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NEWS AND ALERTS |
WHO
IS ALVARO?
Political Prisoner Files Suit on Behalf of Mentally Ill Prisoners in TexasOn November 27, a pleading (Civil Action #H-78-987) was filed in Judge William Justice’s court in Houston on behalf of mentally ill inmates in the George Beto Unit of Texas. U.S. political prisoner Alvaro Luna Hernandez (recognized by the Jericho Movement and other progressive organizations for his history of community organizing), a former prisoner held in Beto, filed the suit after witnessing conditions on Beto’s X-Wing (solitary confinement/pretrial hearing detention area) for five months in 2001. Alvaro was transferred to X-Wing (solitary) in August under the auspices of alleged gang affiliation. This is a charge Alvaro still denies, and states was in retaliation for outside pressure supporters have brought to bear on the prison. In the civil action, Alvaro states he witnessed several suicide attempts by mentally ill inmates confined in solitary, as well as disturbances, including excessive noise, flooding of corridors and the burning of mattresses. The official response, he notes in the court pleading, was to deny said inmates food and drinking water, and to house these inmates for months at a time in “old style” double-door solitary confinement cells. Further, Alvaro notes, unit officials currently engage in the practice of housing general administrative segregation and unit transfer status inmates (i.e. inmates to be transferred) in solitary, in violation of a 1983 order not to house such inmates in these punitive-type cells. In filing the action, Alvaro requests the court conduct an investigation of the conditions of Beto’s solitary confinement area and specifically the mistreatment of mentally ill inmates on Beto’s X-Wing. For more information, please contact: Alvaro Luna Hernandez |
ISSUES
