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SMI Inmate: Lack of Treatment and Excessive Force  


Author:  Fred Cohen.


Source: Volume 19, Number 02, July/August 2017 , pp.17-19(3)




Correctional Mental Health Report

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Abstract: 

Mental health care in California’s prisons has been under federal court supervision for over 20 years since the Supreme Court ruling in Coleman v. Wilson that the state’s treatment of mentally ill inmates was grossly inadequate. The costs of monitoring have been extraordinary, running well into the high millions. Even as the state sought to be found in substantial compliance with Coleman, a new case of shocking neglect arose in Padilla v. Beard, in which a seriously mentally ill inmate was subjected to a brutal cell extraction and then charged with a disciplinary infraction for the incident. With a likely jury verdict against the facility looming, it settled with plaintiff for $950,000. We examine the facts of the case, and what it says generally about progress in reforming conditions in the California prison system.

Keywords: Cell extraction; Coleman v. Wilson; Coleman v. Brown

Affiliations:  1: Executive Editor.

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