On Tuesday, May 22nd, up to 45 inmates began a hunger strike to protest conditions at Virginia's Red Onion State Prison. They are demanding that prison officials provide medical care, nutritional food, and access to complaint and greivance forms. The Human Rights Watch issued a report in 1999, only a year after the Super-Max prison opened, claiming the facility failed to embrace laws protecting inmates from abusive or cruel treatment.
KBOO's Zeke Harrington spoke with John Mac Gaskin, a former inmate of Red Onion State Prison who now works with Solidarity With Virginia Prison Hunger Strikes.
A civil rights organization has filed an ethics complaint with the Oregon Psychiatric Association against a Portland psychiatrist for using so-called conversion therapy. University of Oregon student Max Hirsh claims that when he sought treatment for depression, he instead received therapy that focused on his sexuality. His complaint to the Oregon Medical Board was dismissed in December.
The American Medical Association opposes conversion or reparative therapy for LGBT patients, and in 2009 the American Psychiatric Association announced there was no evidence to support the practice. The Southern Poverty Law Center's ethics complain calls on the OPA and APA to investigate the psychiatrist for violation of medical ethics.
A Superior Court Judge ruled today that two Fullerton police officers will stand trial for the beating death of a mentally ill homeless man. Officers Ramos and Ciccinelli are some of the first Orange County police to face brutality charges. KBOO's Zeke Harrington has more.
