Mississippi Sued Over ‘Hellish’ Conditions in For-Profit Prison
September 29th, 2014Via: CommonDreams:
Denial of food and medical care. Cells and floors soiled with blood, urine, and feces. Excessive force by prison guards. Weeks, months, and years in solitary confinement.
These are the conditions found at a “special needs” for-profit prison, the East Mississippi Correctional Facility, which is tasked by the state’s department of corrections with incarcerating 1,200 people, approximately 1,000 of whom have severe psychiatric disorders, according to a legal motion filed Friday.
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“Taken as a whole, the conditions in solitary confinement at EMCF are the worst I have witnessed in my 40 years as a forensic psychiatrist investigating jail and prison conditions,” Dr. Terry A. Kupers wrote in a report on the prison’s mental health care system. “These conditions can accurately be described as torture according to international human rights agreements and standards. They press the outer bounds of what most humans can psychologically tolerate.”
Referring to the EMCF as a “cesspool,” the ACLU says Mississippi state officials have for years known of the prison’s horrific conditions for years yet have done nothing to address them.
