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.
“Reform rarely happens without accountability, yet accountability for jail deaths is rare. When it does happen, it’s the result of a lawsuit, local government investigation or — rarest of all — a federal investigation. Two jails are going through that process now.“
The Virginian-Pilot
December 13, 2018
Read More"The Virginian-Pilot tracked the cases of 404 people with mental illness who have died in America’s jails since 2010. The total number is likely much larger, but it's untraceable – what little information the federal government keeps on jail deaths does not accurately track the mental health of inmates."
The Virginian Pilot
August 23, 2018
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