There have been five suspected homicides and two alleged suicides at the prison since 2020. The federal prison complex in Thomson, Ill., where Bobby Everson was killed. "Force may not be used to punish an inmate," the policy states. It's really akin to a torture chamber."Īccording to Bureau of Prisons policy and federal regulations, such severe restraints should be used only as a "last alternative" for people in prison who are actively dangerous to themselves or others, and only for as long as it takes to subdue and control the person. Many of them report being left in their own waste. "They're having their arms and their legs stretched out and held, separated, for hours and sometimes for days on end," she said. Kutnik-Bauder has heard similar descriptions of shackling from numerous people held at Thomson. they get pulled out of the cell and put into restraints as a punishment." " if they refuse to be celled with a person who they think could kill them. "They're literally afraid for their lives," said Jacqueline Kutnik-Bauder, deputy legal director of the committee, which had previously sued Lewisburg over a lack of mental health care. The Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, a legal nonprofit, has spoken to dozens of men at Thomson, many of whom said conditions there were worse than at any other federal prison - including Lewisburg. In 2018, the Bureau of Prisons announced it was moving the unit to Thomson.Īccording to lawsuits, letters and interviews, the violence and abuse at Lewisburg simply relocated to the new facility. a notorious, nearly century-old prison known as "The Big House." A 2016 Marshall Project and NPR investigation found Lewisburg had been sued multiple times over the high rate of violence among cellmates and the use of harsh restraints by staff. The Bureau of Prisons' Special Management Unit used to be housed inside the U.S. Intentionally ignoring a known threat from a cellmate would be misconduct by an officer and investigated, Taylor wrote. He noted that people in federal prisons are not housed in "solitary confinement," because "in general, inmates in restricted housing are housed two to a cell." To ensure safety, a team of prison officials consider gang affiliation, religion, geography and past incident reports and complaints when assigning cellmates. The Marshall Project and NPR asked the Bureau of Prisons about multiple lawsuits and claims made in federal court filings out of Thomson, but agency spokesperson Scott Taylor said in an email that he could not comment on pending litigation or individual cases. One person formerly incarcerated at Thomson said in a lawsuit that officers spread the false information that he was a sex offender, inciting physical and sexual assault from multiple cellmates. Multiple people claimed in federal court filings that officers stoked tensions between cellmates and intentionally paired men who they knew would attack each other. The Bureau of Prisons has said double-celling "mitigates suicide risks." But psychologists and prisoners say living in such claustrophobic conditions with another person can be even worse than being alone and often leads to violent outbursts. Most people in the Special Management Unit are housed in double-celled solitary confinement - almost constant lockdown with another person. Specifically, many men reported being shackled in cuffs so tight they left scars, or being "four-pointed" and chained by each limb to a bed for hours, far beyond what happens at other prisons and in violation of bureau policy and federal regulations. In stories that echoed with the same visceral details, dozens of men said they lived under the pressing threat of violence from cellmates as well as brutality at the hands of staff. The Marshall Project and NPR obtained federal prison data and agency documents, reviewed criminal and civil court cases, and interviewed dozens of people with knowledge of Thomson. "When you look at the policy and goals of the Special Management Unit, it blows my mind that there was one homicide." "It's beyond egregious," said Jack Donson, a corrections consultant and former Federal Bureau of Prisons official. Photos of their son Bobby are on the wall behind them. Ebony Everson (center), Bobby Everson's sister, stands with her father, who is also named Bobby Everson, and her mother Sabrina Everson.
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