A federal judge today declared the mental health care system in Alabama prisons to be “horrendously inadequate” – an unconstitutional failure that has resulted in a “skyrocketing suicide rate” among prisoners.
A federal judge ruled yesterday that a lawsuit on behalf of prisoners denied mental health care can head to trial as a class action on behalf of all prisoners, noting that there is evidence of systemic “deliberate indifference” to the mental health needs of the prisoners.
The SPLC, the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program and the law firm of Baker Donelson have asked a federal judge to certify its lawsuit against the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) as a class action, which would allow rulings in the case over the inadequate medical and mental health care of 43 prisoners named in the lawsuit to apply to the 25,000 people held in a prison system that has had one of the highest mortality rates in the country.
