Friday, March 09, 2007

The Boston Globe reports today on a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of mentally ill inmates housed in solitary confinement for as long as 23 hours a day. The lawsuit alleges that prison officials are not respecting inmates' Eighth Amendment rights, which prevent the government from imposing "cruel and unusual punishment."

Though the lawsuit describes similar conditions to those in the Maine prison system, on which the Portland Phoenix has been reporting for more than a year, the suit is filed against the Ma