ACLU-Nebraska: Because Freedom Can't Protect Itself

Lonnie Thomas was a non-violent felon incarcerated for financial crimes. He is a young African-American man who was HIV+ prior to being sent to the Nebraska State Penitentiary to serve his sentence. For the first couple of years, Lonnie was a model prisoner: he had no serious misconduct reports and he was taking college classes to obtain a degree to ensure a future after prison. In 1998, he asked the prison officials’ help to protect him from a violent felon who was housed with him. The prison’s response was to place Lonnie in temporary solitary confinement pending new quarters—but they never moved Lonnie back. He was in solitary confinement for over four years despite the fact that he has not been accused of any wrongdoing. The prison did not provide mental health counseling, college classes, support groups, recreation, or employment for the solitary inmates. Because the prison was overcrowded, Lonnie—who never committed a violent crime—was housed on Death Row. Lonnie’s lawsuit, seeking injunctive relief for other inmates in solitary confinement to get rehabilitative services as well as monetary damages, was dismissed by the trial court. In 2003, the Nebraska Court of Appeals agreed, finding the prison officials had wide latitude to make decisions about prisoner housing. Though Lonnie's lawsuit was unsuccessful, he was released on parole while ACLU Nebraska represented him and he reports that other inmates he's talked to indicate the policy of segregating HIV+ inmates seems to have changed since his release.