Solitary confinement detrimental to inmates’ mental health
An investigation of the state’s correctional system conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed that the constitutional rights of mentally ill prisoners are being violated by housing inmates in solitary confinement, and that the overload of mentally ill inmates essentially forces staff to warehouse them rather than get them necessary treatment.
The report, which was released in February, studied six state correctional institutions, including the State Correctional Institutions at Greene and Fayette, determined that while the state Department of Corrections (PDOC) has already begun to address the problem, more work is still needed.
“Now is the time to put a stop to these harmful solitary confinement practices and to meaningfully improve the mental health services PDOC provides,” the report states.
In August 2013, DOJ representatives, along with mental health experts as consultants, visited six prisons across the state and evaluated the use and effects of solitary confinement on prisoners with serious mental illnesses (SMI) and/or intellectual disabilities (ID). These are inmates with substantial disorders that impair their ability to recognize reality or cope with the demands of ordinary life, according to the report.
The DOJ found that Pennsylvania’s prison are increasingly being called upon “to take on the task of serving as the state’s primary caregiver for those with SMI.”
“However,” the authors went on, “PDOC’s unenviable burden of having to take care of these prisoners cannot excuse its all too routine practice of using a harsh form of solitary confinement to control those with SMI and/or ID instead of providing them with the mental health care treatment they need.”
“Instead of having systems in place to ensure adequate mental health care throughout its facilities, PDOC uses isolation to control prisoners with mental illness as they become more ill and less stable,” the report states. “By subjecting prisoners with SMI to prolonged periods of solitary confinement under harsh conditions that are not necessary for legitimate security-related issues, PDOC exposes them to an excessive and obvious risk of serious harm.”
Sue Bensinger, PDOC deputy press secretary, said the department has already increased mental health staff and has just entered into a contract with a mental health provider to begin upgrading the current procedures and policies related to mentally ill inmates.
She said prisons will offer more out-of-cell structured activities for mentally ill prisoners in solitary confinement, activities that help transition those inmates back into the general population safely. Also, efforts are in place to certify more inmates as peer specialists, she said. As mentors, inmates help other inmates while gaining skills that can be useful when they are released and seeking employment.
“We’re working diligently on training staff,” said Bensinger. Crisis intervention training is being implemented to help front-line staff like corrections officers understand the root cause on inmate behavior issues. Better understanding can help reduce the frequency of misconduct reports and the number of times inmates are recommitted to solitary.
“Crisis intervention training looks at the inmate, the behavior and what is the best way to deal with that behavior,” Bensinger said. “Let’s give our staff the tools to understand what they are looking for.”
The report indicates that in the months following the prison visits, PDOC began immediately taking action to correct the issues that arose in the investigation, and that the overall number of mentally ill prisoners in solitary confinement decreased. “Nevertheless, much more needs to be done,” the report concluded.
Prisoners in solitary confinement spend 23 hours a day in a small, sparsely furnished cell — even by prison standards. The lighting can be dimmed but never turned off, and most solitary cells have no windows. Communication with counselors and delivery of food occurs through the same narrow slit in the door.
And prisoners spend lengthy periods in these cells. “We found that PDOC is twice as likely to use solitary on prisoners with SMI and that over 1,000 prisoners identified on PDOC’s active mental health roster spent three or more continuous months in solitary from May 2012 to May 2013.”
The report states that in most of the solitary confinement units investigators toured, staff members routinely responded to prisoners exhibiting symptoms of mental illness by ratcheting up the punishment.
“Restrictions can include harsh measures, such as unjustifiably requiring the prisoner to remain confined to his cell 24/7; denying the prisoner bedding material or running water and taking away the prisoner’s clothes,” the authors stated. “Corrections officers are empowered to impose these restrictions for up to seven days at a time without conferring with mental health staff members and with nothing other than the approval of the unit’s shift commander.”
Investigators also uncovered unnecessary and excessive use of restraints on prisoners with SMI in solitary confinement. Full-body restraints are meant for emergency situations to ensure the safety of the prisoner and people around him or her, and should only be used briefly, the report indicated, but investigators found that “of the more than 260 full-body restraint incidents between January 2012 and June 2013, almost 75 percent lasted longer than seven hours and 15 percent lasted longer than 12 hours.”
Rather than using full-body restraints for emergencies, staff seemed more interested in using them as a means to discipline prisoners by causing discomfort or pain, the study revealed.
While solitary confinement often exacerbates the symptoms of prisoners with mental illnesses, it can also cause otherwise healthy inmates’ mental health to significantly deteriorate, investigators found.
One inmate, described in his initial evaluation as “friendly, motivated to engage in educational activities, and unlikely to be a problem while incarcerated,” spent most of the 25 years he was incarcerated in solitary confinement.
After being housed separately for that amount of time, the prisoner became floridly psychotic, disorganized and unable to address his personal hygiene and nutrition, the report states.
Twice during his incarceration, the inmate was taken to an off-site facility for intensive mental health treatment, and he improved dramatically. However, prison staff took the improvements as evidence the prisoner was faking mental illness, according to the report, and after each off-site stay, he was returned to solitary confinement where his condition again deteriorated.
“He is locked in a cycle of chaotic behavior, mental deterioration and disciplinary infractions,” the authors concluded.
In order to avoid further violations of inmates’ constitutional rights against cruel and unusual punishment and of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the DOJ offered recommendations to the PDOC, including making sure mentally ill prisoners are offered adequate therapeutic and recreational out-of-cell treatment consistent with their security levels and treatment needs and increasing mental health staffing levels.