Steven Slevin Awarded $22 million for Solitary Confinement
A jury in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico recently awarded Steven Slevin $22 million in damages for his 22 months in solitary confinement without adequate care. The plaintiff’s trial brief stated,
Expert testimony will describe how the effects of prolonged solitary confinement coupled with a lack of medical care caused Plaintiff to enter a dissociative delirium and resulted in his current PTSD diagnosis. Witness testimony will describe how Defendant Barela used the solitary cells of Fox 2 pod, as a place to house the mentally ill. Witnesses will describe how the mentally ill inmates in Fox 2 were confined to their cells for long periods of time, how they did not get adequate medical care and how deplorable the conditions were in that pod. Witness testimony will describe how there were more cells in Fox 2 than hours in the day and as such it was impossible to give each inmate his one hour of “recreation” per day. The Defendants’ own expert witness will testify to the inhumane conditions of Plaintiff’s confinement.
For more on the incarceration of the mentally ill see Slaw.
