Photo courtesy of Disability Rights North Carolina - Timothy E. Helms was photographed Aug. 13, 10 days after he was injured at Alexander Correctional Institution.
While serving three life terms for a conviction after a fatal drunk-driving accident, Timothy Helms was injured while in solitary confinement in a maximum-security state prison in Taylorsville, North Carolina. Helms, 48, is now a quadriplegic and unable to sit up, or even feed himself due to severe brain damage from the injury he received while in solitary, an injury that officials at N.C. Department of Corrections say they can't explain.
The facility, the Alexander Correctional Institution, has a reputation for ultra-tough security and strict rules and regulations, including the use of leashes on prisoners, similar to those used on dogs. It was featured in a National Geographic documentary in Jan. 2008, titled 'Total Control.' Video of the segment featuring Alexander Correctional Institute follows:
While a convict who has taken another's life while operating a vehicle under the influence hardly evokes any sort of concern or sympathy, what caught my eye in this report was the mention that Helms is "developmentally disabled and had a long history of mental illness before being sent to prison. He has an IQ of 79, according to state records."
From a column in the NYT on mental illness in prison:
Two new reports from prison study groups suggest that mentally ill inmates are prime candidates not just for recidivism, but for destructive behavior and suicide when prisons fail to handle them properly. The studies, by Human Rights Watch and the Correctional Association of New York, show that prisons have actually become mental institutions by default. But they have largely failed to develop treatment programs that would permit mentally ill inmates to establish a routine that would allow them to control their symptoms and their lives.
The Correctional Association study offers a grim picture of the New York prison system where, according to state data, nearly a quarter of prisoners in disciplinary lockdown -- confined to a small cell 23 hours a day -- are mentally ill. The prisoners are sent to lockdown for failing to obey prison rules -- easy to understand given that many of these men and women suffer hallucinations and delusions that get worse when they are sent into confinement.
The Observer's report on Helms' case notes that he was in solitary confinement at the time of his injury, and had spent years in segregation for repeatedly violating those rules. Sounds like a case study in the prison system failure to properly address mental illness in the prison population, doesn't it?
Now, on the day of Timothy Helms' injury, again via the Observer's report on Helms' case notes that he was in solitary confinement at the time of his injury, and had spent years in segregation for repeatedly violating those rules.":
On Aug. 4, Helms arrived at the emergency room at Catawba Valley Medical Center in Hickory in the back of a squad car, escorted by guards.
"The story I got is that sometime yesterday the patient lit a fire in his cell and officers went in to try to put out the fire out," Dr. Jon A. Giometti wrote in Helms' intake report. "Patient resisted this and they had to subdue him using sticks, which included beating him on his body as well as in the face and head. ...
"The patient has whelp markings consistent with [being] struck by a Billy club across his upper extremities. Across his trunk, he has contusions on the chest wall as also on the back consistent with multiple blows from a Billy club."
A written summary of Helms' CT scan showed blood hemorrhaging inside his brain stem. There was also bleeding in both temporal lobes, the part of the brain important to speech, vision and long-term memory. Helms also had a broken nose and skull fracture. Separate X-rays of his chest showed "obvious rib fractures."
An internal Department of Corrections investigation failed to "conclusively determine what might have caused his injuries," and there were no personnel actions taken in regards to Helms' case.
One person has faced criminal charges related to the incident...Timothy Helms. Arrest warrants were issued 5 days after his hospitalization for "burning a public building and malicious damage to occupied property by use of an incendiary device, both felonies."
Helms -- according to prison officials -- used batteries and a scrap of metal to set his bedding ablaze, a tactic said to be used at times by prisoners in solitary to commit suicide, or attempt to be removed from their cells. Upon examination in the hospital, the staff found 2 batteries inside a plastic baggie in Helms' rectum.
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