Pennsylvania prison officials reach settlement over treatment of mentally ill inmates News
Pennsylvania prison officials reach settlement over treatment of mentally ill inmates

[JURIST] Pennsylvania prison officials announced a settlement [press release] Tuesday promising specialized treatment for mentally ill inmates. The lawsuit was filed by the Disability Rights Network [advocacy website] in March 2013. In an effort to deliver safe and appropriate mental health services, the state has agreed, “to divert inmates with serious mental illness who have demonstrated problematic behavior to specialized treatment units where they will receive enhanced mental health care, programs and services, instead of traditional restricted housing units.”

The US prison system has faced controversy for years for its treatment of mentally ill prisoners. Colorado passed a bill [JURIST report] in June that would limit the use of traditional solitary confinement on inmates diagnosed with mental illness. In October 2013 a federal judge ordered the release [JURIST report] of a detainee at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST backgrounder] who suffered from severe mental illness. The Disability Law Center of Massachusetts [advocacy website] sued [JURIST report] that state’s prisons in March 2007 for violating the rights of mentally ill prisoners.

THIS DAY @ LAW

First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia

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