Knott's heretofore unacknowledged death is significant for several reasons. He was a notorious criminal whose long ago crimes were the subject of a made-for-television movie. But he was also one of the many inmates in the federal prison system suffering from untreated, or mistreated, mental illness. Indeed, Knott died in a prison run by obdurate bureaucrats who are the subject of several civil rights lawsuits, brought in federal court in Colorado, alleging the systemic abuse and neglect of mentally ill prisoners. (See The Atlantic's long-running series on these cases.)



The BOP wants to keep quiet about what happened (and why) to Knott on the day of his death — "an investigation continues," a spokesman told me late last week. But a fellow inmate, with a view of Knott's cell on the day he died, has shared his account with his lawyer, who in turn has shared that account with The Atlantic. The story this inmate tells, of the last dismal hours of Knott's life, offers rare insight into how the mentally ill still are treated in this prison — even as lawsuits challenging these treatments move closer toward trial.

The Life and Death of Robert Gerald Knott

Twenty-five years ago, Robert Knott made the papers — and television — because he and confederate named Jeffrey Duane Frost went on a three-state crime spree that lasted nearly two weeks. There were hostages. There were guns. There were car chases. There was a standoff. And ultimately, there was a shootout that resulted in two deaths. In the end, Frost was dead and so was Dana Bridges, a woman that he and Knott had kidnapped. The episode had started in Beatty, Nevada, and had ended, in sorrow, in Onalaska, Washington. Knott was quickly tried, convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

His severe mental illness predated this criminal conduct. Early in life, Knott was hospitalized with symptoms of depression and "command hallucinations." Later, court records reveal, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. But none of this stopped officials from transferring him to ADX-Florence even though it does not contain a "mental health evaluation unit" like other federal prison facilities. More than a decade later, in April 2002, Knott was transferred to just such a unit in Springfield, Missouri, to be evaluated by a prison psychologist who promptly concluded that he was mentally ill and needed care in a prison psychiatric hospital. Knott objected to the diagnosis and refused the treatment.

"Throughout his incarceration in the Federal Bureau of Prisons," the doctor wrote in the background section of Knott's file, "Mr. Knott has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and antisocial personality disorder. He has been admitted to this facility for evaluation or treatment on six previous occasions." Of the 2002 evaluation, the government doctor noted that Knott "appeared uncooperative during much of the course of this evaluation, and it appears likely his lack of cooperation was due to his severe psychotic illness."