Cruel Confinement: Abuse, Discrimination and Death Within Alabama’s Prisons. More than 3,0. 00 prisoners in Alabama prisons were receiving some form of mental health treatment in March 2. ADOC mental health report. This population was distributed throughout the prison system’s facilities. Other than the Hamilton Aged and Infirmed Center, every medium or maximum security facility housed at least 1. Advocacy groups say Alabama prisons are giving inmates virtually unlimited access to razors, a practice that's leading to deaths and injuries inside the lockups. The Southern Poverty Law Center and the Alabama Disabilities. May 15, 2014 Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program Special Education for 18-21 Year Old Students: An Update on Their Right to Attend School Prematurely awarding the Alabama High School Diploma to a student with. If approved by the judge, the settlement will resolve part of a federal lawsuit filed by the SPLC and the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program (ADAP). An agreement has been reached with the Alabama Department of. James Tucker, former associate director of the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program, has been named as ADAP's executive director. Despite the fact that every facility housed a significant number of individuals taking psychiatric medication, the level and quality of staffing at Alabama Department of Corrections facilities is woefully inadequate. There are just 4. At many prisons, there is no psychiatrist. Www.adap.net Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program (ADAP) Federal law created a system of “protection and advocacy” organizations in every state and territory of the U.S. ADAP is part of the nationwide federally mandated. Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program (trade name Adap) is in the Professional Organizations business. View competitors, revenue, employees, website and phone number. The Office of Protection and Advocacy for person with disabilities is an independent State agency created to safeguard and advance the civil and human rights of people with disabilities in Alabama. Protection and Advocacy. In the united states district court. 13-0519-cg-b : : : : : : : alabama disabilities advocacy program, plaintiff, v. UNH Institute on Disability . Suite 101, Durham, NH 03824 . Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program v. SafetyNet YouthCare, Inc. The level of staffing is clearly insufficient. Several prisoners report that, despite being prescribed psychiatric medications, they do not receive periodic check- ups with a psychiatrist. Often, the only contact they have with any mental health professional is when they are acutely mentally ill and exhibiting suicidal ideations or actions. There are only 5. Only Tutwiler Prison for Women has a full- time psychologist on staff. Psychologists work at just six facilities: Donaldson, Bullock, Limestone, Holman, Kilby and Tutwiler. At all other facilities, no psychologist is available. This failure by the state to adequately staff its facilities is even more astonishing when viewed from a historical perspective. In the 1. 97. 0s, when Alabama prisons were about one- sixth as large as they are now, the level of mental health staffing was found to be unconstitutionally low. There was one full- time psychologist in the system at that time. Remarkably, the current ratio of psychologists to prisoners is roughly half of what it was then. Even the ADOC does not believe the current mental health staffing levels are adequate. When the ADOC issued a recent request for mental health services contract proposals, it cited the minimum staffing need to be 1. Under the current contract, MHM, the mental health services contractor, is not providing even this number of mental health staff. The new MHM contract provides for just 1. A prisoner at Bibb Correctional Facility receives a medical exam. Failure to identify mentally ill prisoners A prisoner rests in a suicide- watch cell at the Bibb Correctional Facility. Often, the only contact state prisoners have with a mental health professional is when they are exhibiting suicidal thoughts or actions. Even then, the contact is minimal. Only 1. 2. 2 percent of the prison population is identified as having any mental health issue. This almost certainly indicates that Alabama is not identifying prisoners with mental health disorders. A 2. 00. 6 Department of Justice study of prison and jail prisoners throughout the country found that about half of the prisoners in state correctional facilities meet the criteria for a mental illness found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM- IV). It is highly unlikely that Alabama’s prisoners suffer from mental illness at just one- quarter of the rate of most state prison populations. The failure to identify prisoners in need of mental health care or to provide them with the level of care needed is a violation of the Eighth Amendment. It is evident from the joint SPLC and ADAP investigation that the ADOC under- identifies prisoners with mental health disorders. One prisoner at St. Clair cut himself with razor blades on five separate occasions, but never received mental health care despite his numerous requests. Instead, corrections officers mostly expressed their frustration with the prisoner, even beating him on one occasion. When the prisoner cut himself so severely that he cut a tendon in his forearm, a corrections officer asked him why he insisted on mutilating himself on his shift.