Officials can't explain brain injury in solitary confinement

[MiaCulpa]

Source: Raw Story - Diane Sweet

While serving three life terms for a conviction after a fatal drunk-driving accident, Timothy Helms was injured while in solitary confinement in a maximum-security state prison in Taylorsville, North Carolina. Helms, 48, is now a quadriplegic and unable to sit up, or even feed himself due to severe brain damage from the injury he received while in solitary, an injury that officials at N.C. Department of Corrections say they can't explain.

The facility, the Alexander Correctional Institution, has a reputation for ultra-tough security and strict rules and regulations, including the use of leashes on prisoners, similar to those used on dogs. It was featured in a National Geographic documentary in Jan. 2008, titled 'Total Control.' Video of the segment featuring Alexander Correctional Institute follows.

...snip...

On Aug. 4, Helms arrived at the emergency room at Catawba Valley Medical Center in Hickory in the back of a squad car, escorted by guards.

"The story I got is that sometime yesterday the patient lit a fire in his cell and officers went in to try to put out the fire out," Dr. Jon A. Giometti wrote in Helms' intake report. "Patient resisted this and they had to subdue him using sticks, which included beating him on his body as well as in the face and head. ...

"The patient has whelp markings consistent with struck by a Billy club across his upper extremities. Across his trunk, he has contusions on the chest wall as also on the back consistent with multiple blows from a Billy club."

A written summary of Helms' CT scan showed blood hemorrhaging inside his brain stem. There was also bleeding in both temporal lobes, the part of the brain important to speech, vision and long-term memory. Helms also had a broken nose and skull fracture. Separate X-rays of his chest showed "obvious rib fractures."



Read more: http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/04/officials-cant-explain-brain-injury-in-solitary-confinement/

---

Much more at the link.

-Diane

[ZombieHorde]

1. Many people must be jealus,

someone got to live out their violent fantasies.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Yeah. That's a really hard injury to explain.

:crazy:

[Webster Green]

4. No shit!

They beat the shit out of him, but surely that couldn't have anything to do with his condition? :silly:

[madohioan]

3. Some have compared solitary confinement to torture

and it certainly takes a toll on the human mind to be locked up in a hole barely bigger than one's body for days.

[Psephos]

21. Would you rather be waterboarded or locked into solitary?

No contest for me. Gimme the board.

I think that long-term solitary confinement is one of the most exquisitely cruel tortures yet devised.

[CreekDog]

5. so they beat the crap out of him?

doesn't seem so complicated.

[tomm2thumbs]

6. I think a fire extinguisher would have worked

[ms liberty]

7. Oh dear...

I live in this county; Taylorsville, the largest town, is the county seat. There's only about 40,000 people in the whole county.

I hadn't heard anything about this...

[jhrobbins]

8. Hey lady - this is America - are you suggesting that the 'powers that be'

tried to keep something from the public?

:sarcasm:

[ms liberty]

27. No, just that I don't pay attention closely to the local news...n/t

[spag68]

12. ms liberty

You should be very careful what you say there. With that small a population the prison might be the largest employer around, and don't think that the police would side with any one against the guards.

[ms liberty]

28. Well, as for that...

The prison isn't the largest employer of the county, and the guards come from the local and nearby population. The county has elected a Democrat as Sheriff for the last twenty years at least. As has been the Clerk of Court...who I wish would challenge Virginia Foxx, he gives one barnburner of a speech. I really think he could beat her.

This story would fall in the category of 'local (gossip) news' so if someone I was acquainted with brought it up to me, I'd comment on it, but I'd save my unvarnished ranting for the people I know and am comfortable cutting loose with!

edited, spelling

[groundloop]

9. I'd have figured they'd just use the old standby...

He fell down the stairs.

Too dam bad there's not a video of that, they had to beat the crap out of that guy.

[zalinda]

10. Two things stand out

First, this guy has an IQ of about 79, and had trouble following rules.

Second is this quote, "Helms -- according to prison officials -- used batteries and a scrap of metal to set his bedding ablaze, a tactic said to be used at times by prisoners in solitary to commit suicide, or attempt to be removed from their cells. Upon examination in the hospital, the staff found 2 batteries inside a plastic baggie in Helms' rectum."

Now the guy has an IQ of about 79, but knows enough to use batteries and a scrap of metal to set a fire, and THEN put the batteries in his rectum? Does not compute!

zalinda

[ConcernedCanuk]

11. Who's to say he put them batteries up his ass himself . . . .

.
.
.

or even that he set the fire (if there was one)

like as if we can ask the guys that beat him into a vegetable to tell the truth . .

(sigh)

[MilesColtrane]

13. Club happy screws got him.

They'll probably get promotions.

[petronius]

14. "Can't explain" = 'engaged in lies and cover-up to conceal violent

criminal behavior among the staff.' Disgusting...

[Imagevision]

15. aww, gee wizz, how many people did this asswipe kill?

[Two Americas]

17. I have to say something

People that say things like you just said scare me far more, and represent a far greater danger to society in my opinion, than any drink driver does.

[Dr. Strange]

24. Oh come on.

[Two Americas]

26. right

Torture, beat and kill them all, then. An eye for an eye. Whatever it takes.

[Tunkamerica]

18. so lobotomy by proxy is the sentence the courts handed down?

does the punishment fit the crime?

[winyanstaz]

16. there is NO way to start a fire in solitary confinement...

they are strip searched before they go in.....

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

19. Seems like they explained it fairly well.

[Festivito]

20. Mandate cameras for all actions, loss of presumed credibility, OR,

close the jail.

They cannot have a remedy for bad acts that is worse than the bad act itself.

[Dinger]

22. He Was Murdered, Sort Of Like Capital Punishment To Me

I am against capital punishment, period.

[Solly Mack]

23. ...

"...internal Department of Corrections investigation failed to "conclusively determine what might have caused his injuries," and there were no personnel actions taken in regards to Helms' case."


Fucking liars (and worse)

[Javaman]

25. perhaps he wasn't so solitary. nt