BOSTON (AP) - A prisoners’ advocacy group says Massachusetts is placing inmates with serious mental illnesses in solitary confinement despite a legal agreement to end the practice.
The Boston Globe reports (https://bit.ly/2hD9vCf ) Prisoners’ Legal Services reviewed cases of mentally ill inmates at two state prisons and found eight cases of people put into isolation for disciplinary infractions.
They say the findings indicate a widespread problem in the state’s 15 prisons.
The group prepared a report for Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and asked for a meeting.
The Department of Correction says it’s reviewing the cases and continually assessing its practices.
Prison officials agreed to stop sending inmates with serious mental illnesses for long stays in isolation and use specialized mental health treatment units within the prisons instead after advocates sued the department in 2007.
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