8/12/2019 Prison Treatment of Notorious Convicts Questioned - Our Sunday Visitor June 25, 2006 by Stephen James

1/1

News Analysis

OUR SUNDAY VISITOR l JUNE 25, 20

5

JUSTICE

Known informally as theAlcatraz of the Rockies, thefederal prison subjects inmateso some of the harshest condi-ions of any facility in the coun-ry, and the publicity surround-ng its latest resident has reignitedhe debate over how the govern-

ment and society treats criminalsconsidered the worst ofthe worst.

For the rest of his l i fe ,Moussaoui will spend at least 23hours a day in a 7-foot-by-11-foot concrete cell, where he willive, sleep and eat with virtually

no contact with other humans,prisoners or staff.

Except for his attorneys,Moussaoui likely will not be per-mitted visits and will receive justone hour per day to exercise out-ide of his cell, alone, in a small

exercise yard.These maximum-security

units subject prisoners to a reallyunprecedented level of social iso-ation and sensory deprivation

and inflict serious psychologicaldamage on many people,partic-ularly those who are already men-ally ill,said David Fathi,senior-taff counsel of the National

Prison Project of the AmericanCivil Liberties Union Foundation.

Paranoid or not?Moussaoui may be especiallyusceptible to the mental traumahat the conditions of his new

environment can inflict on somenmates.During his trial,two psy-

chologists brought in by hisdefense attorneys testified that thedefendant was a paranoidchizophrenic.

Prosecutors countered withheir own expert who said the al-

Qaida conspirator had deep per-onality flaws but did not suffer

from schizophrenia or paranoia.But there was apparently no dis-pute that Moussaoui grew up inan extremely violent home wherehis father, who has a history ofmental illness, beat his mother,broke her jaw and teeth and oncetried to run her over with a car,according to trial testimony.Thefather was eventually treated ina French psychiatric hospital.

In many states,successful courtchallenges to the conditionsMoussaoui is enduring inFlorence have forced state cor-rectional departments to movementally-ill inmates from soli-tary confinement to less restric-tive housing that doesnt exacer-

bate pre-existing psychologicalproblems.A federal judge in California

ruled that putting mentally-illpeople in these conditions waslike putting a prisoner withasthma in a room with no air tobreath, explained Fathi.

But the Colorado Admax hasso far been immune from courtoversight, and Fathi doesntexpect any judicial interventionfor prisoners like Moussaoui.Due to the perceived threat thatthey pose, a relatively small classof prisoners is considered anexception to even the minimalstandards of humane treatment

established by a series of courtrulings.The reality is that courts are

going to make exceptions,he said.If they regard someone asextremely dangerous,I think theyare going to make exceptions tothe general proposition that thementally ill may not be held inthese facilities.

Living with dignityCatholic social teaching on

crime and punishment empha-sizes that the discussion aboutprisoner treatment begins withthe defense of human dignity[A]ny system of penal justice

must provide those necessitiesthat enable inmates to live in dig-nity:food, clothing,shelter, per-sonal safety,timely medical care,education and meaningful workadequate to the conditions ofh um a n dign ity , th e U . S .Conference of Catholic Bishopswrote in their 2000 statementResponsibility, Rehabilitationand Restoration: A CatholicPerspective on Crime andCriminal Justice.

The U.S. bishops policy

adviser on criminal justice issues,Andrew Rivas,said that the bish-ops understand that certain pris-ons must have higher levels ofsecurity because of the dangerspresented by the inmates housedthere,but we know that there isa value and dignity to the humanperson no matter what theyvedone, and they deserve to betreated with value and dignity,

he said.So, there are great concerns

that the bishops have for maxi-mum-security facilities that iso-late and seclude prisoners fromone another, he said

Fair treatmentKevin Miller,assistant profes-

sor of theology at FranciscanUniversity in Steubenville,agreedthat all prisoners are entitled toh um an e t r e a tm en t . Th isdoesnt mean that prisons should

be luxury hotels, or that prison-ers have a right to cable TV, hesaid.I dont think there is a prob-lem with prisons being fairlySpartan, in fact I think they prob-ably should be.

Offenders deserve to be pun-ished, and society has the rightand the need to punish them forits own preservation, Millerexplained.

But I suspect there is a fairamount of brutality thatsimposed by the prison regimeitself, not as a result ofprisoner-on-prisoner violence,but simplyas a result of how prisons are run the conditions that are put inplace by the people running theprisons, he said.

The solution isnt to keep pris-oners secured in their cells nearlyall day to make the jobs of prisonadministrators easier,Miller said.

Im not an expert on crimi-

nology, but I do have the senfrom what Ive heard and reathat typically conditions are pretbad, such that I would questiowhether they would be consi

tent with Catholic teachinregarding human dignity, hsaid.

It sounds to me l ike thereslot of work to be done to brinconditions in typical prisons inconformity with the Catholunderstanding of the dignity the human person,including thdignity of the convicted crimnal.

Stephen James writes from

California.

Prison treatment of notorious convicts questionedChurch says society has right to protection

but must respect offenders human dignity

Federal corrections officer William Brown stands in thedoorway of a typical cell in a general population unit atthe U.S. Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Securityfacility in Florence, Colo. KRT PHOTO BY MARK REIS

By Stephen James

Convicted al-Qaida

operative Zacarias

Moussaoui is serving his life

sentence at the notorious,

sterile and stringent U.S.

Penitentiary Administrative

Maximum in Florence,Colo.,

or Admax as its commonly

known.

Isolation can causeprisoners harm

Zacarias Moussaouiarrived at the maximum-security federal prison inFlorence, Colo. at 3:17p.m. on May 13. The con-victed al-Qaida conspiratoris being housed adjacent tosome of the most notoriousprisoners in the country,including UnabomberTheodore J. Kaczynski,Oklahoma City bombingconspirator Terry Nicholsand former FBI agent andconvicted spy Robert P.Hanssen.

Like all other inmates inthe special housing unit,Moussaoui will live, eat andsleep in a concrete cell

specifically designed sothat he cannot speak ormake eye contact withother prisoners.

Whenever Moussaouileaves his cell to make thewalk to the exercise yard,where he is allowed for onehour per day, he undergoesa body cavity search and isshackled with chains.

For some time, judgeshave ruled that similar con-ditions in state facilities vir-tually ensure that an inmatewill eventually suffer psy-chological effects.

The record shows, what

anyway seems pretty obvi-ous, that isolating a humanbeing from other humanbeings year after year oreven month after monthcan cause substantial psy-chological damage, even ifthe isolation is not total,said a federal court judgein a 1998 New York case.