蜜桃传媒

ADOC will likely need more than double its current level of correctional staffing and nearly triple its mental health staffing, according to the brief. Additionally, the court should appoint security and mental health monitors to ensure that ADOC is carrying out the court-approved remedies, the brief states.

The filing is in response to a plan that ADOC proposed to the federal court last week, claiming that it would increase spending for mental health care workers 鈥� and would double staffing in those positions 鈥� but only if the state legislature provides enough funding next year.

鈥淐ompliance with the U.S. Constitution is not optional, and the state can delay no longer. Mental health staffing is woefully inadequate in ADOC prisons, and the flagrant constitutional violations that result must be addressed immediately in order to protect prisoners with mental illnesses from an ongoing risk of serious harm,鈥� said Maria Morris, senior supervising attorney with the 蜜桃传媒. 鈥淎DOC鈥檚 plan to remedy these glaring staffing deficiencies is vague, unsubstantiated and incomplete. It must address these issues now.鈥�

The filing is the latest development in the 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 ongoing litigation against ADOC for failing to provide adequate medical and mental health care for people in its custody. U.S. District Court Judge Myron Thompson issued a sweeping, 302-page ruling in June declaring the mental health care system in Alabama prisons 鈥渉orrendously inadequate.鈥�

The court specifically found that 鈥減ersistent and severe shortages of mental-health staff and correctional staff鈥� are among the overarching issues that contribute to the inadequacy of mental health care in ADOC prisons.

The court also found that ADOC鈥檚 mental health caseload is substantially lower than the national average, and that this failure to identify prisoners with mental health needs is the result of a number of factors, including 鈥渋nsufficient mental-health staffing.鈥�

Recruiting and retaining adequate staff will take time and funding, but ADOC already has the authority and funding to hire some correctional staff right now. For example, ADOC does not need legislative approval to fill its existing, authorized staffing levels.

鈥淭hroughout this case, the court has repeatedly made it clear that lack of funds is not an excuse for ADOC鈥檚 failure to provide constitutionally mandated care to prisoners with mental illnesses,鈥� Morris said. 鈥淎DOC officials have known for years that they need more staff, but they have delayed addressing the problem. Now, they want to delay even further, leading to more pain, suffering and possibly even death.鈥�

Morris said: 鈥淭he state has an immediate duty to hire enough qualified staff to address the crisis in care for the mentally ill. Over the long term, however, the only solution to this and other problems in the Alabama prison system is to decrease the prison population by getting people the help they need to stay out of prison in the first place. The state should ensure that people with mental illness get treatment, instead of just locking them up and throwing away the key.鈥