Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/10pdf/09-1233.pdf
Page Number: 12

6 

BROWN v. PLATA 

Opinion of the Court 

Other  inmates  awaiting  care  may  be  held  for  months  in
administrative segregation, where they endure harsh and 
isolated conditions and receive only limited mental health
services.  Wait times for mental health care range as high
as  12  months. 
In  2006,  the  suicide  rate 
in  California’s  prisons  was  nearly  80%  higher  than  the
national  average  for  prison  populations;  and  a  court-
appointed  Special  Master  found  that  72.1%  of  suicides
involved  “some  measure  of  inadequate  assessment,  treat-
ment,  or  intervention,  and  were  therefore  most  probably 
foreseeable and/or preventable.”2  Id., at 1781. 

Id.,  at  704. 

Prisoners  suffering  from  physical  illness  also  receive 
severely deficient care.  California’s prisons were designed
to  meet  the  medical  needs  of  a  population  at  100%  of 
design  capacity  and  so  have  only  half  the  clinical  space
needed  to  treat  the  current  population.    Id.,  at  1024.    A 
correctional  officer  testified  that,  in  one  prison,  up  to  50
sick inmates may be held together in a 12- by 20-foot cage
for up to five hours awaiting treatment.  Tr. 597–599.  The 
number  of  staff  is  inadequate,  and  prisoners  face  signifi-
cant  delays  in  access  to  care.    A  prisoner  with  severe
abdominal  pain  died  after  a  5-week  delay  in  referral  to  a
specialist;  a  prisoner  with  “constant  and  extreme”  chest 

—————— 

2 At  the  time  of  the  three-judge  court’s  decision,  2006  was  the  most
recent  year  for  which  the  Special  Master  had  conducted  a  detailed 
study  of  suicides  in  the  California  prisons.    The  Special  Master  later 
issued  an  analysis  for  the  year  2007.    This  report  concluded  that  the
2007 suicide rate was “a continuation of the CDCR’s pattern of exceed-
ing  the  national  prison  suicide  rate.”    Record  in  No.  2:90–CV–00520– 
LKK–JFM  (ED/ND  Cal.),  Doc.  3677,  p. 1.    The  report  found  that  the 
rate  of  suicides  involving  inadequate  assessment,  treatment,  or  inter-
vention  had  risen  to  82%  and  concluded  that  “[t]hese  numbers  clearly
indicate no improvement in this area during the past several years, and 
possibly  signal  a  trend  of  ongoing  deterioration.”  Id.,  at  12.    No  de-
tailed  study  has  been  filed  since  then,  but  in  September  2010  the
Special Master filed a report stating that “the data for 2010 so far is not
showing improvement in suicide prevention.”  App. 868.