After 22 Years Of 'Psychologil Torture' In Solary Confement, Anthony Gay Fights For State Law Rtrictg Its Use - CBS Chigo

anthony gay illinois

Peoria, IL - Activists, fay members and supporters of Anthony Gay rallied outsi the U.S. Central District Court Peoria, Tuday morng, May 2...

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AFTER 22 YEARS OF 'PSYCHOLOGIL TORTURE' IN SOLARY CONFEMENT, ANTHONY GAY FIGHTS FOR STATE LAW RTRICTG ITS USE

Anthony Gay, who lls solary nfement ‘wrong, spible and horrible’, hop bill passed by lower hoe will bee law * anthony gay illinois *

Anthony Gay said he was “tortured for s” by his isolatn for up to 24 hours a day a ld, ty cell he likened to a dungeon, and was nied accs to necsary mental health efforts sce his 2018 release to outlaw the procre as a punive measure is reflected a bill that bears his name now makg s way through the Illois legislature. ”The Anthony Gay Isolated Confement Rtrictn Act would lim such extreme nfement for any dividual to no more than 10 nsecutive days any 180-day perd, and pel the Illois partment of rrectns to produce quarterly reports showg the e of the practice.

"It wasn't somethg that I wanted to do, but beme a survival mechanism for me, " Gay said, "bee psychologilly, I uldn't stand – so the physil pa would alleviate the psychologil pa. It beme a vic cycle – until 2018, when Gay got out and began fightg for a law pendg Sprgfield that would lim a prisoner's time solary to 10 days every six months. Spurred by a Chigo Tribune vtigatn volvg a man who spent two s isolatn after beg nvicted of stealg a hat and a sgle dollar bill, a proposed state law would lim how long an Illois prisoner n stay solary Anthony Gay Isolated Confement Rtrictn Act would bar the Illois Department of Correctns om placg an mate isolatn for more than 10 days a six-month perd.

”The bill is named for Anthony Gay, a Rock Island native who entered prison 1994 as a young man, nvicted of robbery after brawlg wh another teen who told police that Gay took his hat and stole $1.

ANTHONY GAY’S S SOLARY NFEMENT LED TO SELF-MUTILATN. NOW A PROPOSED LAW TO LIM PRISONER ISOLATN ILLOIS IS NAMED HIS HONOR.

An Illois man is fightg agast so-lled psychologil torture – after a mor probatn vlatn first sent him to prison for seven years, and then a fight behd bars led to a 22-year nightmare solary nfement. Now out, Anthony Gay told CBS 2 Polil Invtigator Dana Kozlov why he is fightg for a law to keep others om endurg the same fate. * anthony gay illinois *

Shortly after the isolatn started, Gay began self-mutilatg and attemptg for 23 hours a day and starved for human ntact, Gay took extreme steps to get attentn. Once, he packed a fan motor si a gapg leg wound; another time he cut open his scrotum and serted a are visible on Anthony Gay's arm while he worships at the Church of Peace Rock Island 2018.

ANTHONY GAY APPEALS FOR HELP OM FERAL PRISON

"I had no ia that I was about to be tortured for s," Anthony Gay said. * anthony gay illinois *

(Brian Cassella / Chigo Tribune)As his md began to terrate, Gay beme antagonistic toward his guards and ocsnally threw ure or fec at them, unlawful acts of fiance that stretched his origal sentence to more than two s behd Livgston County, where Pontiac Correctnal Center is suated, the state’s attorney’s office lodged a seri of 21 dictments agast Gay between 2000 and 2004 for the many tim he threw his own bodily fluids at guards.

GAY V. STATE OF ILLOIS

Chigo, IL - Sce 2018, Anthony Gay has bee a symbol of the stggle agast wrongful nvictns Illois. As a teen 1994 Rock Island... * anthony gay illinois *

The Illois Department of Correctns would later intify Gay urt filgs as one of a few dozen mat whose mental illns were so acute and dangero that they required full patient re. But a Tribune vtigatn found his psychiatric treatment often nsisted of a therapist shoutg qutns to him through a he reunted how his mental health erod isolatn, the normally stoic Gay broke down tears Tuday durg a news nference promotg the proposed legislatn. While Illois has signifintly rced the number of days juvenile offenrs spend isolatn and no longer segregatn as a punishment for young people as part of a nsent cree between the partment and the Amerin Civil Liberti Unn of Illois, those polici do not extend to the adult has phed unsuccsfully for solary nfement reforms for nearly four years, but he believ the bill has s strongt chanc of passg durg the current legislative ssn given Gay’s volvement.

SUPPORTERS RALLY BEHD ANTHONY GAY AT FERAL URTHOE PEORIA

Once aga behd bars he lls “prsive” for yet another crime he says he did not m, activist Anthony Gay is now a North Carola feral prison * anthony gay illinois *

After spendg 22 years solary nfement, Anthony Gay is tryg to make sure no other prisoner Illois has to experience the same level of trma that he went is the face of the state's Anthony Gay Isolated Confement Act, a bill veloped over the last 10 years that would lim solary nfement to no more than 10 days per six-month perd.

