Former Medical School Prof. Attacks Pre-Trial Solitary Confinement

The effects of solitary confinement substantially damage a prisoner's ability to present a defense in court, a Boston psychiatrist and former Medical School instructor concluded in a study released Monday.

Lawyers of accused terrorist Wadih el-Hage are using the report to claim that el-Hage's prolonged pre-trial solitary confinement is unconstitutional. Attorneys have filed a motion to establish bail or alter prison conditions.

El-Hage, an affiliate of Osama bin Laden, was indicted with three others in 1998 for "conspiracy to murder U.S. personnel and civilians" in connection with the attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. He has been held for the past year in solitary confinement in the Manhattan Correctional Facility, awaiting a trial set for Sept. 2000. The government justified the defendant's isolation, saying terrorist attacks can be planned from prison.

But the motion put forth by el-Hage's lawyers claims that solitary confinement alters a prisoner's mental state, infringing on his right to a fair trial by due process.

"We argue that holding [el-Hage] in solitary confinement for an extended period of time is unconstitutional," said one of el-Hage's lawyers, Sam A. Schmidt.

Dr. Stuart E. Grassian, who was a clinical instructor in psychiatry at Harvard until last year, delivered a report based on his four-hour meeting with the defendant. In the report, Grassian said el-Hage's mental state has deteriorated due to the effects of solitary confinement and continued confinement might make his defense impossible.

"When you put a person in a situation with virtually no variety to their environmental stimulation and no meaningful way of occupying themselves, their mental state moves toward stupor and eventually delirium," Grassian said.

Grassian said continued solitary confinement damages a person's capacity to focus on the greater picture.

"The person's mind is in a fog," Grassian said. "If they can focus, they obsess. They can't stop thinking about the sound of a drip."

If the court decides that the prolonged pre-trial solitary confinement does indeed infringe on constitutional rights, the case could set a precedent, el-Hage's lawyers said.

In the last case that dealt with the issue of pre-trial solitary confinement, it had already been proven that the defendant was guilty of committing crimes from within prison. Because the government has no proof that el-Hage would be a genuine security threat from within prison, el-Hage's solitary confinement was unjustified, said Joshua L. Dratel, one of the defending lawyers.

"The government hasn't met its burden of establishing that there is a basis for this," Dratel said.

The government's final response to the defendant's motion is due Dec. 30.