Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #120172

Vanessa Filley, Investigator, Southern Center for Human Rights, 83 Poplar Street, NW, Atlanta, GA 30303, 404-688-1202 X 206, vfilley@schr.org

In mid-2002 a class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of all women incarcerated in the Alabama Department of Corrections to address the overcrowded, unsafe conditions, medical and mental healthcare. A federal Judge ruled that the prison was unconstitutionally unsafe and overcrowded, and required immediate change. Over the course of the past 3 years the prison population has dropped, new mental health staff have been hired and a new medical provider has contracted to provide improved care, yet a woman with undiagnosed neuro-syphilis remained untreated for nine months, a suicidal woman was successful in her effort to kill herself, and the walls and pipes of the prison continue to crumble everyday. During this session we will discuss the limitations of using a constitutional legal claim to change prison conditions, and medical care, and how to create change in a setting that is designed to destroy a person's physical and mental well being.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn about the conditions for women in Alabama prisons.
• Understand the limitations of law suits in bringing relief to prisoners.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.