Even if an inmate's sentence is not oppressively long, their treatment while incarcerated can still constitute subhuman treatment. Prisons are not medical facilities, but they regularly are forced to deal with mental health problems and care for elderly and terminally ill inmates. Food, if it's even edible, usually lacks enough nutrition for inmates' health to not deteriorate. Plus, with a lack of opportunities to see family, read, or gain skill sets, inmates are placed in buildings which lack any resemblance of the civilized world.
“The bill stems from an incident in the Columbia County Jail in 2017, which was caught on video and received media coverage. An inmate was mauled by a dog in his cell for failing to come out. The 48-year-old was awarded $251,000 in a lawsuit settlement late last year. Since that time, the jail voluntarily stopped using dogs for this purpose.“
KTVZ Oregon
March 21, 2019
Read More"'Programs help us get out of our mind, because you get in, you get stuck,' she said. 'You think, what I could have done, what I couldn't have done. What I should have done, what I didn't' -- and it’ll drive you really anxious and excited, and it brings on other emotions. But this helps. The program helps'."
KTVZ Central Oregon
July 16, 2018
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