Michael Bien, a lead lawyer representing inmates in the lawsuit over mental health care that led to the Supreme Court case, pointed to recent pictures he has placed in evidence showing prisoners sleeping on floors and in crowded dormitories, similar to the conditions the Supreme Court criticized.
In one picture taken earlier this year, prisoners are shown locked in a series of single holding cells for group therapy.
At the California Institute for Men, in San Bernardino County, several prisoners were labeled LOBs — for “lack of beds” — because there was no place to properly house them, Mr. Bien said. While waiting to be processed, they spent months in cells meant for solitary confinement.
“These are mentally ill patients who were literally going crazy,” Mr. Bien said. “It’s a Kafkaesque situation, where they didn’t know why they were there or when they were going to get out.”
Mr. Beard, who once testified as an expert witness against the state, said that since taking over the system late last year, he has continued to see changes in the way the prisons are run.
“I don’t know what the courts are thinking, but I have personally seen the change,” he said in an interview. “Of course I am going to run a constitutional system. I believe we can provide that at the current levels we have, and that we have both the manpower and resources to do so. There are always things we can do better, but we’ve made huge strides.”