The trial is over, but the judge has not yet issued a decision. During the trial Aaron and his legal team exposed the extreme negligence and abuse of incarcerated persons’ rights to due process occuring on segregation (solitary confinement) units at Wabash Valley Correctional Facility (WVCF) and throughout the Indiana Department of Corrections.
The trial exposed, through cross-examination of current and former WVCF officials, that the 30 day reviews that are conducted of inmates held in segregation – the only reviews inmates receive that meet the Constitutional requirement of being ‘periodic’ – are not meaningful or non-pretextual, because they do not afford the possibility of more than one outcome. In fact, a current counselor on the administrative segregation unit at WVCF testified under oath that it takes him just 15-20 minutes to complete the 30 day reviews for his entire caseload of over 100 people, because that is how long it takes for the printer to print the documents. All he does as the person responsible for conducting the review, is change the date each month on a draft letter recommending no change in the prisoner’s classification, that is auto-populated from an Excel spreadsheet with each prisoner’s name and DOC number, and print them out. There is no interview or ‘meaningful review’ of any kind, just the same draft letter printed out every month with a new date.
Aaron hopes to be released from solitary confinement, to receive monetary compensation for damages to his health and finances, and for a meaningful periodic review process to be implemented in segregation units as a result of the lawsuit and trial.
Below are images of Aaron’s message of thanks to people who showed up to the trial, and some of his brief reflections on the trial, as well as abuse he experienced at the hands of DOC staff during the trial. You can click on each image to expand it.
