In February, the Tribune's Gary Marx took a rare look inside Tamms Correctional Center, Illinois' lone supermax prison. Tyrone Dorn, who is serving time for carjacking, told the reporter that his five years at the in there has felt "like being buried alive." Tamms -- which keeps inmates in solitary confinement for 23 or 24 hours a day -- was originally intended to house the state's most dangerous inmates, but its since become a receptacle for troublemakers from other prisons across the state (regardless of the nature of their crimes or length of their sentence). Indeed, the Tribune notes that a fourth of the Tamms prisoners are scheduled to be released in the next decade. Critics worry that the mentally abusive conditions make these inmates more of a danger to their community upon release.
In this vein, Amnesty International last week issued a rebuke to the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) for operating the "unnecessarily punitive" system in which the ongoing lack of accountability and oversight amounts to a potential "breach of international standards for humane treatment." From a statement:
Amnesty International is concerned by the reported secrecy and lack of transparency in current procedures for transferring prisoners to and from Tamms, and the absence of any external oversight of such decisions. According to prison monitoring bodies, many prisoners are unaware of why they have been denied requests to transfer out of Tamms. More than 80 prisoners (around a third of the total) are believed to have been held in the facility for at least ten years, many since it opened in 1998, without any reasonable means of gaining release from their indefinite solitary confinement [...]
[Amnesty International] is concerned that the current conditions at Tamms, taken cumulatively and applied over a prolonged period, are incompatible with the USA’s obligations to provide humane treatment for all prisoners.
Amnesty is throwing its support behind State Rep. Julie Hamos' HB 2633 -- the revived bill we've been following that would force IDOC to begin quickly reviewing prisoner status and set both specific detention criteria and hearing dates for those held longer than a year. The organizatios calls Hamos' measure "an important step" toward increasing accountability at the downstate facility. As we noted before, AFSCME Local 31, which represents the state's prison guards, is trying to beat back the legislation. But activists with the Tamms Year Ten coalition has launched a counter campaign and is leading a petition drive to raise support and visibility for moving HB 2633 forward this year.
On a related note, in most recent issue of The New Yorker, Atul Gawande examines whether the solitary confinement used in our supermax prisons amounts to torture. Gawande's conclusions lend credence to Amnesty's interpretation that, under international human rights laws, the long-term practice may be unlawful. He even cites the experience of a former Tamms inmate -- both in the prison and after his release -- to illustrate the point.
Comments
Torture Torture Everywhere (not verified) on Tue, 03/31/2009 - 16:57
Thank you so much for helping to publicize this. If the well-documented but not yet widely known permanent neurological damage caused by prolonged social isolation were widely publicized, I don't think people would authorize it.
Phil Anthropy (not verified) on Tue, 03/31/2009 - 17:02
Sign the petition to end human rights abuses at Tamms: www.juliehamos.org.tamms
bartelby (not verified) on Tue, 03/31/2009 - 17:13
The union need not be concerned about the bill. It sends anyone that attacks a guard right to Tamms. (Right now, only a fraction of those attacks are punished.) It would keep especially violent or disruptive men in Tamms for as long as necessary. And it helps ensure that the prison is fully staffed. Correction officers' safety, public safety, jobs, and human rights can all be ensured.
TJ (not verified) on Tue, 03/31/2009 - 17:23
Just for the record: Proponents of this bill are concerned for the safety and well-being of correctional officers. Nothing about the bill need be seen as incompatible with those concerns.
Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/31/2009 - 23:11
Sign the petition at www.juliehamos.org/tamms
Revonne Saleem Monroe (not verified) on Thu, 04/02/2009 - 12:09
I've learned from my involvement with the Tamms Year Ten Org. that the proposed legislation (Illinois House Bill 2633) is specifically written for "administrative and procedural reform" at the Tamms Super-Max Correctional Center (a misnomer). It is not a legislation to neither close Tamms super-max prison nor reduce its operating capacity in any form.
Instead, it simply suggests means to "regulate" the extreme conditions under which inmates are housed, controlled and/or punished at the facility. HB 2633 sets forth "minimum human standards" for the Illinois Department of Corrections to follow when housing, controlling and disciplining inmates who engage in acts of violence against prison guards, staff, or other inmates; it does not restrict the agency’s ability to operate the facility, except to the extend that such management does not result in “tortuous conditions.”
Because prolonged and "absolute isolation" of prison inmates from any and all human contact or social interaction can be deemed tortuous and below the standard of "human decency." Illinois government (IDOC) and government employees (prison guards) should not be encouraged to engage in such acts of torture by virtue of their employment and job description.
Approximately 50% of the inmates at Tamms have been confined there for 10-years or more; and even more shockingly, a significant number of inmates are housed at Tamms for NO ACT(S) OF VIOLENCE (contrary to what the facility was originally intended, designed and touted in 1998). And shamefully, the conditions of the mentally ill inmates are not even considered when placed at the prison. It has now come to light that inmates with pre-existing mental health problems have been confined there; and some inmates have even mentally deteriorated because of such extreme confinement and deprivation.
It is also interesting to note that the inmates at Tamms prison will eventually be released upon the expiration of their prison sentences directly into the communities from which they come to serve their parole terms……without ever being de-briefed from such environment of "prolonged isolation" ! Perhaps the opponents of HB 2633 will have no objection to these inmates (whose future behavior is uncertain) living next door to their families or being their neighbors co-workers?
Because the IDOC has failed to operate Tamms prison in a humanly manner....the end results have directly encouraged its citizens in southern Illinois (from which prison guards and staff are drawn) to commit acts of torture spanning its 10 year history and operations. This activity by state government must be condemned and corrected.
Accordingly, the circumstances at Tamms prison have necessitated Illinois House Bill 2633. A bill to provide the IDOC agency with clear and unambiguous rules, regulations and procedures on how to operate and manage this unique facility and inmates, so as not to constitute a "tortious environment". Said another way, HB 2633 seeks to prevent it government and employees from reverting back to medieval acts in the treatment of prisoners.
State Representative Julie Hamos (sponsor of the bill), and other legislative supporters need to be acknowledged and commended for proposing House Bill 2633; and especially the Tamms Year Ten Org for bringing this serious matter to the public's attention, less we cannot say in the future that "I didn't know Illinois government and its citizens in southern Illinois have engaged in ‘tortuous acts’ against prison inmates". (Revonne Saleem Monroe, Chicago, IL.)
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