Judge rejects lifting disabled inmate decree

September 17, 2010
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
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Nearly nine years after a federal judge ordered California to protect mentally disabled inmates in state prisons, those inmates are still being beaten, robbed and deprived of food and sanitation, the judge said Thursday in refusing to lift the decree.

Developmentally disabled inmates are "verbally, physically and sexually assaulted, exploited and discriminated against," and are receiving little help from prison officials and staff, said U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco, who presided over a six-day trial in May.

He said the prisons have not complied with basic requirements of the December 2001 order - such as assisting inmates who cannot read or write - leaving the inmates helpless to perform such tasks as requesting medical treatment and filing grievances.

Prison employees fail to monitor the inmates, remind them to shower, or escort them in areas where they are likely to be attacked, Breyer said. He said one prisoner's weight dropped from 175 pounds to about 140 in five months because his cellmate was stealing his food, but guards laughed at him when he asked them to accompany him to the canteen.

"In this climate of indifference, developmentally disabled prisoners are forced to surrender their items to whoever asks, cajoles, threatens or strong-arms them," Breyer said.

He ordered officials to consult with prisoners' lawyers and present a new compliance plan by mid-December. That plan must include better identification of inmates who need protection, Breyer said - the prisons say 0.8 percent of inmates are mentally disabled, but a court-appointed expert said surveys in other states suggest the figure is probably 2 to 4 percent.

Sara Norman of the nonprofit Prison Law Office, representing inmates who filed the original suit in 1996, said the state chose to litigate - asking Breyer in July 2009 to lift his order - instead of working harder to solve the problems.

"In a hideously overcrowded prison system, one of constant crisis and lockdown, what happens is the most vulnerable people suffer," she said.

Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said officials had just received Breyer's order and were reviewing it.

The department "remains committed to seeing that developmentally disabled inmates have the same access to programs as others, and will be working to resolve the problems the court has identified," she said.