Doctors For Equal Rights For Physical And
Mental Pain
dralensalerian.blogspot.com
A Psychiatrist At An Asylum
Alen J Salerian MD
January 7, 2015
I am a psychiatrist
who cried reading the Associated Press report in Washington Post January 7,
2015 : Mentally ill inmates won't be
isolated.
Pennsylvania prison inmates with serious
mental illness who misbehave will be diverted to special treatment units
instead of being put in isolated cells according to a settlement released
Tuesday.
The advocates said
the agreement will end” a Dickensian nightmare” in which mentally ill inmates
written up for misconduct were confined in small restricted cells for 23 hours
a day for months or even years , trapped in” an endless cycle of isolation and punishment “that often
exacerbated their symptoms and caused them to harm themselves.
My tears were
triggered by my own experience as a patient at FMC Butner in North
Carolina. Isolation in a dark cell
for 23 hours a day for weeks or months was a standard punitive behavioral modification at FMC Butner.
I was fortunate my longest punishment was five days.
Barbaric treatment of
my fellow men with mental illness - people awaiting trial and therefore
innocent-and myself did not end with solitary isolation. Humiliating strip
searches with sadistic and sexual inspection of genitals and slave labor ($.75
per day) were also routine. The isolation often began with psychological
terror: threats of forced feeding of
human body products and verbal assaults .
I commend the state
of Pennsylvania to abolish solitary punishment. But may I ask? How about abolishing sadistic strip
searches, slave labor and terror tactics in the
USA for all including mentally
ill.
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