Mentally Ill Inmates Are Routinely Physically Abused, Study Says
Mentally ill inmates in prisons and jails across the United States are subjected to routine physical abuse by guards, including being doused with chemical sprays, shocked with electronic stun guns and strapped for hours to chairs or beds, according to a report by Human Rights Watch to be released on Tuesday.
The mistreatment, the study says, has led to deaths, though the number of casualties is unclear in part because jails and prisons classify them in various ways. Also, jails and prisons are not uniformly required to report the use of force by guards, the study found.
Jamie Fellner, a senior adviser at Human Rights Watch and the report’s author, said the study was the first to take a comprehensive look at use of force by guards against mentally ill prisoners, to try to understand the dynamics behind the violence. Ms. Fellner said she spent more than a year interviewing some 125 officials and mental health experts and reviewing hundreds of cases across the country.
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The review found that prisoners suffering from serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, are often punished with physical force for commonplace behaviors including using profanity and banging on cell doors.
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