Louisiana Carceral Facility Ordered Under Federal Oversight

United States District Court Judge Elizabeth Foote entered a ruling on November 1, 2022, in response to a February 2018 lawsuit filed by several men challenging the prolonged use of solitary confinement at David Wade, finding that conditions on the South Compound of David Wade Correctional Center, a Louisiana state prison near Homer, Louisiana, violated the rights of the men who are incarcerated there. The Federal Court determined that conditions on the South Compound were so severe that they violated the Eighth Amendment rights of hundreds of men housed in solitary confinement. The court also found systematic deficiencies regarding the prison’s mental health system and that prison officials violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In its opinion, the court determined that prisoners housed in solitary confinement cells on the South Compound were “stripped of virtually all personal belongings and deprived of meaningful human contact and mental stimulation for indefinite, but often lengthy, periods.” The evidence showed that some prisoners were housed under these conditions for years at a time. The court also found that a disproportionate number of the men housed in solitary confinement had a mental illness and that the South Compound served “as a depository for the mentally ill," holding people in solitary for more than 22 hours a day under conditions that “cause those inmates even more pain and suffering, including the worsening of their mental illness.”

Last week, Judge Foote determined in a follow up ruling that Wade’s prisoners are continuing to suffer from those “inhumane and torturous conditions.” She ordered Federal oversight and remedial measures to bring the facility to constitutional standards. The prison continues to house prisoners with mental illness in solitary confinement, its mental healthcare is riddled with systemic deficiencies, and its suicide watch procedures are used by some guards to punish prisoners, Foote said.

Foote’s most recent ruling marks the second time in as many years that a federal judge placed a Louisiana prison under federal oversight. Last fall, U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick of the Middle District of Louisiana ordered oversight of what she described as the “abhorrent” medical care at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. The state has appealed that order. 

In a press release, Disability Rights Louisiana, who represented the prisoners, said that they were “gratified” by Foote’s ruling, but disappointed that the DOC had continued to combat the case in court instead of remedying the violations at David Wade.

“Rather than correcting the problems,” the organization wrote, “the State chose to fight this case and spend millions in litigation costs.”

For more information about the case against the David Wade Correction Center, you can read "‘Torturous’: Judge places solitary confinement and mental health care at David Wade prison under federal oversight," written by Nick Chrastil for The Lens. The Lens aims to engage and empower the residents of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, and provide the information and analysis necessary to advocate for more accountable and just governance.