A federal judge has ruled that David Wade Correctional Center (DWCC) in Homer, La., has violated the constitutional rights of inmates through inhumane conditions and a failure to provide adequate mental health care.
Judge Elizabeth Foote of the Western District of Louisiana handed down the opinion Nov. 1 in litigation brought by scores of inmates in 2018. The court found deficiencies in the correctional facility’s health screenings, evaluations and treatment, as well as inaccurate medical records and unqualified staff.
“... The court finds that (the) plaintiffs have satisfied their burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence 1) that defendants have been deliberately indifferent by a) housing inmates, including the mentally ill, in inhumane conditions while on extended lockdown and b) failing to provide those inmates adequate mental health care in violation of the Eighth Amendment and 2) that defendants have been violating the (Americans With Disabilities Act) by a) failing to make reasonable accommodations for inmates with mental disabilities and b) employing unlawful methods of administration,” Foote’s opinion states.
Plaintiffs, however, failed to prove that the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections were interfering with inmates’ legal mail in violation of the First Amendment, Foote concluded.
Disability Rights Louisiana (DRLA), which helped to litigate the case on behalf of the inmates, noted that the court pointed to evidence that prison officials engaged in practices that stripped prisoners of their clothing and recreational time, amounting to physical and mental torture.
“When people with mental illness are sent to the state prison as punishment for a crime, the state has an obligation to provide baseline mental health care,” Melanie Bray, DRLA’s assistant legal director and lead counsel, said in a statement emailed to the Louisiana Record. “The proof in this case showed that there was virtually no mental health care at DWCC, and that men there are suffering greatly as a result of the state’s indifference."
Inmates in solitary confinement at the prison were deprived of personal belongings and meaningful human contact for years at a time, the court found. A trial to determine whether the defendants have addressed the inmate care deficiencies is set to begin on Jan. 17 of next year.