Disability Rights Montana v. Batista, Ninth Circuit, #15-35770
On March 4, 2016, NDRN in an amicus authored by the firm Ropes and Gray pro bono supports a complaint filed by Disability Rights Montana, alleging that the Montana Department of Corrections violated the Eighth Amendment by providing inadequate mental health treatment, inappropriate discipline and placing prisoners with mental illness in solitary confinement. In 2015, the case was dismissed by a lower court, but the Ninth Circuit reversed and reassigned the matter to another judge. The case still in mediation as of January 2018.
Update: Disability Rights Montana Solitary Confinement Case Against Montana DOC to Move Forward
On July 19, 2019, the Ninth Circuit reversed the dismissal of Disability Rights Montana’s suit alleging the Montana Department of Corrections violated the Eighth Amendment by providing inadequate mental health treatment, inappropriate discipline and placing prisoners with mental illness in solitary confinement. The complaint in the case, brought by Disability Rights Montana, the ACLU of Montana, and Foley & Lardner LLP, describes how solitary confinement risks inflicting severe psychological harm, especially on prisoners with severe mental illness and that medical and professional organizations, state and federal courts and federal leaders and agencies have recognized the harms of solitary confinement on prisoners with severe mental illness.
