Texas Prisons Violate Internationally Recognized Human Rights Standards: Report

AUSTIN, TX — Prisons in Texas are in violation of international human rights standards and deny civil rights of its prisoners on death row kept in solitary confinement, a report released Monday by the Human Rights Clinic of the University of Texas School of Law concludes.

Titled “Designed to Break You: Human Rights Violations on Texas’ Death Rows,” the 48-page report calls for a sweeping array of changes in the operation of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice centered on policies related to the use of solitary confinement as a punitive measure and access to healthcare.

Texas death row inmates spend an average of more than 14 years awaiting execution in solitary confinement, posited by UT-Austin researchers as akin to torture, an assessment shared by several human rights organizations.

The study comes amid a backdrop of prolific capital punishment in Texas, a state that executes more prisoners than any other state—by far. This year alone, four people have been put to death through the use of the drug Pentobarbital for various crimes: Christopher Wilkins, 48, executed Jan. 11; Terry Darnell Edwards, 43, executed Jan. 26; Rolando Ruiz, 44, put to death on March 7; and James Bigby, 61, executed March 14 (Source: Death Penalty Information Center).

The four prisoners put to death this year all had been awaiting execution for years, and in once case decades. Wilkins had the shortest wait at eight years, while Bigby sat on death row for 25 years, according to data collected by the Death Penalty Information Center.

The prisoner with the longest time on death row is Raymond Riles, who has been sitting on death row for more than 41 years after robbing and killing a Houston used car salesman in 1974. Due to mental illness, he was previously considered ineligible to be executed, but prison officials said he could become eligible given continual testing of his mental state. In 1985, Riles attempted suicide by setting his prison cell on fire.

The list of prisoners sitting on death row is so great, that even WikiPedia doesn't attempt to list them all: "Due to the high number of Texas death row inmates, only prisoners with Wikipedia pages are listed in this article," WikiPedia reads. "The full list is externally linked."

According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the number of death row inmates is nearly 250.

Among recommendations outlined in the University of Texas School of Law report is an end of solitary confinement for prisoners suffering from mental illness or physical disabilities, enhanced healthcare access, provision of religious services and greater access to outdoor recreation.

"The State of Texas stands today as one of the most extensive utilizers of the death penalty worldwide," the report's author's wrote. "Consequently, inmate living conditions on Texas’ death row are ripe for review. This report demonstrates that the mandatory conditions implemented for death row inmates by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) are harsh and inhumane."

The upshot: "Conditions on death row at TDCJ’s Polunsky Unit must be remedied posthaste," the report's authors concluded.

Texas re-introduced the practice of mandatory solitary confinement—total segregation of individuals confined to their cells for 22 to 24 hours a day— for all prisoners convicted of capital murder. The practice bans recreation or eating with other inmates as death row inmates are confined to cells of average size of eight feet by 12 feet in size, the report's authors noted.

The cells consist only of a sink, toilet and 30-inch wide steel bunk with a thin plastic mattress, according to the findings. Most include a small window, but inmates are only able to see oudoors by rolling up their mattresses to stand on them, according to the report.

"Every individual on Texas’ death row thus spends approximately 23 hours a day in complete isolation for the entire duration of their sentence, which, on average, lasts more than a decade," researchers found. "This prolonged solitary confinement has overwhelmingly negative effects on inmates’ mental health, exacerbating existing mental health conditions and causing many prisoners to develop mental illness for the first time."

Stays of execution, when execution dates are re-set for a variety of reasons, also play havoc on prisoners' psychological state, according to the report: "In addition to the detrimental effects of isolation, the practice of setting multiple execution dates means that many prisoners are subjected to the psychological stress of preparing to die several times during their sentence."

In 1999, Texas reintroduced the practice of mandatory solitary confinement for every individual convicted of capital murder. Solitary confinement involves total segregation of individuals who are confined to their cells for twenty-two to twenty-four hours per day, with a complete prohibition on recreating or eating with other inmates. An average cell is no bigger than 8 feet by 12 feet, the authors of the report found. Those cells contain only a sink, a toilet, and a thirty-inch-wide steel bunk with a thin plastic mattress.

The report also found death row inmates find access to health care challenging.

"Inmates on death row experience severe barriers to accessing medical care, in part due to being housed in solitary confinement and being less able to effectively self-advocate. Inmates are not offered regular physical or psychological check-ups, and must rely on the guards to communicate and facilitate any healthcare appointments. Such requests for care are, at best, responded to within a few days, but can go several weeks without a response and are often ignored or forgotten about," researchers found.

Prison conditions are exacerbated given a lack of access to psychological healthcare, according to the report.

"In terms of psychological healthcare – an issue of great importance given that a large majority of inmates on death row suffer from some form of psychological illness – only inmates who were already taking psychiatric medication are able to meet regularly with psychiatrists," the report reads. "Of those inmates who are eventually given access to psychological care, they are generally only prescribed some form of psychiatric medication, thus exacerbating the unmet need for some form of counseling or non-pharmaceutical therapy. Inmates with mental illness who do not necessarily want or need prescription drugs are essentially provided with only two options: take unwanted medication, or forgo psychological healthcare entirely."

One prisoner on death row, Andre Thomas, was convicted of stabbing his wife and children to death. Five days after the killings, he removed one of his eyeballs with his bare hands, but his mental illness was deemed to be largely substance-induced thus deeming him fit to stand trial. Originally placed in the Polunsky Unit where the men's death row is located, he attempted suicide by cutting his throat. On Dec. 9, 2008, he removed his remaining left eye and ate it.

The lack of access to religious services also is covered in the report. Christian Bibles are the only religious materials available from the prison chaplain in Texas, according to the report. But even for Christian inmates needed theological counsel, access to ministers is rarely provided save for the holiday season, according to the findings.

"For inmates of different faiths, such as Islam or Judaism, the situation is more difficult as they must solely rely on outside sources for their religious materials. They are provided with no access to practice their chosen faith, and are often met with contempt when seeking such access," authors found. "This has created a harsh environment for inmates who do not adhere to Christianity, and has enabled a discriminatory system on the basis of religion on Texas’ death row."

The report prepared by the Human Rights Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law cites other sources echoing their findings, including the the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The report's authors cite such safeguards against inhumane conditions as outlined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man.

"The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and other human rights bodies have repeatedly issued opinions decrying the inhumane conditions present at the Polunsky Unit. Particularly, international human rights bodies had considered that the prolonged and mandatory use of solitary confinement is 'disproportionate, illegitimate, and unnecessary,' " the report's authors wrote.

To see the full report by the Human Rights Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law, click here.

>>> Uppermost photo credit: Andrew Bardwell via WikiMedia Commons, photos of inmates via Texas Department of Criminal Justice