NCJ Number
112320
Journal
Social Justice Volume: 15 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1988) Pages: 1-7
Date Published
1988
Length
7 pages
Annotation
A tour of the women's high security unit at the Federal correctional institution in Lexington, Ky., by a National Prison Project team, along with interviews with inmates and staff, produced an overriding recommendation that the unit be discontinued.
Abstract
Reasons for this recommendation are insufficient justification for assignment to the unit, lack of administrative procedures for assignment, the manner in which the unit environment and procedures are manipulated by staff, and failure to provide a meaningful mechanism for moving out of the unit. If the Bureau of Prisons persists in maintaining the unit, administrative hearings should be instituted to determine the appropriateness of each assignment to the unit. There should also be some mechanism for working out of the unit. Unit procedures and staff conduct should not be cruel. Adequate space for contact visitation for more than one prisoner at a time should be provided. The severe restrictions on visitation and staff inattention to scheduling conflicts are apparently deliberate cruelty, as is the policy of strip searches after outdoor exercise. Inattention to medical complaints is not only cruel but life threatening. Inmates should be allowed to wear their own clothing except for items that pose a serious security threat.