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Abstract: 

In 1984, the Idaho prison system was ordered by a federal district court (in Balla v. Idaho State Board of Correction) to adopt a list of basic reforms that would guarantee a minimum standard of mental health care for inmates in the system—appropriate dietary programs for medically infirm inmates, adequate clothing, emergency medical care, and security for inmates in protective custody, and a disciplinary system that ensured adequate due process. Thirty one years later, in Balla v. Idaho State Board of Correction 2015, the court has found that not only has the state failed in most ways to comply with the 1984 order, but that it has sought to mislead the court and the special master assigned to ensure compliance through a series of “fraudulent activities, destruction of evidence, and shocking punishment (the “dry cells”) of seriously disturbed inmates. This article summarizes the findings of fact and the judicial judgment rendered in the current iteration of this long-standing suit.

Keywords: “Dry cells”; solitary confinement

Affiliations:  1: Editor.