Indiana Prison Inmates Kept Under “Torture” Conditions, ACLU Prosecutions Include, Including Weeks of Total Darkness and Exposure to Live Wires

[ad_1]

A file photo shows a sign reading “help” hanging from the window of an Alabama jail. Six inmates at an Indiana correctional facility are suing the administrators, alleging they were kept in conditions amounting to “torture.” AP Photo / Kim Chandler, File

Six inmates at an Indiana prison are suing officials for conditions they say amount to “torture.”

The Indiana ACLU has filed lawsuits on behalf of six inmates at the Miami Correctional Facility.

The men claim they have been held in total darkness for weeks, leading some to be shocked by bared wires.

Visit the Insider home page for more stories.

Six inmates at an Indiana maximum security prison are suing facility administrators, alleging they were kept in complete darkness for weeks and shocked by live wires in conditions akin to of “torture”.

Six lawsuits, all but one of which were filed on July 1, have been brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on behalf of inmates at the Miami Correctional Facility at Bunker Hill. The lawsuits name Director William Hyatte and Deputy Director George Payne Jr. as defendants.

The six men were isolated in cells with no light, the lawsuits said. Some of the detainees were cut with glass from shattered windows, or shocked by live wires hanging and exposed as they attempted to navigate in the dark, ACLU lawyers wrote in the lawsuits.

The first ACLU lawsuit was filed in March on behalf of Jeremy Blanchard, who alleged he was placed in a restrictive accommodation cell from September 3, 2020 until October 5, 2020 where the only window was completely blocked by a sheet of metal and the only light was broken.

“It left Mr. Blanchard in the dark, except for the short time he was let out for a shower every few days,” the suit says. “The defendants were aware of the conditions in which Mr. Blanchard suffered, but allowed him to remain in almost total darkness for over a month.”

The ACLU filed the other lawsuits on behalf of inmates William Anderson, Charles Lyons, Anthony Parish, Gerald Reed and Jeffrey Wagner, who alleged they were kept under similar conditions.

Wagner said he was held in a dark cell from September 3, 2020 to November 3, 2020.

The story continues

“Live electric wires hung from the ceiling and on several occasions he received painful shocks as he tried to navigate his dark cell,” the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit alleges that these conditions were a form of punishment and that Wagner’s mental health deteriorated as a result. Wagner’s anxiety and depression worsened and he “suffered from auditory hallucinations causing him to harm himself,” according to the lawsuit.

“Placing a person in prolonged and isolated darkness for an extended period of time is a form of torture,” the ACLU wrote in the lawsuit.

An Indiana Corrections spokesperson declined to comment on Insider on the pending litigation.

The Miami Correctional Center houses about 3,150 inmates, according to data from the Department of Corrections.

Read the original article on Insider

[ad_2]