“Why don’t you just go ahead and kill yourself?” he asked the prisoner. Shortly thereafter, a nurse came by and the prisoner showed the nurse his arm. The nurse said he would return when he had time, but did not come back. The prisoner was taken out of his cell and placed in a cell outside. He was beaten by two officers in the cell and left there for another hour before he was taken to the infirmary. The nurse at the infirmary attempted to staunch the blood flow from his arm, but was unable to do so. An hour later, he was taken to Brookwood Medical Center in Birmingham, where several staples were put into his arm to hold the wound closed – approximately five hours after he mutilated his forearm. One prisoner reported hearing voices and engaging in self- harm thousands of times over a period of about eight years before finally being identified as needing mental health care. Another prisoner was placed on suicide watch three times within four months and asked for mental health treatment, but has not been given any treatment. A prisoner who repeatedly mutilated himself was threatened with forced medication by staff. Just two weeks later, he asked to be placed on the mental health caseload only to have the request refused. There is also evidence that the ADOC is dramatically under- identifying the level of acuity of those who are mentally ill. According to ADOC mental health codes, MH- 1 and MH- 2 are used for prisoners with “mild impairment in mental functioning, such as depressed mood or insomnia.” MH- 3 is for moderate impairments “such as difficulty in social situations and/or poor behavior control.” MH- 4 is for severe impairments “such as suicidal ideation and/or poor reality testing.” MH- 5 is used for severe impairments “such as delusions, hallucinations, or inability to function in most areas of daily living.” MH- 6 – the code for the most acutely mentally ill – is reserved for prisoners who have been committed to a mental hospital. As of March 2. 01. ADOC custody – less than 1 percent – were classified at greater than MH- 2. In contrast, the Department of Justice study cited above found that, nationally, some 4. DSM- IV criteria for mania and 1. It is extremely likely that far more of ADOC’s prisoners should have a higher mental health code. The SPLC and ADAP have spoken with a number of prisoners who report hallucinations but are either not on the mental health caseload at all or are classified as either MH- 1 or MH- 2. The SPLC and ADAP have heard of numerous severely mentally ill prisoners who are housed in general population where they are victimized by other prisoners and, in some cases, are dangerous to other prisoners as well as to themselves. The SPLC and ADAP have met with mentally ill prisoners unable to carry on even the most basic coherent conversation. These prisoners are, in some instances, at facilities that house no one with a mental health code higher than MH- 2. Even the ADOC’s own documents show the acuity of prisoners’ mental illness is understated. According to the March 2. MH- 3, and just 1. Yet, 8. 53 people were, at that time, diagnosed with psychotic disorders – disorders that would clearly, per the ADOC description of mental health classifications, classify a person as MH- 5. Medication denied. The ADOC barely spends $1 per patient, per day on psychiatric medication. Even more astounding is that the ADOC’s annual expenditure for psychiatric medication actually decreased by 2. March 2. 01. 0 through March 2. The investigation by the SPLC and ADAP uncovered instances of mentally ill prisoners being denied access to necessary psychiatric medication as well as issues with medication management. These failures by the ADOC to provide, prescribe and manage necessary psychiatric medications to its prisoners violate the Eighth Amendment. There are numerous, credible reports that psychiatric medication is improperly decreased, ended or changed to less effective forms. Some prisoners report being on psychiatric medications for years and then being taken off their medications – and the mental health caseload – despite needing treatment. This includes prisoners exhibiting suicidal thoughts and actions. Even after numerous suicide attempts, prisoners’ medications are not reinstated nor are they returned to the mental health caseload. Prisoners entering the prison system or transferred within it often face lengthy periods where they are denied psychiatric medications and are not properly monitored until seen by the staff at the new facility. The SPLC and ADAP found numerous instances of medication being denied to prisoners when they are transferred into a new facility. There is also little or no follow- up to ensure the efficacy of the medication. The lack of staff experienced in monitoring the medication ensures that it is practically impossible for necessary monitoring to occur. The SPLC and ADAP have received numerous reports from prisoners who have never received any form of regular, face- to- face consultations with a psychiatrist despite being on the mental health caseload for years. Many report that the only time that they have ever had a face- to- face consultation with a psychiatrist is during an acute mental health crisis. In most instances, this contact is limited to someone with less experience than a psychiatrist, such as a nurse practitioner or a mental health counselor. When prisoners receive psychiatric medication that increases their heat sensitivity, care must be taken because they are more prone to heat stroke and heat- related illnesses. Other than the residential treatment units, none of the ADOC facilities that routinely house prisoners on psychiatric medications have air conditioning. And as of May 2. 01. Bullock’s residential treatment unit is not working. The SPLC and ADAP found a prisoner on psychiatric medication that increases heat sensitivity in a dormitory where the air conditioning is not working. In May 2. 01. 4, the prisoner endured temperatures in the 9. This prisoner, who has difficulty carrying on a coherent conversation and does not read well, was asked by prison officials to sign a paper promising to tell the correctional officers if he was getting too hot.
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