PRESS RELEASE
LAWSUIT CHARGES THAT DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION WAREHOUSES MENTALLY ILL PRISONERS IN SEGREGATION
BOSTON, March 8, 2007 -- The Disability Law Center today sued the Department of Correction to end the practice of holding prisoners with serious mental illness in segregation, where they are locked in their cell at least 23 hours a day. “We visited prisoners at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center and MCI Cedar Junction, toured the units, reviewed records, and, after an intensive year-long investigation, had our worst fears confirmed,” said Stanley J. Eichner, executive director of the Disability Law Center. “The system is broken. These men are being subjected to intolerable conditions which cause them to gravely harm themselves – too often fatally. In the past year, eight prisoners have committed suicide while in segregation. DLC is bringing this suit to redress the wrongful treatment of prisoners with mental illness.”
“For nearly 20 years, the DOC has ignored recommendations from its own mental health providers and consultants, as well as from Blue Ribbon Commissions appointed by two separate Governors to create therapeutic units as an alternative to segregation,” added Leslie Walker, director of Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services and an attorney on the case. “In light of this history, we cannot rely on the DOC to provide what is needed. Many other states are already saving lives by removing mentally ill prisoners from segregation, including California, Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, Connecticut and New Mexico. We need an enforceable order to safeguard these vulnerable prisoners.”
The complaint filed in Federal Court in Boston today alleges that DOC’s actions violate the 8th Amendment to the Constitution by subjecting the prisoners with serious mental illness to cruel and unusual punishment and that DOC discriminates against the prisoners in violation of the American with Disabilities Act. “Courts have repeatedly held that to warehouse mentally ill prisoners in this way violates the Constitution,” said Robert Fleischner of the Center for Public Representation . “We won’t be satisfied until our clients are guaranteed treatment units at all security levels, including the highest security, with enough capacity so that nobody with mental illness is wrongfully held in segregation.”
“This is an issue of great public concern,” said Jim Rollins, a partner in the Boston of Bingham McCutchen representing the DLC pro bono. “There have been eight suicides in the past year alone -- and many more prisoners continue to suffer outside the public view. In addition to this human tragedy, there are public safety concerns when mentally ill prisoners are released straight from isolation to the street. Bingham is committed to assisting DLC with enforcing these prisoners’ rights to humane treatment.”
As the state’s protection and advocacy agency, the DLC has federal statutory authority to represent the interests of prisoners with mental illness. It filed suit on their behalf after conducting a year-long investigation of conditions facing mentally ill prisoners in segregation. The legal team includes Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services; Disability Law Center, Inc.; Bingham McCutchen LLP, and the Center for Public Representation.
Geoghan Murder, 10/1/2003
PRESS RELEASE
At a press conference today, Leslie Walker stated:
"Catherine Geoghan believes the investigation into John Geoghan's death is being subverted by prison guards who are intimidating and harassing witnesses and by prison administrators who are punishing potential witnesses. She is right."
In support of Ms. Geoghan's statement, Ms. Walker reported the following:
- "Guards are threatening prisoners who were interviewed by MCLS attorneys, investigators for the Governor's panel, and investigators for the Worcester County District Attorney. Some were charged with questionable violations of prison rules and have been placed in solitary confinement. Guards have told prisoners that when public attention fades, they will take their revenge. Similarly, corrections staff have been warned not to speak and some fear for their jobs. Examples of specific threats are contained in a letter MCLS sent to the Commissioner of Correction on September 23, 2003. Copies of that letter are available to you. There has been no response to this letter."
- "The prisoners in the unit where Geoghan died have been locked in their cells for all but a few minutes per day since shortly after his murder on August 23. The lockdown of the unit did not begin right after John Geoghan died but was instituted only after prisoners publicly criticized the Department for failing to protect him. This regimen is illegal. It is also a prime example of the Department of Corrections mismanagement. It is not necessary to lock these prisoners in their cells constantly in order to protect them. What is required is a removal of the predatory prisoners, yet that has not occurred. What is also required is a careful examination of the system that houses the vulnerable with the violent. No competent correctional administration would hold vulnerable protective custody prisoners,"many of whom are mentally ill or mentally retarded - in the same unit as violent predators."
