The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana is pleased to find out that suicidal prisoners in St. Tammany Parish are now receiving what they deem to be a “more humane treatment.”

Last month the ACLU Executive Director Marjorie Esman sent Sheriff Jack Strain and Parish President Kevin Davis a scathing letter accusing them of treating suicidal prisoners at the St. Tammany Jail like “animals” and even puts them in small “squirrel cages.”

The ACLU claimed that Strain was “caging suicidal prisoners in 3-foot by 3-foot metal ‘squirrel cages, forcing them to wear cut off shorts and not allowing them to go to the bathroom.” At that time Strain said that the suicidal patients were put into the booking cages that are in the front of the jail. He said everybody who is booked into the jail are first put into a booking cage. The reason these cages were used for suicidal patients is so that the guards can keep an eye on them.

At that time, Strain emphasized that those cages are used as a last resort and only after the medical staff at the jail had determined the prisoner was a danger to themselves.

Esman reported Tuesday that since the ACLU’s investigation, the parish has now agreed to provide more humane treatment for suicidal prisoners.

She applauded what she referred to as a policy change that will allow suicidal prisons to be housed in a holding cell monitored by guards, where prisoners will have access to bathrooms, potable water and beds.

She said the new policy, as she understands, also requires suicidal prisoners to be clothed as modestly as possible.  

“The cages will be used only as a last resort in emergency situations, only on order of a doctor when no alternative is available, and for no more than 10 hours at a time,” Esman wrote in a release issued Tuesday.

 “These changes are long past due,” said Marjorie R. Esman. “No one should be held in the conditions that existed in St. Tammany Parish Jail. It’s unfortunate that it took public exposure of these serious problems in order to have them corrected, but we’re relieved that conditions should improve for the most vulnerable people in the sheriff’s custody.”

She said she hopes a new position instituted at the jail, a jail inspector, will address other problems with the jail.

“We welcome these reforms and will continue to monitor conditions with the hope of long-term improvement.”

Strain has said he welcomes any help he can get in battling what he feels is a much bigger problems in the parish – the lack of adequate mental health care. He was unreachable Tuesday to further address Esman’s release, but did issue the following statement via e-mail:

“We are pleased that the ACLU has concluded, thorough their involvement in this issue, that the current operations at the St. Tammany Parish Jail are constitutionally sound. The Sheriff’s Office will continue to do all we can, with limited resources, to operate a jail which meets the public’s need for safety, while still protecting those who pose an immediate danger to themselves.”

 “Jails are by their nature very fluid environments.  In the effort to maintain security at the jail, as well as the security of those detained there, all options should be carefully considered. Should the need arise, the medical staff at the jail will continue to have available to them the use of booking cages for severely suicidal inmates.”