ACLU challenges 'solitary confinement' in case of RI inmate who says he spent 450 days in isolation
PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island abandoned the use of long-term solitary confinement in the 1840s after concluding that it led to mental instability, suicidal thoughts and derangement.
That remained the status quo for more than a century, until corrections officials revisited the practice in the 1960s, before the court imposed limitations within years, court records show.
Over time, however, prison officials’ use of isolation crept up, permitting inmates like Jerry Cintron to remain segregated from the prison population for lengthy periods of time, even years, according to the state affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The state ACLU weighed in on a case before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals arguing in a "friend-of-the-court" brief that the state’s use of solitary confinement represents cruel and unusual punishment in violation of Cintron’s constitutional rights, and that prison officials knew well of his mental deterioration. They argue the actions by corrections staff were not reasonable and that they should not be shielded from liability by qualified immunity.
More: 'Blood on their hands': After ACI deaths, advocates push for solitary confinement reform
“Since before the Civil War, the Warden for the Department of Corrections has known of the ills of extended solitary confinement,” ACLU lawyer Sonja Deyoe said. “The practice needs to be abolished and used only in emergency situations where there is severe risk of harm to the inmates, guards, and staff and then only for the shortest period possible, or a day or two, not for years on end.”
The ACLU brief was also filed on behalf of Aaron Regunberg, a former state lawmaker who chaired a legislative commission on solitary confinement in 2017, and state Rep. Leonela Felix, D-Pawtucket, who is sponsoring legislation to substantially limit the state’s use of disciplinary confinement. (Regunberg is among the Democrats running to replace U.S. Rep. David Cicilline.)
Latest push comes after three men die by suicide at ACI
The issue is of acute importance, advocates say, given news of three suicides of men in the custody of the Department of Corrections. Two of the suicides occurred in disciplinary confinement.
“Holding DOC accountable for the tragic deaths of incarcerated Rhode Islanders in their care and custody is crucial. Doing so can be achieved through various avenues, from legislative reform efforts to legal challenges,” Felix said in a statement. “By joining the amicus brief, we unite in demanding justice and ensuring that those responsible are held accountable for their practices that have caused so much harm to our communities.”
The state Department of Corrections strongly refutes that it uses such a practice at all, but argues that disciplinary confinement is a necessary tool for keeping the Adult Correctional Institutions safe.
"There is no such thing as solitary confinement anymore, where inmates are isolated or deprived of human contact,” spokesman J.R. Ventura has said. “Even in the most extreme of cases, where an inmate is a severe management problem, they are not placed in a solitary environment.”
450 days of disciplinary confinement
Cintron, 41, who is being held in high security, sued the department in 2019, months after he overdosed on fentanyl he ingested, believing it was Percocet, he said.
He received 450 days of disciplinary confinement for a range of alleged infractions and later admitted to drug offenses in Superior Court, charges he says were brought in retaliation for him not cooperating in the investigation..
Represented by the Rhode Island Center for Justice, Cintron challenged his confinement as cruel and inhumane. He blamed being isolated in his cell for 23 hours a day — with lights glaring overhead even at night and only a 10-minute call per month allowed — for deepening his substance use disorder and causing him to deteriorate mentally and physically.
“Years of isolation led to mental illness, including anxiety and depression; self-harm, including pulling out his hair and badly injuring his hand by bashing it against the wall; and weight loss of almost 70 pounds,” the lawyers wrote.
The lawyers for the state asked that the matter be dismissed, emphasizing that Cintron had admitted to the drug crimes in court.
“Disciplinary confinement is a necessary tool for punishing inmates who commit serious infractions, especially infractions that risk inmates’ lives, like conveying fentanyl into the ACI,” the state wrote. “Plaintiff is upset that he was placed in disciplinary confinement for participating in trafficking fentanyl into the ACI.”
The state argued that damages against the corrections officials were barred as a matter of law and that there are no factual allegations that warranted subjecting them to individual liability and a waiver of qualified immunity in connection with the discipline.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. declined to dismiss the case in April and ruled in Cintron’s favor on qualified immunity grounds, leading the state to appeal to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The state argues that McConnell got it wrong, that prison officials are entitled to qualified immunity because the complaint fails to allege a constitutional violation, as required.
Prisoners' rights groups join case
The MacArthur Justice Center, a national, nonprofit law firm dedicated to protecting civil rights and fighting injustice, has joined the Center for Justice in representing Cintron before the 1st Circuit.
Several other inmates who say they have been placed in long-term solitary confinement at the ACI have moved to weigh in on the case: Jamal Bouchard, John Daponte, Raymond Grundy, Joseph Shepard and Francisco Vega.
In addition to the ACLU, other prisoners’ rights advocacy groups have filed in support of Cintron, including Rights Behind Bars, the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Law Brain and Behavior, and former Washington state corrections officials.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: ACLU: Solitary confinement 'cruel and unusual' in case of RI inmate
