Judge: Mental care for Alabama inmates ‘horrendously’ lacking

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama’s psychiatric care of state inmates is so “horrendously inadequate” that it violates the U.S. Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, a federal judge ruled Tuesday as he ordered the state to overhaul conditions.

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson ruled in favor of Alabama inmates who sued the state Department of Corrections in 2014 claiming that untreated conditions and lengthy lockdowns were leading to more symptoms, violence and suicides. Thompson, in a scathing 302-page order, wrote that Alabama had failed to identify and treat prisoners with mental illnesses, provide adequate mental health staff and services, and adequately identify and monitor suicidal inmates.

“The skyrocketing suicide rate within ADOC in the last two years is a testament to the concrete harm that inadequate mental-health care has already inflicted on mentally ill prisoners,” Thompson wrote.

Thompson did not order specific changes but directed the state to meet with inmates’ lawyers to try to work on reforms.

“This ruling means that prisoners with mental illness may finally get the treatment they have been denied for so long,” said inmate lawyer Maria Morris, senior supervising attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery.

“The suffering some of these men and women have endured is excruciating and inhumane,” Morris said.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said the state is studying the decision and will respond.

“The first thing we’ve got to do is get with our attorneys. It’s a lengthy order, contains a lot of information,” Ivey said.

Alabama’s troubled state prison system houses nearly twice the inmates it was designed for. Prison officers and inmates have been killed and injured in a series of violent crimes behind bars.

Thompson noted in his order severe shortages of mental health and correctional staff, and chronic overcrowding, are “the overarching issues” that led to inadequate mental health care.