|
|
Article: Treatment units for mentally ill inmates on hold ; State cites budget crunch as talks to end suit fail
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- November 10, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2009 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
|
The Patrick administration has shelved plans to build special
treatment units for hundreds of seriously mentally ill inmates, two
years after advocates for prisoners alleged in a federal lawsuit
that the state's practice of keeping such inmates in solitary
confinement 23 hours a day was inhumane and causing suicides.
Citing the state budget crisis, lawyers for top state prison
officials said negotiations to settle the civil rights suit by the
Disability Law Center against the Department of Correction out of
court have ended. The center has asked a federal judge in Boston to
schedule a trial for January 2011, while the state wants it to start
a year later.
The collapse of negotiations, made ...