Court blocks Mississippi death row reforms

Posted on Wed, Jul. 23, 2003

Court blocks Mississippi death row reforms
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. - A federal appeals court has blocked a series of improvements ordered on Mississippi's death row, including mental health checkups, improved toilets and ways of keeping inmates cool during the summer heat.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans agreed on Tuesday to hear an appeal from the Mississippi Corrections Department on the measures ordered by a federal judge.

In May, U.S. Magistrate Jerry Davis ruled that "filthy conditions" on Mississippi's death row were so bad they violated the Constitution and were contributing to a high rate of mental illness among the prisoners.

A lawsuit filed on behalf of inmates at the Parchman penitentiary alleged they were subjected daily to excessive heat, human excrement, biting insects and the ranting of psychotic prisoners.
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http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/local/6367181.htm