Man Held in Solitary Confinement 2 Years After DWI Gets $22M

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Man Held in Solitary Confinement 2 Years After DWI Gets $22M

No trial, no doctor, no judge

By Greg Wilson

| Wednesday, Jan 25, 2012 |

A man who spent two years in solitary confinement after getting arrested for DWI was awarded $22 million for suffering inhumane treatment in New Mexico's Dona Ana County Jail.


Stephen Slevin was arrested in August of 2005 for driving while intoxicated, according to NBC station KOB.com. He said he never got a trial and spent the entire time languishing in solitary, even pulling his own tooth when he was denied dental care.


"'[Prison officials were] walking by me every day, watching me deteriorate," he said.



"Day after day after day, they did nothing, nothing at all, to get me any help."


Slevin said he made countless requests to see a doctor to get medication for his depression, but wasn't allowed to see one until only a few weeks before his release. He also never got to see a judge.


The $22 million settlement, awarded by a federal jury on Tuesday, is one of the largest prisoner civil rights settlements in U.S. history, according to KOB.com.


"I wanted people to know that there are people at The Dona Ana County Jail that are doing things like this to people and getting away with it," Slevin, who now suffers from PTSD and believes he will have to take medication for life as a result, said. "Why they did what they did, I have no idea."


Neither the county nor Slevin's attorney returned phone calls from msnbc.com, but Slevin's attorney, Matt Coyte, told KOB.com, "I have never been with or seen a braver man who stood up to these guys for what they did to him ... [This case] It affects everybody and it's not good for this country. It's not good for Mr. Slevin for sure and it's not good for this country. It has to stop."


Im trying to find the link to it.......I copied & pasted it from another site
Here is a link to another article on the same topic:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/26/new-mexico-man-put-in-sol_n_1234632.html
 
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OMG that is absolutly horrible. I hope some jail and county officials are going to be tried for false imprisonment and torture. This is absolutly unnaceptable the county should be punished well beyond the 22 million dollars
 
I know, I couldnt believe what I was reading...........this stuff only happens in 3rd world countries. The was treatment like you would get in a POW camp.
 
Three days in solitary was pretty trying for me... Fuck even the thought of staying for that long.
 
Amazing.
Just jaw-dropping.
But I guess if US soldiers are allowed to get away with worse than that in Iraq, we can expect that these things will happen in the US as well.
Without a firm moral stance, morals are relaxed everywhere.
That he got $22 million seems pretty reasonable, though I would never want to make the trade he was forced to make.
 
^^ Yeah as much fun as you could have with that much money, I dont think it would be worth it, hes probably going to be psychologically messed up for a long time because of this. That shit is torture.
 
Fk i dunno about you guys, but id definatly do a 2 year bit in solitary for 22 million..... especially in a mexican jail. But to each their own
 
^ i believe that you have almost no idea about what you just said. after the trade-off, you would look at the money it won't look desirable at all. they drained his capacity to experience happiness/pleasure (physically).

there needs to be prosecution. prison guards need to realize that a segment of the prison population could be them. or there will be no justice in the prison facilities...
 
^ I agree with qwe on this one.
2 years in solitary would be so traumatic, I would not agree to it for any amount of money.

(Unless it was solitary in a luxury apartment, with a gym, pool, computer, musical instruments, art supplies, good food supplies, and use of Skype. Then, I think $2 million would be enough for me;) .)
 
I think they should put all of the guards in solitary for 2 years-or at least put them in there and make them think they'll be spending 2 years in it.
 
I would love some eye for an eye justice with some of these leo pieces of shit. oh look, you got beat the fuck up and locked up for some fucking flowers!!! hahaahaha...oops tazer slipped..
 
A man arrested for driving while intoxicated and then forced into solitary confinement for two years tried to get help by writing to the jail's nurse, but the only response he got was a dose of sedatives, his lawyer said.

Stephen Slevin, 57, was arrested in August 2005 in New Mexico’s Dona Ana County, charged with aggravated driving while under the influence and possession of a stolen vehicle, although Slevin maintains the car was lent to him by a friend. On Tuesday, a federal jury in Sante Fe awarded him $22 million in damages for enduring inhumane conditions in the Dona Ana County jail, which he emerged from "hollow," Matt Coyte, his lawyer, told msnbc.com on Wednesday.

Slevin had one medical examination after being arrested and was labeled suicidal, his lawyer said. He was jailed in lieu of posting a $40,000 bond.
“They put him in a padded cell for three days, but they never give him any treatment; their policy is to then just put them in solitary” if there are mental health issues, Coyte told msnbc.com Wednesday.
Click to expand...

cont at
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2...-solitary-confinement-reveal-dwi-mans-despair
 
I would absolutely own the County Jail afterwards if that was me.

I have done my time doing a bid before and I have also worked in a Penatentiary. So a person gets locked up for a DUI and ends up in solitary confinement. Where is the mental health department? They can't stick someone in solitary confinement with being diagnosed with a mental health illness. I personally am diagnosed with certain disabilities. Solitary confinement will break a person. You will lose your mind. Whether you have an illness or you are mentally perfect, you will have a different mind set after solitary confinement. Many individuals break and commit suicide in confinement.

I'm glad to hear the individual was awarded 22 million dollars. But money does not and can not reverse the damage that was done and the time lost. Remind me never to go to New Mexico and do something illegal
 
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