[A]n advocacy group is raising concerns about the impact of solitary confinement on Vermont prisoners with serious mental illness.
According to a tally by the Department of Corrections, in October, 19 inmates designated seriously functionally impaired (SFI) spent time in segregation.
The SFI designation is used only in correctional facilities to denote individuals who may respond differently within an incarcerated setting and signifies a broad range of conditions — such as serious mental illness, traumatic brain injury, developmental disability or dementia.
AJ Ruben, supervising attorney at Disability Rights Vermont, a group that monitors and advocates for Vermonters with disabilities, raised concerns about the impact that segregation has on prisoners with mental illness.
“Long-term segregation for people with serious mental health is no longer an acceptable way of going about prison work,” Ruben said.
Vermont prisoners can be put in segregation, meaning they are held in single-occupancy units with limited amounts of time outside of their cells, for several different reasons. Vermont statute allows SFI designees to be held in segregation for up to 15 days if it is as punishment, and up to 30 days if they request it, with extensions possible if approved by a physician.
Meanwhile, other states are rethinking how they use solitary confinement. Earlier this month, New York state announced plans to curb use of segregation in the prison system.
During the month of October, in Vermont inmates had a total of 367 stays in restrictive housing during the course of the month, with an average length of stay of five days.
Most SFI designated prisoners who spent time in segregation were there for seven days or fewer, but a few had much longer stays. One individual was held in segregation for 34 days for a rule violation. One individual, who requested to be in segregation, stayed there for 19 days.
Some prisoners may request to be moved to segregation because they’re “terrified” of general population units, Ruben said. But that should raise concerns, he said.
“Most people aren’t going to be comfortable being isolated like that for days and weeks at a time,” Ruben said.
Overuse of solitary is one of three major concerns that the prison rights organization has about how the DOC serves prisoners who have disabilities. Disability Rights Vermont is also raising questions about lengthy waits for prison mental health and medical services and the risk of victimization by other prisoners.
The advocacy group has heard from clients who say that when they submit a “sick slip” or request for medical or mental health treatment, it takes longer than three days, and sometimes takes more than a week.
For prisoners who have mental health issues, situations can reach an acute level when they could be prevented, Ruben said.
“If folks are not able to get their needs met until there’s a crisis, then there’s going to be more crises,” Ruben said.
DOC Commissioner Lisa Menard said that sometimes inmates do wait more than three days for a response to their requests for care.
“Given the volume of sick slips submitted, and the fact that not all of them are based on a legitimate need for health services, there are occasions when a response takes more than three days,” Menard said.
When inmates held in the Alpha unit at Southern State, where the DOC houses people with the most acute needs, submit a sick slip, they are always seen within three days, according to Menard.
“Regardless of the response time, however, the health care provided by DOC meets the prevailing medical standard of care,” Menard said.
Alpha is a secure mental health stabilization unit at the prison in Springfield, which the DOC says houses people who have serious mental illness that may require close monitoring or a high level of care. Some people lodged there may be at risk of victimization in general population cells, she said.
When someone’s symptoms become manageable, they’ll be moved to a different unit, Menard said.
“The primary goals of treatment in Alpha are to increase an inmate’s ability to cope with the stress of incarceration and to improve an inmate’s mental status to the point that they are safe to live in a less restrictive environment,” Menard said.
While in the unit, inmates are treated by mental health professionals, and their cases are reviewed weekly by a team that includes mental health, security, administration and other staff members, she said.
But Ruben raised concerns about the Alpha unit. Clients have described the regular appointments with mental health staff as “drive-by visits.”
“Even if they were having a 45-minute therapy session three times a week, the rest of the time they’re locked in a box,” Ruben said.
Ruben urged lawmakers to consider taking action to ban the use of segregation on prisoners designated SFI, and to create more residential treatment units to house those people.
“We think it’s really time for the DOC to stop doing what is really harmful for people,” Ruben said.
Meanwhile, on a third level, Ruben raised concerns about the connectedness of services across the Agency of Human Services.
DRVT filed a discrimination lawsuit in October in federal court on behalf of an inmate, claiming that he was incarcerated long past his minimum because the state lacks adequate housing to accommodate offenders with disabilities.
Ruben would encourage lawmakers to revisit coordination between AHS departments in order to prevent unnecessarily institutionalizing recipients of services, he said.