FORMER IDOC MATE ANTHONY GAY TALKS SOLARY NFEMENT AT NPEP TRANSFORMG CRIMAL JTICE ROUNDTABLE

Anthony Gay, sentenced for a mor crime as a teen, spent 24 years jail, most of solary nfement at Tamms Correctnal Center supermax prison Southern Illois. He was released Augt 2018. * anthony gay illinois *

"The worst part is beg trapped a cell 24/7, not beg able to receive social ntact and human ntact, " said Gay, who was released om prison 2018 after reprentg himself over 80 appeals before he was able to reta the help of a 's path to solary nfement began when he was 20 years old. "After spendg 22 years solary nfement, Anthony Gay is tryg to make sure no other prisoner Illois has to experience the same level of trma that he went, of Rock Island, Illois, said he was arrted durg his probatn for drivg whout a license.

"When we learned about Anthony Gay's suatn and how impacted him mentally, and what he had to do to get out of solary nfement, was vastatg, " said Ford.

Frank Chapman of the Chigo Alliance Agast Racist and Polil Reprsn, who attend a pre-trial hearg for Gay on May 9 Peoria, said, “I’ve never heard of somebody reprentg themselv and gettg a hung jury a feral trial.

22 YEARS IN SOLARY CONFEMENT: LOOKG AT THE LIFE OF FORMER INMATE ANTHONY GAY

How solary nfement drove Anthony Gay, a young Illois mate, to self-mutilatn and the brk of sany. * anthony gay illinois *

Once aga behd bars he lls “prsive” for yet another crime he says he did not m, activist Anthony Gay is now a North Carola feral prison awag a mental health evaluatn before his September 20 sentencg.

ILLOIS’ ANTHONY GAY ISOLATED CONFEMENT REFORM BILL PASS HOE

* anthony gay illinois *

He was released om prison 2019 and had been engaged social jtice issu, such as promotg his Illois SB 3564 Anthony Gay Isolated Confement Rtrictn Act which passed the Hoe but is stuck the Senate. In May, 2020, Gay said he was asslted by Rock Island police, and when he reported the cint, he said they retaliated and filed “tmped up” charg agast him. He was found guilty on May 19, 2022, by an all-whe jury and was sent to the Peoria County Jail before Judge Jam Shadid who nied the motn to move Gay to electronic monorg.

While held solary by the Illois Department of Correctns (IDOC) for nearly two s, Anthony Gay’s severe mental illns worsened, and the extreme isolatn whout any signifint treatment of his mental illns triggered horrific self-mutilatn and a lengthy prison stay that amounted to torture.

As a teenager, Anthony Gay robbed a fellow teen of his hat and a dollar bill, which land Gay prison odyssey spanned 24 years, durg which he was locked solary nfement Illois prisons for 22 to 23 hours a day, cut and slashed parts of his own body more than 500 tim prott, was strapped naked to metal bed am whout food, and, on a grim day 2010 durg what urt rerds state was extreme mental lirium, sliced off part of his tticle and tied to a cell days ago, Gay, now 44, woke up solary the prison’s mental un. ”She had rented a small U-Hl trailer, and Gay load about a dozen large rdboard box jammed wh thoands of urt documents and letters that fueled his urt battl for s.

Content warng: This story ntas mentns of self-harm. Anthony Gay, a former mate the Illois Department of Correctns, reunted the isolatn he felt durg his 22 years solary nfement durg Northwtern Prison Edutn Program’s roundtable Tuday. The discsn on solary nfement featured attorney Maggie Filler and Daniel Greenfield, a Supreme Court and Appellate... * anthony gay illinois *

Anthony Gay Gee Pawlaczyk Gay expected to die prison bee of a long seri of felony asslts on guards that nsisted of throwg body waste or yankg back on chas. Reviewg the prison sentenceBut attorneys Stt Ma of the Bluhm Legal Clic at Northwtern Universy Chigo and Jennifer Soble of the Fair Punishment Project reviewed a seri of 17 asslts on guards by Gay, mostly Livgston County where he was then held at Pontiac Prison, and termed that the nsecutive sentenc were improper.

Prisons Program for the Natnal Relig Campaign Agast Torture, said, “Gay’s succs society pends on creatg a support system and asssg rourc to help the transn.

Every day gets a b easier, ” Perez to talk eely whout guards listeng , Gay told a visor he believ his basic abily to pe the prison system started about 1994. ”‘The only way I uld feel anythg’The Department of Correctns sent Gay to Tamms 1998, and there he enuntered the most extremely rtricted environment the entire prison system.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* ANTHONY GAY ILLINOIS

Anthony Gay: 97-year prison sentence for the theft of $1 | Fight Back! .

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