Copies of Ms. Walker's letter to Superintendent Ficco protesting this lockdown are also available to you. It has similarly received no response.
- "Irrationality in prisoner housing decisions is a hallmark of current Department of Correction practice. The Department's own research demonstrates that the majority of all DOC prisoners are held in expensive high security prisons. The housing of prisoners in these facilities is entirely unnecessary. It is an enormously expensive practice and a waste of taxpayers money. John Geoghan was an excellent example of such mismanagement. A non-violent prisoner, he was placed in a super-maximum prison only because guards who wanted him to suffer manipulated the system to put him there."
"The only thing that separates John Geoghan from countless other prisoners is that he died. Many prisoners experience the same abuse and mistreatment. Since the current panel's investigation is limited to the circumstances surrounding Geoghan's death, it is imperative that numerous critical, systemic issues be reviewed in depth by a Blue Ribbon commission. MCLS therefore calls for the appointment of a Blue Ribbon commission charged with taking a long-overdue critical look at the three quarters of a billion dollars expended annually on corrections. The commission must also investigate the culture of abuse and mismanagement that is the norm in the Commonwealth's prisons. No state agency should remain unaccountable.
"Massachusetts has a golden opportunity to make significant, long overdue changes in its correctional system. Secretary Edward Flynn was chosen by the Governor in part because of reputation as someone willing to make changes, someone committed to best practices and innovation. The Department would like nothing better than to have things return to business as usual. Massachusetts deserves better."
Geoghan Murder, 9/4/2003
PRESS RELEASE
Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services asserts that the panel charged with investigating John Geoghan's murder is inadequate. This murder is about much more than John Geoghan. The murder is the result of a widespread failure to properly classify and place prisoners and a correctional culture that is encourages abuse. We therefore call for a genuinely independent and credible panel that the public can confidently assume will conduct a thorough investigation.
The panel that Governor Romney has appointed is unacceptable. Mark Reilly is employed by the agency whose practices are under investigation. George Camp, is a correctional consultant who has a history of being a hired gun for management. A federal judge recently said in a published opinion that Camp's proposed testimony in a prison case was "misleading" and "unhelpful and founded on biased and unreliable evidence," and refused to permit his testimony. We need a panel with members who have demonstrated independence and integrity under analogous circumstances. The Stern Commission, which investigated problems at the Suffolk County Jail, is a good example of such a properly impartial investigative body.
It is not an aberration that Geoghan was placed in the same housing unit as a prisoner with a history of horrible violence towards persons just like Geoghan. MCLS has received recent reports in the course of its work that:
- A prisoner at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center was beaten up by his cell mate, sustaining a broken shoulder, after correctional staff revealed that he was a sex offender and refused his request for protective custody.
- A MCI-Concord prisoner witnessed a correctional manager give another inmate Marlborough cigarettes to beat up another prisoner in the protective custody unit. The same prisoner witnessed a guard give another prisoner a razor which the prisoner then used to try to kill himself.
- A mentally retarded prisoner at MCI-Norfolk had his leg broken in three places when correctional staff stood by while he was attacked by four other prisoners.
- A prisoner at Souza-Baranowski was encouraged to kill himself, and was on the receiving end of milk containers filled with urine and feces hurled at him by other prisoners in the unit.
- A prisoner asserts that Souza-Baranowski guards recruited him on at least half a dozen occasions to beat up other prisoners.
Unfortunately, the violence suffered by Geoghan is also not remarkable. Prisoners perceived as weak or who are disliked due to homophobia or the nature of their crimes are at risk of violence. Prison guards are often complicit in physical abuse.
These stories reflect two major problems. First, the DOC has long tolerated and condoned a prison culture that permits the mistreatment and abuse of prisoners. Second, the DOC routinely sends minor offenders to the super-maximum security prison at Shirley, that was designed for prisoners with records of extreme violence. This prison costs an enormous amount of taxpayer money to build and operate and is not suitable for many of the prisoners, including those who are mentally ill or mentally retarded, who are often housed there.
The Governor has a responsibility to address the serious problems in the operation of the DOC that have been exposed by the murder of John Geoghan. The composition of the investigative panel should reflect official determination to get to the heart of the systemic failures that led to John Geoghan's death.
