Admire Harvard spent most of his adult life in solitary confinement at Florida State Prison.

And now she is suing to get out.

Harvard and five other inmates, including a minor, are the plaintiffs in a federal class action lawsuit against the Department of Corrections brought by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Florida Legal Services and the Florida Justice Institute. The lawsuit, announced at a news conference today, challenges the department’s use of solitary confinement as cruel and unusual punishment.

“At any given time there are close to 10,000 people locked away in solitary confinement in Florida’s prison system for months, even years, in cells smaller than a parking space,” SPLC Senior Supervising Attorney Shalini Goel Agarwal said.

They were selected to represent the class because they represent extreme cases of isolation, had complained to authorities about their condition, and had the courage to bring forward a challenge, she said.

The lawsuit's goal is to "end solitary confinement the way it is currently practiced in Florida," she said.

'Racial disparities plague Florida's criminal justice system'

The lawsuit claims that FDC knows about the damaging effects of solitary confinement but has not done enough to fix them. While they are 3 percent of the prison population, they make up 40 percent of the people receiving mental health treatment, the lawsuit said.

"People with mental illness are five times as likely to be placed in isolation," Agarwal said.

Some critics have said the department uses it as a convenient management tool to make up for the fact that so many prisons are understaffed.

Solitary confinement is increasingly recognized as torture by medical and mental health professionals, Agarwal said. And while other states are taking steps to reduce or eliminate solitary, Florida is an outlier. It has more than double the national average of its prison population in solitary, at over 10 percent, she said.

Related story:FSU students on front lines of fight against solitary confinement for incarcerated youth

Michelle Glady, director of communications for FDC told the Tallahassee Democrat the agency is "committed to providing for the safety and well-being of all inmates in our custody."

"Inmates who cause harm to those around them are placed in restrictive housing settings for the safety of other inmates and our officers, she said in an email.

Inmates are separated from the general population for security or the order and effective management of the institution, Glady said. The practice is called "Close Management," and is only used "when absolutely necessary to ensure the safe and secure operation of our institutions."

The prison system has a "step down" system to reintroduce isolated inmates back into the general population, she said. They are reevaluated every 90-180 days re are three individual levels, which were established to enable an inmate to “step down to decide if they need to remain in isolation or be returned to the general population.

"Protections are in place to ensure all medical and mental health needs of these inmates are being met," Glady said. "Mandatory visits from security officers, chaplaincy and medical are made routinely to inmates in this level of housing."

Solitary increases the risk of suicide, Agarwal said said. From January 2013 to August 2018, FDC reported 46 of 80 inmates who committed suicide were in isolation and another 24 had previously been in solitary.

And more than 60 percent of those in solitary are black in a state where only 15.4 percent of the state's population is black. Forty-five percent of the state prison population is black.

"Racial disparities plague Florida's criminal justice system," Agarwal said.

Complaint says woman was left in a 'bare cell' for several days

Harvard, the 28-year-old transgender black woman whose birth name is Jac’Quann Harvard, began her sentence at the men's part of Florida State Prison in July 2009. She was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, gender dysphoria and hypertension and placed in solitary by prison staff two months later. They allegedly accused her of lying to get a high-calorie meal in the dining hall after being in prison for two months, the complaint said.

“Within her first three months of isolation, Defendants found her guilty of nine new disciplinary infractions, adding an additional 270 days in isolation,” said the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee. She was accused of fighting with a cellmate, yelling, kicking her door and disrespecting staff.

The prison prescribed her powerful mood stabilizers and anti-psychotic medications, noting that because of her mental illness she suffered from anxiety and impulsivity.

Reading a statement from Harvard, one of her lawyers, Kelly Knapp said, "I am having a hard time dealing with my gender identity, and have no one to talk to."

Over the last nine years she attempted suicide several times and suffers from depression, hallucinations and delusions, the complaint said. She was hospitalized more than 20 times for psychiatric reasons, and placed in a suicide watch cell more than 50 times. She cut or injured herself at least 40 times.

The prison cited her for 127 disciplinary infractions. “They have left her in a bare cell with nothing but her underwear for several days at a time as punishment,” the complaint said. She never received a personal visit, reading material other than religious texts, education or exercise outside of a cage, the lawsuit alleged.

More cases related to isolation

Another plaintiff, a minor identified only as J.H., has been in custody since he was 14 and was placed in solitary at Suwannee Correctional Institution in Live Oak for 90 days when he was 16. Since his transfer to Florida State Prison in December, he has been kept separated from the rest of the population and rarely let out of his cell. He has been in the exercise cages once and the day room twice in the last five months.

Angel Meddler, a 21-year-old black woman with asthma, anxiety and mood disorders, has been in isolation for more than three years at Lowell Correctional Institution Annex in Ocala. She has been placed in a suicide watch cell 12 times. She is eligible to get her GED but cannot because she is in isolation, the complaint said.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm in there with her," said Angel's mother, Ruthy Mitchell of Jacksonville, who attended the morning news conference in Tallahassee. She said her daughter was placed in isolation because she couldn't do push-ups.

"If God punished us for everything we do, none of us would be here," Mitchel said.

Juan Espinosa, 58, is in isolation at the Reception and Medical Center in Lake Butler. He has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, major disruptive disorder and bipolar disorder and has hallucinations and mood swings. He tried to kill himself at least five times before he was placed in isolation. He also has tumors in his throat that makes swallowing difficult.

He’s been in and out of isolation since last June.

'Leaves people unprepared for life outside of prison'

Jerome Burgess, 46, is black and uses a wheelchair. He’s been in isolation since September 2017. The cell where he is isolated for 22 hours a day is not big enough for him to use his wheelchair.

James W. Kendrick, Jr., is 39, black, has diabetes, high blood pressure and is obese. He was placed in maximum management last June and kept there through October after being accused of beating a corrections officer. He is isolated in a wing with inmates assigned to disciplinary confinement, where his out-of-cell exercise, visits, phone calls and reading materials are restricted.

Nurses try to administer his insulin through the rusty food slot of his cell door, he said through his attorneys.

“Depriving anyone of human contact exacerbates mental health conditions and leaves people unprepared to face life outside of prison, even though most will be returned to their communities,” said Christopher Jones, executive director of Florida Legal Services.

Contact Schweers at jschweers@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffschweers.