INDIANAPOLIS -- The ACLU proposed a settlement Thursday in its case against the Indiana Department of Corrections.
The agreement would bar Indiana's prisons from putting inmates with serious mental illnesses in solitary confinement with no access to treatment.
The Indiana DOC estimates that more than 5,600 inmates are considered seriously mentally ill.
The ACLU says the Department of Corrections has already improved conditions for special needs inmates at a number of correctional facilities.
If a judge approves the proposal, it would settle a lawsuit the ACLU filed in 2008 accusing the DOC of violating mentally ill inmates' constitutional rights.
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