Dr. Pablo Stewart, an expert in mental health care in prisons and the appointed monitor in the Rasho lawsuit, discusses 15 areas where he found deficiencies in the care delivered to Illinois inmates. In the attached summary, Stewart explains failures in medication and psychiatric care, staff shortages, use of force and inpatient care, among many others.
In his review of the use of restrains, for example, Stewart found evidence of an inmate held in a crisis cell for 10 months and was “in restrains most of the time.”
In his comments on the summary, attorney Harold Hirshman says the report based on Stewart’s 2023 deposition, highlights “the 15 systemic deficiencies that continually plague the Illinois Department of Corrections’ mental health care apparatus and subject its mentally ill population to undue and excessive harms.” This report and four others will be posted on my Newsmakers blog. Hirshman has released over 150 pages of documents related to the case to inform the public of what he calls “the problem that won’t go away.”
I welcome your comments.
Connect with me