Inmates Claim Solitary Confinement Worsened Mental Illnesses

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Twelve prisoners at Washington State Penitentiary have filed suit against a group of individuals in various positions of authority at the prison claiming the parties subjected mentally ill prisoners to conditions that exacerbated their illnesses. The plaintiffs, who filed the lawsuit without attorney representation, claim in the handwritten complaint that the defendants denied inmates treatment at medical facilities and instead placed them in solitary confinement without supervision, allowing them, and in some cases encouraging them, to harm themselves and consider suicide. The complaint goes on to describe the “suicide observation units” in which the prisoners were kept, noting that there were no toilets or sinks, only “a hole in the ground” that the inmates were expected to use to relieve themselves.

The plaintiffs argue that their years in solitary confinement have only worsened their illnesses and seek an injunction against the prison to prohibit it from isolating inmates with mental conditions.