NCJ Number
102115
Journal
Criminal Law Bulletin Volume: 22 Issue: 4 Dated: (July-August 1986) Pages: 372-376
Date Published
1986
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Recent court decisions have outlined prison officials' legal responsibility to provide medical care for mentally disordered inmates and ancillary inmate legal rights.
Abstract
In Estelle v. Gamble (1976), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prison officials' deliberate indifference to inmates' serious medical disorders, so as to cause unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain, violates the eighth amendment's ban against cruel and unusual punishment. Although this ruling does not clearly define serious medical disorders, relevant court decisions indicate that a serious medical need is one diagnosed by a doctor as mandating treatment or an illness so obvious that even a layperson could recognize the need for medical care. The right to care for serious mental disorders spawns ancillary rights. A prison system must provide for the initial diagnosis and classification of inmates. The provision and continuity of proper medical care also depends on the maintenance of minimally adequate clinical records. Other issues of concern to the courts are inmate access to medical care, adequate medical personnel, provision for emergency care, maintenance of statistics on mentally ill inmates, and statements of definition for mental disorder and treatment objectives. 18 footnotes.