Prisoner’s death spotlights solitary confinement injustices in Louisiana

Jamal Harris died after being denied medical attention, as fellow prisoners describe freezing and unsanitary cells

On the night of 12 November 2022 Jamal Harris, 23, who was being held in solitary segregation at Elayn Hunt correctional facility in St Gabriel, Louisiana, died by suicide after fellow prisoners and Harris’s mother claim he was consistently denied his psychiatric medication and requests for medical emergency help.

“The prison guards weren’t even making rounds like they were supposed to,” said a prisoner who requested to remain anonymous. “He wasn’t stable and they knew that because they weren’t giving him any of his medication. They were supposed to put him on suicide watch.”