Lawsuit: Inmate with mental problems untreated

A mentally impaired Vermont prison inmate serving a 21-day sentence on a parole violation ended up spending more than seven months in near-solitary confinement as his mental condition grew dire, a newly filed federal lawsuit alleges.

The man remained in segregation, alone in a cell for 22 hours a day, for weeks after state corrections and mental health officials determined he was a candidate for an emergency bed at an inpatient psychiatric hospital, according to a lawsuit filed last week in U.S District Court in Burlington.

“Plaintiff suffered significant physical and psychological harm ... including psychotic breaks, malnutrition and weight loss, bruises and trauma from uses of force,” the lawsuit stated in part.

The lawsuit identified the inmate only as “Patient A.” He was described as being from St. Johnsbury. The case was filed on his behalf by Arthur J. Ruben, an attorney for Disability Rights Vermont.

Defendants include several state agencies, Mental Health Commissioner Paul Dupre, Corrections Commissioner Andrew Pallito and Correct Care Solutions, which provides health services at Vermont prisons.

Pallito did not respond to a request for comment. Robert LaRose, an attorney for the Corrections Department, said the department had yet to receive a copy of the lawsuit, and he was unable to comment.

The case takes particular aim at Pallito, accusing the longtime commissioner of receiving an internal email that indicated he knew Patient A was on a list of prisoners needing a psychiatric bed for weeks and was “waiting with fingers crossed” for one to become available.

“Between the time defendant Pallito was aware of plaintiff’s need for psychiatric hospital placement and that actual placement, plaintiff engaged in self-harming behaviors, suicidal ideations, poor eating habits and extended bouts of crying and/or screaming,” the lawsuit stated.

Ruben, in an interview, said Patient A initially was placed into segregation at the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield as a disciplinary measure but was kept in segregation “because he was too ill to be placed in the general population.”

He said Patient A is improving following treatment at a psychiatric facility in Morrisville and is no longer incarcerated.

“He’s doing well in the community,” Ruben said.

Ruben said Patient A is one of several inmates with mental-health problems who have been denied proper care while in prison.

“It’s a bellwether of a bigger problem,” Ruben said. “The prison mental health system does not have enough capacity to divert inmates who need help to an in-patient psychiatric bed.”

Contact Sam Hemingway at 660-1850 or shemingway@freepressmedia.com. Follow Sam on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SamuelHemingway.