Pubdate: Fri, 09 Mar 2001 Source: Roanoke Times (VA) Copyright: 2001 Roanoke Times Contact: 201 W Campbell Ave, Roanoke, VA 24010 Website: http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/ Author: Laurence Hammack CONN. LAWSUIT FILED ABOUT WALLENS RIDGE Inmate Said To Be Mentally Ill The suit named only Connecticut officials and agencies as defendants, not the supermax prison. A mentally ill inmate hanged himself with a bedsheet after he was improperly transferred to a Virginia supermax prison where harsh conditions contributed to his psychiatric decay, a lawsuit claims. The suit was filed Thursday in Bridgeport, Conn., by the family of David Tracy, a 20-year-old inmate sent from his home state to Wallens Ridge State Prison to pull the last few months of a 2 1/2 -year term for a minor drug charge. Connecticut prison officials shipped Tracy to the Wise County facility after "turning a blind eye to the flashing, million-watt strobe lights that spelled out: 'Don't send this young man to his mental health death in Virginia,'" Bridgeport attorney Richard Bieder said. Before his transfer, Tracy attempted suicide five times and exhibited other behavior that should have indicated he was not suitable for supermax confinement, the suit states. Although the lawsuit named only Connecticut officials and agencies as defendants, it made allegations of improper psychiatric care at Wallens Ridge. Inmates in need of mental treatment must speak to a psychologist or counselor at their cell door, "where guards and other inmates may freely listen and where privacy and confidentiality are non-existent," the lawsuit alleges. The suit also claims that the policy at Wallens Ridge was not to provide psychiatric care to out-of-state inmates until receiving authorization from their home state, except in life-threatening emergencies. "A person's mental health condition should not result in one being treated like a 15th century dungeon prisoner," Bieder said. The lawsuit accuses the Connecticut Department of Correction and the University of Connecticut Health Center, which provides health care for the state's inmates, with improperly transferring Tracy along with 500 other inmates to Wallens Ridge in 1999 to ease prison overcrowding. Christina Polce, a spokeswoman for the Connecticut Department of Correction, said Thursday she had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment on details. She did say that Tracy met the criteria for transfer to an out-of-state prison. Tracy was found dead in his segregation cell the night of April 5, 2000. Officials said he fashioned a noose from his sheet and hanged himself from the bed. An autopsy found his death was a suicide, and notes found in the cell and written in ink on his hand were consistent with that, officials said at the time. Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections, could not be reached for comment Thursday. In the past, critics of supermax prisons have been especially concerned about the treatment of the mentally ill in facilities that are designed more to warehouse than to rehabilitate. "Mentally ill inmates should not be confined for prolonged periods in super-maximum security conditions," concluded a Human Rights Watch report on Red Onion State Prison, a 1,200-bed supermax identical to Wallens Ridge that is also located in Wise County. "The conditions of isolation, enforced idleness, surveillance and control pose serious risk of aggravating their symptoms and precipitating psychiatric decomposition," the report stated. Thursday's lawsuit was the second time in as many months that the transfer of Connecticut inmates to Wallens Ridge spawned legal action. In February, the American Civil Liberties Union claimed in a class action lawsuit that five-point restraints used to strap inmates to beds for up to two days at a time constitute cruel and unusual punishment. An ACLU attorney said at the time that Wallens Ridge treats small-time drug dealers and petty thieves like they were Hannibal Lecter. Although the two supermax prisons were designed to hold the "worst of the worst" in Virginia, a surplus of prison beds has prompted the state to import inmates from other states - some of them serving short prison terms, like Tracy was. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth