Inmate, Caine Pelzer, 45, entered solitary confinement in 2009 for gang-related assaults, records show. He sued Pennsylvania Department of Corrections over restricted status when he was at SCI Albion.
Pennsylvania state prison inmate Caine Pelzer has spent the past 15 straight years in solitary confinement, including at the State Correctional Institution at Albion in western Erie County.
The Department of Corrections placed him in solitary confinement after finding that he had participated in gang-related assaults of other inmates.
Pelzer, 45, has lived alone in his 91-square-foot cell — 56 square feet when the toilet and other fixtures are considered — with the lights on around the clock.
He has stayed in his cell 24 hours a day except for the total of six hours a week he is allowed to go outside, alone, to exercise in a 75-square-foot cage.
"Torture of the mind," he told the Philadelphia Inquirer of his life in prison in June 2022.
Pelzer's time in solitary confinement is ending.
It is ending due to a settlement of a lawsuit he filed in U.S. District Court in Erie.
Pennsylvania state prison inmate Caine Pelzer was in a solitary confinement cell similar to this one for 15 straight years, ending with a settlement in his civil case in U.S. District Court in Erie on Monday.
The deal, reached Monday, requires Pelzer to enter the general prison population and receive $85,000 from the state, said his lawyer, John Mizner.
Pelzer claimed the duration of his solitary confinement violated his Eighth Amendment rights against cruel and unusual punishment and his due process rights under the 14th Amendment.
The case was set to go to trial on Monday in the courtroom of Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard A. Lanzillo. Mizner and lawyers for the state settled just as jury selection was to begin.
Pelzer, in a bright orange prison jumpsuit, hugged Mizner in court. Pelzer is headed back to the State Correctional Institution at Phoenix, in Montgomery County.
He will continue to serve a sentence with a minimum release date of Oct. 1, 2025, and a maximum release date of March 1, 2050, according to court records. The records show Pelzer has been in state prison since 1998 for sentences for robbery and other offenses in Wilkes-Barre and other communities in Luzerne County.
Inmate's solitary confinement started in 2009
The Department of Corrections placed Pelzer in solitary confinement on March 11, 2009, citing gang-related assaults of other inmates when Pelzer was at SCI Coal Township, between Wilkes-Barre and Harrisburg, according to court records.
In its pretrial statement, the department said it later found that Pelzer "apparently held a position of influence with the Bloods," referring to the well-known gang.
Pelzer was transferred to a number of state prisons. He was in solitary confinement at SCI Albion when he sued the Department of Corrections and several prison officials in November 2020. The case was litigated in U.S. District Court in Erie because Pelzer was incarcerated in Erie County when he sued.
A settlement in federal court in Erie has ended the case of an inmate who was in solitary confinement for 15 straight years at the state prison at Albion and other state prisons.
Pelzer represented himself until January 2021, when Mizner and another lawyer in his Erie firm, Joseph Caulfield, took the case. Mizner said the length of Pelzer's solitary confinement is among the longest he has seen in his years of representing inmates.
Mizner did not argue that all solitary confinement, typically used for discipline, is unconstitutional. He said solitary confinement of an unreasonable duration violates the Eighth Amendment.
"We are pleased that we were able to resolve this matter for Mr. Pelzer and get him the justice he deserved," Mizner said.
“I’m hopeful this litigation leads the Department of Corrections to reexamine the policy of placing inmates in solitary confinement for prolonged periods of time, when science and medical research have shown that prolonged time in solitary confinement causes significant mental health disorders.”
Mizner said Pelzer can keep a small amount of the $85,000 due to limits on inmate commissary accounts. The rest, Mizner said, will go to "a family member for safekeeping until he is paroled, which is hopefully sooner than later."
As of Monday, 165 inmates in the 40,408-inmate Pennsylvania state prison system were in solitary confinement — what the Department of Corrections, which provided the data, refers to as being on the Restricted Release List, known as RRL.
Disciplinary history vs. length of solitary confinement
Pelzer's settlement comes as scrutiny of solitary confinement has increased. The New York City Council voted in December to ban solitary confinement in city jails. In July, Rhode Island limited its use. The U.S. Government Accountability Office reported on Feb. 6 that the federal Bureau of Prisons needs to improve solitary confinement practices.
In Pelzer's case, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections said it does not comment on litigation settlements.
The department planned to present trial evidence about Pelzer's disciplinary history that led to his solitary confinement. When he was placed in solitary confinement, Pelzer "was advised that there is no appeal process available for RRL placements," according to the department's pretrial statement.
Mizner argued the lack of appeals for RRL inmates violated Pelzer's due process rights. Mizner cited a forensic psychiatrist's report that Pelzer had become severely depressed to make a case that 15 straight years in solitary confinement equals cruel and unusual punishment.
"The severely restrictive nature of the RRL, coupled with its indeterminate length, has inflicted a terrible toll on Mr. Pelzer's mental health," Mizner's pretrial statement said. "The risks inherent in long-term solitary confinement are obvious."
Original Article By: Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.