the mental health portion of the lawsuit in late November, meaning that court rulings in this phase of the case will apply to all prisoners in the system.

“Alabama’s failure to provide mental health care to the people it incarcerates puts lives at risk,” said SPLC Senior Staff Attorney Maria Morris. “This lack of treatment is inhumane and unconstitutional. No one in an Alabama prison was sentenced to this kind suffering.” 

Click here for the full article. 

Source: The Southern Poverty Law Center

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