Settlement Could Slightly Improve Life For Mentally Ill Inmates In Illinois

By aaroncynic in News on May 16, 2016 8:22PM

Prison inmates suffering from mental illness will see conditions inside the Illinois Department of Corrections improve—somewhat—thanks to the settling of a years-long court battle.

On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mihm approved a settlement between the state and lawyers representing more than 11,000 inmates suffering from some form of mental illness, who filed a class-action lawsuit in 2007. According to the agreement, four new residential treatment centers will be built at the corrections facilities in Logan, Pontiac, Dixon and the closed Illinois Youth Center in Joliet. This change will allow many inmates housed in solitary confinement to be moved to more treatment-oriented housing. The state Department of Corrections will hire more than 300 new clinical staff and 400 for the units, which will allow for group and one-on-one therapy.

Previously, many inmates with severe mental illness were often sent to solitary confinement or “crisis cells,” where they were stripped of all their possessions, isolated, and monitored 24 hours a day. Solitary confinement itself has been known to cause mental damage, and has been condemned by numerous groups as a form of torture.

Alan Mills, Executive Director of Uptown People’s Law Center, one of the groups representing inmates in the lawsuit, described the conditions he witnessed for a mentally ill inmate in a Monday morning press release:

"He was involuntarily injected with powerful anti-psychotic drugs, but was left otherwise untreated. He was locked in a tiny airless solitary cell 24 hours a day, with 30 more years to do there. He had developed bedsores, as he literally did nothing but lie in bed, zoned out on drugs 24/7.”

“This agreement will end horrors like his,” said Mills.

In addition to the new housing and staff, prisoners with mental illness currently in solitary confinement for more than 60 days will have their out-of-cell time increased from less than an hour a day to 20 hours a week. The IDOC will also review the mental health of prisoners with more than 60 days in solitary to see if they’re eligible for early release. Finally, those confined for minor, non-violent offenses will be released.

"For too long, we have ignored and mistreated the mentally ill population of our correctional institutions due to a systemic failure to recognize their unique circumstances,” said Harold C. Hirshman, who is a partner with Dentons, the legal team that led the class action.