No one can be surprised anymore by the sheer contempt Sheriff David Clarke publicly expresses toward the human beings under his supervision housed in the Milwaukee County Jail.
But it should gravely concern citizens and other public officials to learn inmates may have died in that jail from a form of life-threatening punishment comparable to torture banned at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.
The latest case involves Terrill Thomas, who had the drinking water to his cell shut off for days as punishment for erratic behavior that appeared to be symptoms of mental illness.
Two other inmates in separate cells nearby told a reporter they heard Thomas begging for water. They also said he refused to eat Nutraloaf, the unpalatable, dog food-like mixture Clarke serves as punishment to inmates who act out.
Thomas, 38, died April 24 after six days in his cell and his death has been under investigation ever since by the Sheriff’s Department, Medical Examiner’s Office and Milwaukee Police Department.
Seriously, does it take months to determine why someone in psychiatric crisis who wasn’t eating and had his drinking water cut off might have died in Clarke’s cruel gulag?
Investigators could simply have checked out the death of Antonio Cowser in January 2011, in Clarke’s jail under almost identical conditions.
Cowser, also suffering from psychiatric problems, was found unresponsive in his cell after refusing to eat for five days and having his drinking water shut off. Cowser had been jailed on a traffic violation.
Thomas was facing more serious charges, indicating a more serious psychiatric condition.
Thomas, who’d been admitted three times previously to the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex, shot and wounded a man he believed had taken his car. Then around 3:30 a.m. the next day he went into the Potawatomi Casino with his gun, fired two rounds in the high-stakes poker room, ordered gamblers out and began stuffing poker chips into his pockets.
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After Thomas was arrested and confined to Clarke’s segregation unit, he rarely slept. He stuffed toilet paper in his mouth and spit it, tore apart Styrofoam food trays and threw pieces around his cell, pounded on the walls and shouted nonsensical phrases about his father and the coming of God.
A judge had ordered a psychiatric examination to determine if Thomas was mentally competent to stand trial, but he didn’t live long enough for it to happen.
That is why vulnerable, mentally ill individuals should never be housed in a facility with policies and practices intentionally designed by a swaggering, cartoon tough guy to inflict harsh punishment rather than provide humane treatment for anyone suffering from a serious illness.
Clarke’s Throwback Jail Policies
Clarke shouldn’t have any responsibility for mental health treatment or any modern corrections facility either, for that matter. He’s at the Republican National Convention this week to support a presidential candidate who vows to murder the innocent families of terrorists and bring back waterboarding and “a hell of a lot worse.”
A recent report on the Bush administration’s development of waterboarding and other forms of prison torture revealed the CIA used the euphemism “applied research” for its torture techniques.
Here are the results of Clarke’s applied research in the Milwaukee County Jail: If you shut off access to water and provide inedible food to inmates whose psychological states make it difficult for them to rationally communicate, they can die.
Punishing the mentally ill for their affliction fell out of fashion after the classic 1948 film The Snake Pit, starring Olivia de Havilland, exposed the abuses of so-called insane asylums across the country. Wisconsin was one of 26 states that passed legislation reforming mental health treatment nearly 70 years ago.
Clarke’s vicious throwback policies are not just dangerous and wrong for the mentally ill. Corrections professionals believe they’re just as outmoded and counter-productive in changing criminal behavior, reducing recidivism and increasing community safety.
That’s why in 2013 the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors and the county executive removed administration of the House of Correction from Clarke after he eliminated nearly every education, treatment and job-training program aimed at returning offenders to the community more employable.
Superintendent Michael Hafemann has successfully restored and expanded a vast array of programs that provide desperately needed drug and alcohol treatment, educational opportunities and job training.
Unfortunately, local government doesn’t have the authority to remove Clarke’s control over the jail. Only elections can achieve that.
That’s too bad because I’m pretty sure there’s something in the Geneva Conventions that prohibits withholding food and water from prisoners.
I’ve occasionally been invited by extremely progressive and courageous educators to speak to National Honor Societies and even a couple of commencements. I always tell the kids not to commit any war crimes or atrocities.
It gets a laugh. I never imagined anyone might reach a position of leadership in the community and actually be allowed to do such things to other human beings.
