By Sam Stanton and Denny Walsh
The Sacramento Bee
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Citing “horrific” videos of mentally ill inmates being pepper sprayed inside California prisons, a federal judge on Thursday ordered state officials to continue reforming how force is deployed against prisoners and limited the use of solitary confinement for such inmates.
The order by U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton cites the “overall significant progress” the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has made in reforming its use of force policies, especially new limits on how and when pepper spray can be used against mentally ill inmates.
But, with mentally ill inmates comprising more than 28 percent of the roughly 120,000 prisoners in state facilities, Karlton said improvements must continue to be made, especially after the judge viewed six videos played in open court of inmates screaming in agony as guards pepper sprayed them for infractions such as refusing to come out of their cells.
“Most of the videos were horrific...,” wrote Karlton, who was visibly anguished as he watched them from the bench during court hearings last fall.
The case was brought by attorneys for the state’s mentally ill inmates who wanted a ban on the use of pepper spray, batons and solitary confinement on their clients, and the state initially fought back by saying its policies were appropriate and the use of force displayed in the videos was not excessive.
After the videos were played, however, the state began revising that position. More revisions came after the Sept. 6 death of Joseph Duran, a mentally ill inmate who breathed through a tube in his throat and who died after being pepper sprayed for refusing to let go of the food port in his cell door.
There was no evidence entered into the case about Duran’s death originally because inmate attorneys said they did not know the circumstances of it until The Bee revealed them in a series of stories beginning in January. That case is under investigation by CDCR officials, and corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard has said he is watching it closely.
The state has subsequently revised its use of force policies so that guards can no longer use force if an inmate refuses to relinquish control of a food port. The new policy requires guards to back off and notify a supervisor. Force cannot be used unless staffers are monitoring the situation and guards follow a series of steps that include warning the inmate repeatedly and videotaping the entire process.
The state also has significantly changed the manner in which pepper spray can be deployed, ordering that after an application of pepper spray, staffers must wait at least three minutes before appling another blast. The videos showed guards repeatedly spraying inmates and using massive pepper spray grenades to try and force them from their cells.
Karlson found that, even with the state’s revisions, more must be done, and he ordered prison officials to make more changes and return to him with them in 60 days.
He also ordered that within 30 days a plan be filed “to limit or eliminate altogether” the practice of placing mentally ill inmates in administrative segregation units -- used for disciplinary problems -- simply because they are posing problems because of their illness and not because they are guilty of an infraction.
Karlton also ordered the state to come up with a revised policy on the use of strip searches on mentally ill inmates.