Anchorage Daily News

Since May, accused murderer Joshua Wade has been locked in solitary confinement in the Anchorage jail. No TV or radio. No chance to take classes. No contact with other human beings except corrections officers and his lawyers. He gets out for an hour a day to exercise -- alone in the yard.

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Joshua Wade

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And it all could be pushing him to the edge, his lawyer says.

"In the opinion of the undersigned counsel, Defendant's mental status is deteriorating as a result of his prolonged placement in solitary confinement," attorney Gilbert Levy of Seattle wrote in a notice to the court this week. Wade isn't yet incompetent to stand trial "but that point is not that far off if the conditions of confinement remain unchanged."

The lawyer wants U.S. Magistrate Judge John Roberts to end the solitary confinement or move Wade to another facility so he can help prepare his defense.

Federal charges accuse Wade of torturing and killing his Sand Lake neighbor, Mindy Schloss, a nurse practitioner. She was still missing when Wade was arrested in early September 2007 on bank fraud charges for using her ATM card. Her body was found later that month in a patch of Wasilla woods.

Wade faces the death penalty. His trial is scheduled to begin March 10, 2010, in Fairbanks.

Alaska doesn't have a federal jail or prison and earlier Wade was being held in the federal detention center between Seattle and Tacoma, where he was in and out of the "special housing unit." Inmates are sent to that unit for punishment. Wade was first put there after an alleged assault, then was returned for reasons that have not been given, his lawyers say. He remained there even after disciplinary sanctions ended, the lawyers said in court papers. They argued he should be allowed back in with the general population at Sea-Tac.

But before the magistrate judge ruled, Wade was transferred to the Anchorage jail.

At first, Wade was with the general population of Anchorage inmates. But within a few days, an incident with another prisoner landed him in solitary confinement, Levy wrote in court papers filed this week. Levy doesn't describe the incident in his court filing but said troopers investigated it and no charges were filed. The other inmate no longer is in jail, Levy wrote.

The trooper who investigated the May jail incident is out of state and the status of the case couldn't be determined Friday afternoon, a trooper spokeswoman said.

Since late May, Wade has remained in solitary confinement, Levy wrote.

"He is confined to his cell 23 hours a day with no radio and no television," the lawyer wrote. "He has no opportunity to take classes, attend religious services, or interact with other prisoners."

Levy said in the filing that he couldn't provide more detailed information about Wade's mental state because of attorney-client confidentiality.

Corrections officials have told Wade's defense lawyers he'll stay in solitary as long as he's in the Anchorage jail, the lawyer wrote. His motion asks the magistrate judge to make the Corrections Department and U.S. Marshals Service explain why that's necessary.

Corrections Department officials did not return calls Friday afternoon.

Wade spends a lot of time reading, his lawyers have said in previous filings. Prosecutors had raised concerns about one book in his possession, "Hacksaw," about a celebrated convict who escaped from prisons, jails and chain gangs 14 times. The government seized it and one other book, "Villages" by John Updike.

Neither Levy nor prosecutors would comment on the situation. Prosecutors have until Wednesday to file a response in court.

A hearing is set for Nov. 10.

Find Lisa Demer online at adn.com/contact/ldemer or call 257-4390.

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