Expert testimony points out poor staffing in prisons
The landmark trial Jensen v. Shinn began Monday in Phoenix, the latest chapter in an almost decade-long struggle to determine whether Arizona’s prisoners are getting the basic health care they are entitled to under the law.
The federal trial pits Arizona against the people held in its prisons, who argue in a class-action lawsuit that the medical services they receive are so poor, they constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
The state’s health care contractor, Centurion, is the latest in a string of companies that have failed to pass muster with the courts.
Nov. 2: Who testified on Day 2
Ronald Slavin
Slavin is a witness for the plaintiffs and is incarcerated at the Eyman prison. He is classified as seriously mentally ill, diagnosed with psychosis, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and major depression.
What did he say?
Slavin told the court he started hearing voices when he was hit in the head by a car at age 6 and has suffered from auditory hallucinations his whole life.
Slavin said he has access to counseling for just a half-hour, once a month, and has no access to mental health programming or group therapy. His repeated requests to transfer to a special unit for people with serious mental illness have been denied.
Slavin’s prison counselor suggested he “listen to a podcast” to deal with his serious mental illness.
Slavin told the court he wasn’t getting enough help to address his serious mental health issues.
The quote
“I don’t mind listening to a counselor. I don’t mind taking meds. But to a certain extent, other treatment is needed.”
Cross examination
Slavin said he has been provided medication but he continues to hear voices and still struggles with other mental health issues.
When defendant attorneys accused Slavin of refusing treatment, he said it was because the counselors kept repeating the same ineffective advice over and over again.
Why it matters
Slavin’s attorneys say the repeated denials to be transferred to a unit for prisoners with serious mental illness, as well as the substandard care he testified to, bolster their claims. Laura Redmond
Redmond is a witness for the plaintiffs and is incarcerated at the Perryville women’s prison. Classified as seriously mentally ill and has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Redmond is deaf, and her primary language is American Sign Language. What did she say?
Redmond said she became deaf at 15 months old and is “profoundly deaf ” in both ears.
She said her medical care is poor because she generally does not have access to a sign language interpreter during healthcare appointments in the prisons. This has also prevented her from getting a cochlear implant.
Redmond said she suffers from behavior issues and negative thinking and has a hard time sleeping: “I cry a
Redmond testified remotely from the Perryville prison via teleconference, but the video call dropped several times.
Cross examination
Defendant cited several instances in Redmond’s medical record where it had been recorded that a language interpreter was provided. Redmond disputed some of the records and said she didn’t remember being provided with an interpreter in the other instances.
Redmond said some of her counseling sessions had been longer than the few minutes that she previously testified to.
Nov. 3: Who testified on Day 3
Dr. Pablo Stewart
Stewart is a witness for the plaintiffs. He is a psychiatrist and correctional psychiatry expert.
What did they say?
Stewart said mental health staffing numbers are “grossly inadequate” at several Arizona prisons and told the court a shortage of Correctional Officers is also impacting health care.
He said that many patients who had died by suicide had experienced very short mental health encounters before their death and said that a significant number of suicides occur in isolated housing units.
“I was saddened but not surprised by the descriptions and photographs of the conditions at Eyman. Memorably, this included the graffiti within the entrance to the suicide watch unit, that read, ‘Don’t go suicidal. This place sucks. Please help me.’”
Stewart said he observed people on suicide watch. One such patient, despite being on constant watch, was able to remove 10 surgical staples used to close a self-inflicted wound and swallow them, causing his colostomy bag to rupture.
Stewart reviewed videos of an incarcerated person at the Eyman prison with serious mental illness. In his review, he said that staff used pepper spray or pepper balls on them for a period of 15 days in December 2020.
Stewart said he reviewed emails between prison administrators showing employees of Centurion, Arizona’s prison health care contractor, approved this behavior and encouraged a prisoner to commit acts of self-harm.
On a tour of the Eyman prison, Stewart discovered a cell for seriously mentally ill patients covered with blood. “The people living in the adjacent cells reported that the previous evening, the man in that cell cut both of his arms and perhaps his legs, and hit an artery.”
Stewart reviewed a case where a corrections officer told a prisoner experiencing psychosis that his selfharming behavior was a choice, and the officer threatened to tase the patient if he continued banging his head against the wall.
Echoing Tuesday’s testimony from Laura Redmond, an incarcerated woman, Stewart found there were no translators available for deaf patients, nor for Spanish-speaking patients. Cross examination
Defendant attorneys accused Stewart of selection bias and said previous court findings have characterized his work as speculation, containing errors. They also accused Stewart of not providing patients with a nonconfidentiality warning before speaking with them, as required.