PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE: A federal investigation has found Pennsylvania prisons confine inmates who have serious mental illness or intellectual disabilities in a manner that violates both the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The findings, described Monday in a letter to Gov. Tom Corbett, echo those disclosed in May 2013 about a now-closed prison in Cambria County. The Department of Justice announced at the time that it would broaden to statewide its probe of the treatment of inmates with mental illness…
Between May 2012 and May 2013, the state corrections system kept more than 1,000 prisoners on its mental health roster in solitary confinement for more than 90 days, the Department of Justice found, with nearly 250 of those inmates in solitary for more than a year. And while a small fraction of inmates were held in solitary confinement, the probe found that most suicide attempts occurred in those units… (more)
