Hickenlooper Signs Ban on Long-Term Solitary for Mentally Ill Prisoners

That is the title of this article I am writing about.  “Gov. John Hickenlooper this morning signed a bill that bans the practice of keeping seriously mentally ill prisoners in solitary confinement.  The bill, which passed with strong bi-partisan support, won the support of advocates and rights groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, who say the isolation of prisoners with mental illness violates the constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment and endangers public safety.  But as Rocky Mountain PBS I-News has reported, state prisons aren’t the only place in Colorado where offenders with mental illness are subject to lengthy periods of solitary confinement.  In the state’s county jails, solitary confinement- or administrative segregation- remains common for inmates with serious mental illness.  The isolation can last days, months, or even years. In jails, this practice is left intact by the latest state law. The new legislation came on the heels of a series of tragedies in Colorado, including the killing last year of prisons chief Tom Clements by a man who had been released directly from long-term solitary confinement into the community. In an irony often noted, Clements had worked to reduce the use of administrative segregation in state prisons.” Why am I writing about this it is because it is a good?  My mental illness came when I was in prison and had been caught gambling and was sent to the hole or solitary confinement for three days.  I was locked in the hole and that is the last thing I remember.  I woke on a different tier than the hole and was insane. I must have blacked out when I was put in the hole because I do not remember anything after I was put in the cell. I know I was angry when they put me in there.
The article goes on to say: “The current corrections chief, Rick Raemisch, has continued the work that his predecessor started, publicly calling for a rethinking of the practice of solitary confinement in general, and pledging to remove seriously mentally ill inmates from isolation in the state prisons.  His concerns were echoed by Colorado legislators who worried about the damaging effects of solitary confinement on mental health, and the risks to the public from prisoners who will someday be released.  The law now etches some of Raemisch’s policies in stone, and adds funding and a level of oversight. Prisoners with mental illness won’t be kept in confinement for longer than 30 days, and will be guaranteed a period of therapeutic activity and out-of-cell time each week.”  I was wrong to keep gambling although I know all the stress that was happening to be prior to being put in the hole had a lot to do with what happened.  Although prison is not the best place to finally have a breakdown, my friends were trying to stick by me although I was mentally ill and did not understand. I knew done of the people on this new tier and that did not help.  I cut myself with a razor because I did not understand what was happening to me.
The article ends with: “The Colorado chapter of the ACLU took the lead in campaigning against the isolation of mentally ill prisoners. Denise Maes, the organization’s public policy director, told I-News the law signed today ‘makes a very important policy statement that it’s wrong to place seriously mentally ill offenders in solitary confinement.’  Now, Maes said, the ACLU-Colorado intends to turn its attention to the isolation of mentally ill inmates in county jails. But she acknowledged that a policy change there may be a heavier lift.  “Municipal jails are just a hodgepodge of different activities not very well regulated by the state,” said Maes. At the same time, a shortage of psychiatric beds and a lack of funding for alternative mental-health treatment put a huge burden on jails, she said. Resources are thin.  Still, said Maes, the same arguments that changed the policies in the state prisons also apply to jails.  “Keeping a seriously mentally ill offender in solitary confinement is unconstitutional, and at some point the state has to have the resources to deal with it. Otherwise, they’ll be faced with it in court,” said Maes. ‘Communities have to find the resources.’”  To be put in the hole after a person is already mentally ill is wrong can you imagine what a person would go through?  If you are not working or taking classes to help you spend your time the best way possible as can be is wrong.  From experience it is hard doing time when you are mentally ill.

Are we Torturing the Mentally Ill

That is the title of this article about solitary confinement in prisons. I can only give my experience on the matter.  I was in prison in the nineteen eighties and it was a lot different back then it is now.  I was at Buena Vista prison and was on South wing and there is only one more wing to go to that is east wing where a person can wear street clothes and have more privileges.  I was happy in south wing as far as prisons go.  I had a gambling house and we watched the broncos and had burritos whenever the game was on.  So I was set in my ways and really did not want to go to east wing.

They made me go.  Also on south wing I had a partner with my gambling house.   He did not go to east wing just me.  I kept on gambling was having problems on the streets with my ex.  Finally one of the guards busted me for gambling.  I was angry and went to the hearing not understanding what was going on. They sentenced me to three days in the hole or solitary confinement.  I was very angry going to the hole.  I remember being locked in the cell and that is as far as I remember.  The next thing I knew I was in another cell not knowing what was going on and also insane. I know I was paranoid and not understanding what was going on. I could not comprehend what was going on.
I cut myself with a razor it did no damage but it got the guard attention and they put me in a cell with cameras so they could watch me and there is nothing worse than being watched all the time.  A doctor I knew came by and looked in at me.  The next morning they took me to Canon city where they had an infirmary and the psychiatrist asked me questions. He though I was just sleep deprived.  The two times I been in the hole this time I did not remember anything.  It is just a jail in a jail.  Although you do not see your friends also you eat in your cell so you do not get any company at all.  It can play with your mind.
After a while in canon after they started giving me sleeping pills I settled down and was not so paranoid the doctor asked where I would like to go and I said here in canon city.  I was not the same though.  I went back to the hospital one more time before I won my appeal and was freed. It wasn’t fun back then as it is not fun now to do time in the hole.  You have to be very strong to make it in the hole and come out sane.  It does play on your mind only seeing guards and not inmates while you are in the hole.  When I was doing time there were not that many inmates that were mentally ill at the time and in jail.
I hate the state hospital although it is a better solution when you are mentally ill than prison.  They can treat you and others like yourself are in there.  You cannot be in general population when you are mentally ill because your mind plays to many tricks on you and there are people who are going to do life in prison and they will not put up with someone who is mentally ill.  They really need to separate the two.  Here is an article on a new drug for schizophrenia that is successful in reversing schizophrenia.