Applause and cheers filled a courtroom Thursday afternoon after a federal judge granted a joint request from the territory and the U.S. Justice Department to terminate part of a 40-year-old consent decree related to medical care for people incarcerated at the John A. Bell Adult Correctional Facility on St. Croix.
The U.S. Justice Department began investigating unconstitutional conditions at the facility decades ago, and the territory reached a settlement agreement with the United States in 2013. After years of back-and-forth, attorneys for both the territory and the United States jointly asked the court last year to sever its oversight of physical health from mental health care, and judge the V.I. Corrections Bureau on those separately.
During a status conference on St. Croix Thursday, court-appointed monitors testified to progress in both areas. Lead monitor Kenneth Ray said “the light at the end of the tunnel… has gotten larger.”
“And I’m certain it’s not a freight train,” he added.
After receiving updates from all parties, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Wilma Lewis granted the request to discontinue the court’s oversight of medical care for inmates. BOC staffers in the pews celebrated the ruling, but Lewis cautioned them against complacency. Lewis warned them against working towards compliance but not sustaining it.
“The bureau will be doomed to repeat the past,” she said. “Please remember that.”
Later, she advised those in the courtroom to remember the circumstances which led to Thursday’s status conference.
“Getting there is one thing,” she said. “Staying there is something else.”
Lewis later acknowledged that she plans to retire in February. She offered rousing comments about the necessity of public service, which she called “an awesome responsibility” and “a great privilege.”
St. Croix Source
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