Bridgewater State Hospital Investigation

A death in restraints after ‘standard procedure’ at
Bridgewater State Hospital psychiatric prison

Joshua Messier was having a schizophrenic attack, then died as Bridgewater state prison guards subdued him. The medical examiner called it homicide, then changed her mind. No one has been prosecuted, or even reprimanded, for the death of a young man in state care.

In a sequence caught on surveillance video, two of the guards had pushed down hard on Messier’s back as he sat in handcuffs and leg irons on the bed, forcing his chest toward his knees. The tactic, sometimes called “suitcasing,” is banned in Massachusetts prisons because it can cause suffocation, especially for those like Joshua Messier, who had grown overweight from taking antipsychotic medications. [Messier died in 2009]

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/02/16/homicide-bridgewater-state-hospital-raises-profound-questions-about-care-for-mentally-ill/TqgMJdNZ8SPjLcFQ6hRkTN/story.html

Today, Bridgewater is back in the news. BOSTON (AP) - A nonprofit watchdog group has opened an investigation into the treatment of inmates at the Bridgewater State Hospital psychiatric prison.

The state Department of Correction confirmed Wednesday that lawyers from the Disability Law Center arrived at the medium-security prison Tuesday to meet with administrators, gather records and talk to patients.

The investigation comes in the wake of reports that guards and clinicians had illegally put mentally ill inmates and patients into physical restraints and isolation cells, and soon after two high-profile cases.

In one case, the parents of a man who died while being restrained at the facility in 2009 settled a lawsuit for $3million. In another, the mother of a man being held at the hospital filed a lawsuit saying he had been restrained and isolated for unreasonably long periods of time.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/17/state-psychiatric-prison-under-federal-scrutiny/

Do your elected representatives or their spouses invest in private prison companies? Join the ASSISTANCE TO THE INCARCERATED MENTALLY ILL Blogtalkradio broadcast for Call (818)572.2947 Wednesdays at 9pm Pacific to speak on air, or join us by computer. Below is the 4/16/14 tape
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nnia1/2014/04/17/assistance-to-the-incarcerated-mentally-ill

Listen to the tapes for our shows anytime, 24/7.

It would be illegal to keep a dog in a tight space 23 hours a day and gas or Taser him for barking. It would be illegal to put a dog into a deadly restraint chair for control. But this happens to mentally ill Americans routinely in the nation's jails and prisons. What happened to Larry Neal? He was a black disabled man, and his wrongful death in police custody is therefore treated very differently. White persons with mental illness are brutalized and killed like black ones are in the USA, but Caucasians are seldom subjected to kangaroo courts, cover-ups, and denial of due process of law that followed the "Wrongful Death of Larry Neal." (Google it)


Mary Neal, director
Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill (AIMI)
http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/aimi
Dog Justice for Mentally Ill
http://dogjusticeformentallyill.blogspot.com
Wrongful Death of Larry Neal
http://WrongfulDeathofLarryNeal.com

Mentally Ill Americans Need Dog Justice. Treat mental illness medically, not legally. Advocate for U.S. Congress to pass H.R.3717 - Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act