Five pregnant women incarcerated in Western Pennsylvania have sued after being placed in solitary confinement. The federal lawsuit, filed Monday, alleged that the women in Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh were punished for minor, nonviolent infractions and held for up to 22 days each.
"Anecdotally, they're using [solitary confinement] as the first and last resort for discipline or to express disappointment," the lead attorney in the lawsuit, Bret Grote, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
One woman stated she had been placed in solitary confinement for possessing a book containing pictures and envelopes. Another said she was confined for having three pairs of shoes instead of the allowed two. None of the infractions were violent, the Gazette reported.
The lawsuit alleged cruel and unusual punishment and due process violations and demanded access to adequate prenatal care as well as a complete end to solitary confinement for pregnant women. It also asked for fair hearings before any prisoner can be placed in confinement.
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2 comments:
Good luck. I hope they win. That place and its' union guards do whatever they want to with little oversight.
What part of "prison" do they not understand?
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