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