|
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - A federal judge has threatened to fine the U.S. Virgin Islands government after finding it in contempt of court for the fourth time in 12 years for failing to improve care for mentally ill prisoners awaiting trial.
U.S. District Judge Stanley S. Brotman, in a ruling Thursday, warned he would impose daily fines against the U.S. Caribbean territory in two months unless it upgrades treatment of mentally ill inmates at two jails. The Bureau of Corrections must also allow a new inspection of an annex where the inmates are housed.
The order stems from a class-action lawsuit filed in 1993 by the American Civil Liberties Union against the three-island chain's government for what it said were abuses in a justice complex in St. Thomas. Charges ranged from poor sanitary conditions to abuse of mentally ill inmates.
|