#6Prisoner with Mental Illness Lock in Solitary Filth in Private Jail

http://solitarywatch.com/2011/04/21/prisoner-with-mental-illness-lives-in-solitary-filth-in-private-jail/

Prisoners of solitary confinement are on strict lock down during the times they are in cell blocks and on warnings. Even though they are unable to do most activities and have communication with anyone they still need to be fed,showered, and  daily exercise/ sunlight. It is inhuman to have a human in a dark cell block for months on end even if the prisoner does not want to move. Being in solitary confinement does not mean they have the right to choose to sit in the cell block because if they were in a normal regulated prison cell they would still be forced to shower and not ignored. The guards began to ignore Frank Horton at a privately run Nashville jail where he was denied health care, no showering, exercise, or leave his cell for nine months.Frank had been convicted on drug charges and was arrested and hailed on a nonviolent parole violation. His papers showed a history of mental illness including probable schizophrenia. He was put in solitary confinement after a fight with his inmate after his inmate said Frank was "hearing voices" and thought people were "trying to kill him". After time in solitary confinement Frank refused to leave his cell and the guards did not mind it. The guards would, "...go to Frank’s door, look in on Frank, Fran, you all right?…But, you know, at that point, I think as long as Frank moved, they kept moving; as long as he was living and breathing in that cell, they kept moving." For 9 months Frank struggled with his mental state and could not remain stable. The guards were unable to give him the attention and care he needed. He was let to suffer until  CCA employee Patrick Perry blew the whistle on his employer by reporting Horton’s conditions to the Metro Nashville Health Department, records show. Perry, according to the documents, was fired the same day. It sad to know only one man was willing to stick up for Frank and to know when a human being is being tortured by a mental illness that is eating them alive. The fact the Perry was fired is horrible because what he did was the right thing. Franks family continues to fight for him and his mental illness.

#5 Report Documents Abuse in Pennsylvania Prison's Lockdown Unit

http://solitarywatch.com/2011/04/26/report-documents-abuse-in-pennsylvania-prisons-lockdown-unit/#comment-2027

Solitary Confinement is forced upon prisoners who have done wrong and have disobeyed orders while in prison. Solitary Confinement was meant for those who need a harsher punishment to behave while in prison. It was not meant for those who have made minor mistakes because Solitary Confinement is a horrifying place. If an inmate is told they will be put in solitary confinement  the prisoner can file a grievance which can over turn the solitary confinement order. Filing a grievance seems as if the prisoners have a chance to tell their side of the story but according to Department of Correction records, "97.89 percent of the 43,853 grievances filed by prisoners [in 2008] were rejected for various reasons." This data shows that most prisoners are not taken seriously and that the guards have complete control over every situation even if they are lying. The guards are able to threaten the prisoners when they have done something minor, but the truth of these situations will never come out because  filing a grievance means nothing in the prisons since the system will ignore the situation.Prisoners who file grievances, which is protesting their living conditions and filing complaints results in the guards retaliating. "The HRC report provides several examples, including withholding food, water, showers, and mattresses as well as forced cell extractions and the use of pepper spray and restraint chairs. It calls retaliation the lynchpin holding together the culture of terror in the solitary units at Huntingdon, as it involves the targeted application of violence and the deprivation of basic necessities with the deliberate intent of silencing protest, public exposure, and legal action." Prisoners should not be treated as if they are animals even if they have misbehaved. Guards do not have the rights to threton the prisoners after filing a grievance. The grievance should be read and taken in account for the conditions at the prion, but it does not seem to be happening instead the prisoners are being torture even more.

#4

http://solitarywatch.com/2010/12/17/the-brutality-of-supermax-confinement/

#3 Cruel and usual:US solitary confinement

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/03/201137125936219469.html

The united States hold back from the public what really is happening in prisons. Many people believe that those who murder should be murdered, but from the conditions of the prisons living in a cold cell block is as torturous as being put to death. From all ages prisons are thrown into cell blocks with no communication or physical contact besides the times guards hold the arms of a prisoner as they walk. Many prisoners have not seen sunlight or have had fresh air in years. Illness occurs as the prisons stay in solitary confinement causing them to slowly die in a cell block. Many of the prisoners have been diagnosed with mental illnesses and are not treated correctly for them. From all ages prisoners are being treated as if they do not have a second chance or cannot turn the bad days into good days. I don't understand how a society wants to grow and prosper if we are still torturing prisoners as if we haven't grown since centuries ago.Steve Bright of the Southern Center for Human Rights told a story about a 15yr old boy who was "accused, but not yet tried or convicted, of murder - who stands to spend up to two years in isolation in a Tennessee county jail because his family is too poor to afford his bond, set at $500,000. Although he had previously attempted suicide and been treated for mental illness, JP has spent his time behind bars "with no physical contact from a member of his family and no schooling".  This is one of many situations in prisons with adolescents. Prisons should not be damaging children and torturing them causing mental illness in solitary confinement. These children are not given a second chance because there punishment is so severe.Solitary confinement should not be available to not only young adults, but grown men and women as well.

Torture in U.S. Prisons #2

http://www.lookingglassnews.org/viewstory.php?storyid=913

Torture in Prisons #1

Article :Torture in US Prisons - by Stephen Lendman
http://www.opednews.com/articles/2/Torture-in-US-Prisons-by-Stephen-Lendman-101114-273.html

Torture is expected from countries around the world because they do not have the just law system as America does. America is known for treating one another as equals, but in prison that is not the case. Throughout the years prisoners have been torture, harassed, and beaten. Some inmates have died from the brutal treatment in prisons. In March 2005 Deborah Davis reported on "America's Brutal Prisons"
 . She showed the horrors of the prisoners be tortured by shock cattle prods, burned by toxic chemicals,harmed by stun guns,beaten, stripped naked, and harassed throughout jail time. Their are several videos showing the prisons being brutally beaten by the guards and sexually harassed. The videos seen throughout America tell stories of the prison inmates being torture and some till death. It was said that the sounds are "unbearable" listening to the men scream in pain hoping someone would hear them. As the article describes a horrifying story,"In some tapes, sounds are as 'unbearable' as images, a Florida prison one showing an inmate lying on a hospital examination table, guards ordering him to get into a wheelchair. 'I can't, I can't,' he shouts. 'It hurts,' after which he's Tasered on both hips, screams, but still can't get into the wheelchair.Guards force him into it, bend his legs painfully, the man shrieking in agony. His lawyer said he's mentally impaired, has a back injury, can't walk, or bend his legs without intense pain. Yet guards try to make him stand and hold a walker. 'He falls on the floor, crying in agony.' He's Tasered again, lying there out of breath and energy, just moaning." (Torture in US Prisons)The stories from prisons all over the united states are endless. The hospital trips and death numbers keep growing. America is suppose to be a free country meaning free of judgement, harm, and religion. Torture is known in third world countries and underdeveloped areas around the world.America has lowered the standards of respect for one another giving America another reason for being behind countries that are prospering. Americans kicking other Americans in the head,tasering,inhaling chemicals,brutally beaten, and many other tortures way is sickening. We might as well be considered inhuman, underdeveloped, and barbarian. Americans who torture other Americans for a joke or entertainment should be put in prison a lot the side of those they tortured.