NCJ Number
117248
Date Published
1988
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This Amnesty International report details conditions of confinement for seven women prisoners in a high security unit at Lexington Federal Prison in Kentucky, including allegations that these conditions are inhuman, cruel and degrading in contravention of Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Abstract
The women held in the high security unit have been convicted of politically motivated offenses. The report alleges that they are unduly isolated from other prisoners, subject to constant 24-hour camera surveillance, restricted in their opportunities for correspondence and visits, and subjected to strip searches whenever they leave the outdoor exercise yard. Some of the prisoners complained that the conditions of their confinement were affecting their health and well-being. In response to a letter from Amnesty International complaining about the conditions of the prisoners' confinement, the Federal Bureau of Prisons stated that additional surveillance of the prisoners was necessary because they might be subjects of rescue attempts by outside groups. In June 1988 lawyers for the prisoners filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to close the high security unit. In July 1988 a Federal district judge ordered the prisoners transferred from the high security unit into the general prison population but did not find their treatment to be in breach of the U.S. Constitution. Amnesty International considers the treatment of the prisoners and the conditions of their confinement to be in contravention of international law. Correspondence between Amnesty International and U.S. government officials is included.