Naked, filthy and strapped to a chair: A mentally ill inmate's last days
ATASCADERO, Calif. _ For 46 hours, Andrew Holland's legs and arms were shackled to a chair in the San Luis Obispo County jail.
The inmate, who suffered from schizophrenia, was left in his own filth, eating and drinking almost nothing. He was naked, except for a helmet and mask covering his face and a blanket that slipped off his lap, exposing him to jail staff who passed by his glass-fronted cell.
When he was finally unbound, guards dumped him to the floor of a nearby cell. Within 40 minutes, he had stopped breathing.
Holland's death Jan. 22 has provoked outrage in the Central Coast county, a record $5 million legal settlement, and questions about the way California jails handle a sharp increase in the number of mentally ill inmates.
The surge in inmates requiring psychiatric care follows changes to California sentencing laws meant to reduce the state prison population, shifting offenders to county jails built to house those awaiting trial or serving short sentences rather than provide intensive, long-term care. At the same time,
