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ACLU Seeking UN Intervention in Montana Inmate Case

By Beacon Staff

GREAT FALLS – The American Civil Liberties Union asked the United Nations on Wednesday to intervene in the case of a Montana State Prison inmate the ACLU says is being subjected to “torturous” treatment.

The ACLU and the ACLU of Montana sent a letter to the United Nations special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, asking him to review the case of the inmate identified as “Robert Doe.”

The ACLU sued the state in December, alleging mistreatment of Doe, who at the time was 17. The lawsuit claimed Doe has a serious mental illness, had been held in solitary confinement for almost a year and had twice tried to kill himself.

“The conditions of Robert (Doe)’s confinement are so appalling that they flout universally recognized human rights standards, including his absolute right to be free from torture and other inhumane forms of treatment,” wrote ACLU attorney Steven Watt.

The state’s response to the ACLU lawsuit denies the claims and also notes Doe is 18.

Great Falls attorney Max Davis, who is representing the state, said “the Department of Corrections believes he has been appropriately placed and is being appropriately treated.” The attorney added that the DOC questions whether there is any mental illness, and the prison in Deer Lodge is an appropriate place to keep convicted felons.

The ACLU’s lawsuit claims that severe physical and emotional abuse as a child left Doe with post-traumatic stress disorder and major depression. But, it says, the Corrections Department concluded Doe had only a personality disorder and denied him mental health treatment.

It also claims Doe has been locked in “punitive solitary confinement; placed on barbaric and inhumane behavior modification plans; electronically tasered repeatedly without reasonable basis; pepper sprayed despite his documented condition of asthma; and treated in a cruel, inhuman and degrading manner.”

The ACLU said that such treatment led Doe to attempt suicide on at least two occasions by biting through his wrist in an effort to puncture a vein.

Doe was sent to prison after pleading guilty to two counts of assaulting a guard at the Pine Hills juvenile facility in Miles City, where he had been sent as a minor. No hearing date has been set on the ACLU’s lawsuit, which has been moved to federal court at the state’s request.