The two U.S. senators from Massachusetts are calling on the federal Bureau of Prisons to end solitary confinement, calling it an inhumane practice that leads to mental and physical harm and a higher risk of suicide.They also want the ban to apply to mentally ill inmates housed in prison hospitals, including Federal Medical Center Devens in Massachusetts.5 Investigates previously obtained video from inside FMC Devens showing the sometimes violent way these mentally ill inmates are handled and how their conditions sometimes deteriorate while under lockdown.One inmate, who had been locked in his cell for 23 hours a day, was assaulted by a correction officer after refusing to come out of his cell and wash off pepper spray. The officer was convicted and sentenced to a year in prison.Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., told 5 Investigates that solitary confinement should only be used in “perhaps special circumstances” but not as a simple solution to a daily problem.”We’ve come a long way in the last couple of decades on how we treat people with mental illness and the prisons have to get better themselves. They just can’t use solitary confinement as how they deal with people with mental illness,” Markey said in an interview.Markey along with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said in a letter to the BOP that federal prisons are still using solitary confinement despite, previous reformation recommendations and executive orders to comply.Senators have given the Bureau of Prisons until May 15th to respond to questions included in the letter. Last year, Senator Markey introduced legislation addressing the issue.The BOP declined to provide us with a comment but said it would respond directly to members of Congress.
The two U.S. senators from Massachusetts are calling on the federal Bureau of Prisons to end solitary confinement, calling it an inhumane practice that leads to mental and physical harm and a higher risk of suicide.
They also want the ban to apply to mentally ill inmates housed in prison hospitals, including Federal Medical Center Devens in Massachusetts.
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5 Investigates previously obtained video from inside FMC Devens showing the sometimes violent way these mentally ill inmates are handled and how their conditions sometimes deteriorate while under lockdown.
One inmate, who had been locked in his cell for 23 hours a day, was assaulted by a correction officer after refusing to come out of his cell and wash off pepper spray. The officer was convicted and sentenced to a year in prison.
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., told 5 Investigates that solitary confinement should only be used in “perhaps special circumstances” but not as a simple solution to a daily problem.
“We’ve come a long way in the last couple of decades on how we treat people with mental illness and the prisons have to get better themselves. They just can’t use solitary confinement as how they deal with people with mental illness,” Markey said in an interview.
Markey along with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said in a letter to the BOP that federal prisons are still using solitary confinement despite, previous reformation recommendations and executive orders to comply.
Senators have given the Bureau of Prisons until May 15th to respond to questions included in the letter. Last year, Senator Markey introduced legislation addressing the issue.
The BOP declined to provide us with a comment but said it would respond directly to members of Congress.
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