Mentally ill inmates abused at US prisons: Human Rights Watch
Prisoners with mental disabilities across the United States experience unnecessary, excessive, and even malicious force by prison staff, according to a new report by an international human rights organization.
Jail and prison guards inflict mentally ill prisoners with painful chemical sprays, shocked them with powerful electric stun weapons, and strapped them for days in restraining chairs or beds, Human Rights Watch charged in a report released on Tuesday.
The 127-page report, “Callous and Cruel: Use of Force against Inmates with Mental Disabilities in US Jails and Prisons,” details incidents in which staff have broken prisoners’ jaws, noses, ribs; left them with lacerations requiring stitches, second-degree burns, deep bruises, and damaged internal organs.
In some cases, the force used has led to their death, the New York City-based rights group said.
“Jails and prisons can be dangerous, damaging, and even deadly places for men and women with mental health problems,” said Jamie Fellner, US program senior adviser at Human Rights Watch and the author of the report. “Force is used against prisoners even when, because of their illness, they cannot understand or comply with staff orders.”
Human Rights Watch’s research indicates that unwarranted and excessive force against prisoners with mental health problems is widespread and may be increasing in the more than 5,100 jails and prisons in the United States.
“Staff at times respond with violence when prisoners engage in behavior that is symptomatic of their mental health problems and even when it is minor and non-threatening, such as urinating on the floor,” the rights group wrote on its website.
The United States was sharply criticized on Monday over its human rights record by numerous countries at the United Nations Office at Geneva.
Member nations blasted the US at the United Nations’ Human Rights Council, rebuking the country over police brutality, racial injustice, detention of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay and the continued use of the death penalty.
AHT/GJH
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