Busted for drunk driving - 2 years solitary confinement
 

Stephen Slevin was arrested for drunk driving , ended up doing 2 years in solitary.

image shows his arrest photo on left , release photo on right.

http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap...7067008126.jpg

A federal jury has awarded $22 million to a New Mexico man who was kept in solitary confinement for two years and forced to pull his own tooth after being arrested for drunken driving in Dona Ana County.
Civil rights attorney Matt Coyte said the jury awarded Stephen Slevin, 58, the damages Tuesday after a six-day trial in Santa Fe.
Jess Williams, spokesman for Dona Ana County, declined comment other than to say the county plans to appeal.
"We have believe we have strong legal issues to raise with the appeal," he said.
Slevin was arrested while driving through the southern New Mexico county in August 2005. He ended up in solitary confinement because he was suffering from depression and someone checked a box on a form indicating he was suicidal, Coyte said.
Slevin was given some drugs for depression but never saw a mental health professional, Coyte said. He said his client wrote letters for months seeking help, but they were ignored.
"By January 2006, his last letter goes out looking for help. Then he falls into this delirium. He was there for the next 20 months," Coyte said.
Coyte said that in May 2007, Slevin was sent to a mental health facility in Las Vegas, N.M., for two weeks but then was returned to the Dona Ana County jail and solitary confinement.
"He immediately decompensates," Coyte said. "He sends off another letter at this point asking for medical care. ... He is forced to pull his own tooth. He rocked it back and forth over a period of eight hours before he was able to pull it out of his mouth."
Slevin was finally released in June 2007, Coyte said. He was never convicted.
"He entered this facility with overt symptoms of mental depression," Coyte said. "But that's not the issue. ... He was stuck in a 6-foot-by-11-foot cell with a concrete bench for a bed. And he sat in that cell. We had documentary evidence that he didn't get out for anything ? for recreation, a shower ? for months at a time."

Exceptional

Good they should lock these assholes up who drink and drive and throw away the key or put them to death along with all the other drunken bums we have littering our streets

Wow.

Fuck them for trying to appeal. $22 million should be his free and clear AND tax free.

$22 million? Where do I sign up?

I'll gladly do 2 years for $22million...

Dude has epic facial hair :)

The system is not friendly and is clearly messed up

why did they put him in solitary for DUI?

all i can say is wow

22 millions, i will do it too...

someone checked "suicidal" on his intake form :)

i dunno , he was in real solitary.. no fresh air ,metal bed, no shower for weeks at a time.

I would like to "think" i could do that , not sure if i really could.. Wouldn't go fo it now if i was offered

Every idiot saying they would do this for $22 million is a fuckwit. Solitary confinement is not just jail, it fucks with even the most mentally strong.

The report i read said that he was put in a padded cell, i think he might have been a bit looney tunes.

i wouldn't do it.

I could do solitary (for a defined period of time) if I was allowed an unlimited supply of books. Since that's not the usual case I would go nuts very quickly.

.

But i'd do it and be a rich fuckwit !! :pimp

ohh so you think its cool when somebody drinks and drives and ends up putting other peoples lives at risk, ... think you've got the moron bit the wrong way around

yea, no kidding, 2 weeks, maybe 2 months is probably doable, but 2 years is a real long time to live like that...

Everyone wishing they could do it for $22Mil wants it because it's "an easy $22mil" and
that's where they will fail because it would not be easy and maybe they kill themselves
trying it.

They didn't let him shower or exercise? Seems like they literally threw away the key...

seems a lot of money for the length of time.

It's probably mostly about punishing that county more than compensating him for damages.
Honestly I think someone should face criminal charges somewhere in there. He was basically kidnapped.

I think drinking and driving is stupid. However, if the drunk drive hurts no one who is the victim? And if there is no victim why should the drunk driver do the crime?


People can say that pushing porn puts women at risk of rape, should you do time for that?

So he never went to see a judge or went to court for anything? How the hell does that happen?

indeed:2 cents:

oddly enough, I have the EXACT same reaction to your sig gif :1orglaugh

-Loki-

Stupid comparison. :2 cents:

"Slevin was finally released in June 2007, Coyte said. He was never convicted."

yeah, because guys wouldn't know they had a dick or where it goes, unless it was for porn. that's a stupid theory.

You know something's seriously fucked up when they start putting people in jail for 2 years for committing a victimless crime. :(

Not just that, he was put in jail without even being convicted.

Yeah you could go mental for sure.

Did he even know when he was getting out at all?

$22 million for going permanently mental...hmmm :)

I too can easily do that for 2 yrs. hence my strong mind.

you're clueless, that would break anyone in no time.

You obviously haven't lost anyone close to you to a drunk driver.

That's some fucked up shit...

good analogy. :eek7

fucked up - the gnarly beard, i sure wouldn't waste time shaving if i was in prison, not like you are looking for 'dates' unless you're a homo.

lots of soldiers have been prisoners of war in solitary confinement - this guy deserves a big payday but 22 million is ridiculous, give him a million and pay the costs for any psychological counselling he needs.

Holy fuck. The world has gone mad.

Read the article. He was never convicted. :1orglaugh

If I knew I was getting out in 2 years, I don't think I'd have a problem. It's the not knowing that would kill me. If I knew for a fact 2 years and I'm done for $22m, I'd do that in a heartbeat for my family. Of course this was different, as he didn't know there shit waiting for him when or if he finished.