Behind The Lens Episode 185: ‘intended to inflict mental torture’

Nick Chrastil on "inhumane" conditions and mental health care services at David Wade Correctional Center. And Terry Jones joins us from Floodlight News to talk about abandoned well heads.

This week on Behind The Lens, Reporter Nick Chrastil provides an update on a months-awaited ruling on mental health at the David Wade Correctional Center in Homer, Louisiana. Prisoners there sued the state in an attempt to improve conditions and mental health care at the facility. A federal judge called the conditions “inhumane” and found they rose to the level of a constitutional violation.

Reporter Terry Jones joins us from Floodlight News, a to talk about the hundreds of thousands of abandoned well heads throughout the country, including in Louisiana, and what one non-profit is doing to try to seal them off. 

Our guests this week are Lens reporter Nick Chrastil, Floodlight News reporter Terry Jones and Lens editor Marta Jewson. 

You can also listen to Behind The Lens on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other services.

Carolyne Heldman

Carolyne Heldman has been in media for 35 years, most recently as Executive Director at an NPR member station in Colorado where she was responsible for new multi-platform content initiatives, strategic planning, research, branding, and non-traditional revenue generation. During her tenure she also created and launched four weekly news, public affairs and cultural affairs programs and monthly live Town Hall broadcasts. Heldman moved to New Orleans last summer with her husband and canine companion and they live happily in The Marigny.