The opening arguments today kick off the first trial in the SPLC’s broader suit,
filed in federal court in 2014, alleging that the mental health and
medical needs of prisoners with serious – even life-threatening
conditions – are routinely ignored.
This phase of the trial is expected to last eight weeks. A separate trial on the medical issues is expected next year.
The suit describes how the lack of care from the cash-strapped,
under-staffed system amounts to “deliberate indifference” by the Alabama
Department of Corrections (ADOC) – a violation of the U.S.
Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
U.S. District Judge Myron H. Thompson granted class action status to
the mental health portion of the lawsuit in late November, meaning that
court rulings in this phase of the case will apply to all prisoners in
the system.
“Alabama’s failure to provide mental health care to the people it
incarcerates puts lives at risk,” said SPLC Senior Staff Attorney Maria
Morris. “This lack of treatment is inhumane and unconstitutional. No one
in an Alabama prison was sentenced to this kind suffering.”
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Source: The Southern Poverty Law Center
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