By Jimmie E. Gates
jgates@clarionledger.com
A mentally ill inmate's claim that he was severely beaten by a guard at Unit 32 of the Mississippi State Penitentiary has led to legal action accusing the Department of Corrections of violating a consent decree signed in 2006.
The American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project filed a motion this week in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi against the MDOC on behalf of the roughly 1,000 prisoners in super-maximum security Unit 32.
"We are so concerned about the problem of violence in Unit 32," ACLU attorney Margaret Winter said of the reason for filing the court motion. "It is so far-reaching."
The motion, which seeks compliance of the consent decree, asks the court to order all alleged incidents of major force by correctional staff against prisoners be thoroughly investigated and documented, and that use of excessive force not be tolerated.
The motion comes after Kevin King, a mentally ill inmate in Unit 32, claimed he was severely beaten in April by an officer the day after he was discharged from the psychiatric ward.
According to court papers filed by the ACLU, King was in a shower stall in Unit 32-A when an officer signaled for the shower door to be opened then rushed into the shower and beat King on top of the head with a pair of handcuffs until King's head and upper body were drenched in blood.
The officer claimed King emerged from the shower and assaulted him, so he hit him with a closed fist to subdue him.
An MDOC investigation, relying on videotape of the incident recorded by a security camera, concluded the officer's account of the incident was false on a number of points, according to the ACLU.
However, the report concluded that since there are no cameras in the showers, investigators were unable to determine what occurred. The officer resigned from MDOC.
The ACLU wants the motion consolidated with a pending motion to comply with a consent decree on treatment of prisoners with mental illness.
"I'm not familiar with any problems at Unit 32," Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps said. "We are following the consent decree. What they want is for us to go beyond the consent decree."
A June 2005 complaint alleged a combination of conditions in Unit 32 - including isolation and unrelieved idleness of solitary confinement, routine excessive force by security staff and the basic mental health care neglect - likely could cause mental illness in healthy prisoners.
The complaint also alleged that chronic and severe shortages in security staffing and failure to adequately train and supervise security staff put lives of prisoners and prison employees in Unit 32 in danger. [MORE]