TV show to feature prison death case

[Joanne98]

TV show to feature prison death case
February 11, 2007

A mentally-ill Michigan prisoner whose death helped prompt a federal judge to ban non-medical punishment restraints at Jackson-area prisons will be featured at 7 tonight on "60 Minutes," the CBS newsmagazine.

Timothy Joe Souders, 21, of Adrian died of thirst in an isolation cell at a Jackson prison in August, four days after being strapped naked to a concrete bed for flooding his cell.

His death and the death of others persuaded U.S. District Judge Richard Enslen of Kalamazoo to order sweeping reforms for Jackson-area prisons.

The ruling followed a series of columns by Free Press Editorial Writer Jeff Gerritt examining Souders' death and the worsening state of care in Michigan's prisons.


By David Ashenfelter
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070211/NEWS06/702110653