A US Appeals Court has ruled that a death row inmate held in solitary confinement for 26 years can sue Pennsylvania prison officials for cruel and unusual punishment. Roy Lee Williams was isolated from 1993 until 2019, even though the Department of Corrections knew this was unconstitutional.
Williams was sentenced to death for the murder of a construction worker at age 26 after declaring he wanted to kill a white person. He said a white person was responsible for sending him to jail in a previous robbery.
Senior US Circuit Judge Theodore McKee overturned a lower court’s ruling and dismissed the Department of Corrections’ argument that it wasn’t on notice that solitary confinement was unconstitutional before 2019. Judge McKee found that the Department was fully aware, having received a report from the Department of Justice in 2019 that McKee described as a “concisely packaged” summary of the law.
The Court noted that Williams had a history of significant mental health problems dating back to at least age 14, when suicidal ideation landed him in a psychiatric facility. Prison officials were aware of his psychiatric issues as early as 1996, Judge McKee declared.
The ruling will likely bolster the case of six former inmates who filed a class action suit in March to end solitary confinement in Pennsylvania prisons. The plaintiffs allege that the practice is cruel and worsens mental health conditions, making it a violation of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution.
A study last year found that 122,840 convicts in federal and state prisons were held in solitary confinement. Also known as restrictive housing, prisoners in solitary confinement spend around 22 hours a day on their own. The report stated that overall figures amount to 1 in 20 of the prison population, but in some prisons in Missouri, the number is as high as 12%.
Missouri Democratic Rep. Cori Bush called the findings a “catastrophe” and described solitary confinement as “a moral blight on this nation.” Some prison officials insist, however, that it is a necessary tool in maintaining order.
