ACLU Report Condemns Colorado’s Warehousing of Mentally Ill Prisoners in Solitary Confinement

By David Reutter

Despite being aware that prolonged isolation of seriously mentally ill prisoners can be devastating, the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) continues to house hundreds of prisoners it knows suffer from mental illness in long-term administrative segregation. A new report, Out of Sight, Out Of Mind, issued by the ACLU of Colorado in August 2013, highlights its finding on the “warehousing” of seriously mentally ill prisoners in “small barren cells” 23 hours per day.

The report draws on 18 months of research, including interviews with prisoners, analysis of CDOC data, site visits, and review of prisoner health files. On any given day in fiscal year 2012, “CDOC housed between 537 and 686 mentally ill prisoners in solitary conditions of administrative segregation.”

While CDOC’s administrative segregation population has decreased recently, “the percentage of mentally ill prisoners in administrative segregation jumped from 46.4 percent to 57.7 percent” between June 2011 and June 2012. Yet, only 32 percent of CDOC’s population has psychiatric needs.

Several studies have found that seriously mentally ill prisoners have more difficulty conforming to the strict behavioral expectations of prison life than other prisoners. They commit disciplinary infractions “at three times the rate of non-seriously mentally ill counterparts.” Such infractions worsen as the length of stay in confinement continues.

The report cites case studies of two prisoners. One of them has been in confinement for 15 years. Before that placement, he had not shown signs of mental illness. Now, his prolonged isolation is being cited by psychiatrist as the cause of his psychotic features, including chronic paranoid schizophrenia.

The other case is about a prisoner who was diagnosed as bipolar disorder upon his 2004 housing in administrative segregation. Between 2007 and 2010, he was charged with several counts of assault with his bodily fluids, “which appear closely related periods of mental deterioration.” The resulting convictions extended his release date from 2012 to 2049. He now faces another such assault charge; psychiatrist diagnoses him as incompetent to stand trial and say his condition will act change while in isolation.

CDOC responded in recent years to the situation with its offenders with Mental Illness Program. It has abandoned that ineffective program and opened a 240 bed Residential Treatment Program. Yet, as of March 2013, CDOC is still housing at least 87 seriously mentally ill prisoners in administrative segregation.

CDOC must stop relying on prolonged isolation as the means of managing seriously mentally ill prisoners, “states the report. Of those, 54 have been in isolation over a year and 14 have been isolated for over 4 years.

“Warehousing mentally ill prisoners in solitary confinement is not only costly, cruel and unlawful, it puts the public at serious risk,” said ACLU staff attorney Rebecca Wallace, who drafted the report. “When mental illness goes untreated, or is made worse by solitary confinement, it can lead to criminal or antisocial actions once a prisoner is released, leaving the public to suffer the consequences.”

New CDOC director Rick Raemish led Wisconsin away from isolating the mentally ill following a 2001 federal court order. “Given Mr. Raemish’s successes during his tenure at the Wisconsin DOC, we are hopeful that he will bring to CDOC a true understanding that a state prison system can be managed safely and effectively without warehousing seriously mentally ill prisoners in solitary confinement,” said Wallace.

The report Out of Sight, Out of Mind is available on PLN’s website.

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