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In States That “Reduce” Their Use of Solitary Confinement, Suffering...
A cell in the supermax unit at Maine State Prison. Photo by Lance Tapley. Under pressure from activists, lawsuits, and even a few reformers within the corrections system, several states have...
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Federal Bureau of Prisons Details Plans for Limited “Audit” of Solitary...
A cell at ADX Florence federal supermax, where individuals may spend years or decades in extreme solitary confinement. Last week, representatives of six nonprofit organizations critical of solitary...
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DC’s Youth Face Solitary Confinement in District Jails and Federal Prisons
Just east of Capitol Hill, on 19th Street between D and E streets, lies a complex of reddish brown concrete buildings. These are the District of Columbia’s jail facilities – the Central Detention...
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Seven Days in Solitary [1/26/14]
The following roundup features noteworthy news, reports and opinions on solitary confinement from the past week that have not been covered in other Solitary Watch posts. • In early January, a South...
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Prison Health Care: Is the American Health Profession Ignoring a Human Rights...
The following essay appeared as a guest post on the “Speaking of Medicine” blog published by PLOS (Public Library of Science.) There are 2.3 million people in US prisons in conditions that are often...
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Private Prison Giant CCA Weighs in on Solitary Confinement
Photo: CCA Presumably spurred by the growing attention to solitary confinement, Corrections Corporation of America has produced a promotional piece on how it is “strategically serving” those it places...
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New York City’s New Corrections Chief, Known for Solitary Confinement...
New York City’s new Commissioner of Correction, Joseph Ponte, with NYPD chief Bill Bratton and Mayor Bill DeBlasio. In March, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed reformer Joseph Ponte as the...
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New York City Officials and Advocates Push for Change to the “Culture of...
New York City Council Member Daniel Dromm speaks, surrounded by advocates, on the steps of City Hall. Update, 8/22/14: On Thursday, August 21, the New York City Council passed legislation introduced...
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Controversy Erupts at Public Meeting on New Rikers Island Isolation Units
Dakem Roberts, a survivor of solitary confinement on Rikers Island, speaks at a press conference sponsored by the Jails Action Coalition. Photo provided by JAC. On Friday, December 19th, hundreds...
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Audit of Solitary Confinement in Federal Prisons: An Inside Job Reaches...
ADX Florence in Colorado, where more than 400 men are held in extreme isolation. A long-awaited audit of the use of solitary and other forms of isolated confinement in the federal Bureau of Prison...
View ArticleFourteen Days in Solitary [7/7/13]
The following roundup features noteworthy news, reports and opinions on solitary confinement from the past two weeks that have not been covered in other Solitary Watch posts. • In response to a...
View ArticleAs 30,000 Join California Prison Hunger Strike, Corrections Officials Issue...
On Monday, July 8th, California prisoners launched their third hunger strike in two years, protesting conditions in the Security Housing Units (SHUs), where thousands of prisoners are held in...
View ArticleVoices from Solitary: American Supermax
Joseph Dole is serving a life without parole sentence for a conviction that he continues to fight pro se. He was confined in Tamms Supermax Prison for a full decade, from 2002 through 2012, when a...
View ArticleSeven Days in Solitary [9/8/13]
The following roundup features noteworthy news, reports and opinions on solitary confinement from the past week that have not been covered in other Solitary Watch posts. • According to the tally kept...
View ArticleSeven Days in Solitary [10/13/13]
The following roundup features noteworthy news, reports and opinions on solitary confinement from the past week that have not been covered in other Solitary Watch posts. • Following the death of Herman...
View ArticleUnder Fire, the Federal Bureau of Prisons Audits Its Use of Solitary...
Amidst growing criticism of its abundant use solitary confinement, the federal Bureau of Prisons has quietly set in motion an “internal audit” to review its “restricted housing operations.” The audit,...
View ArticleKafka and the Debate Over Solitary Confinement
Guest Post by Michael B. Mushlin Michael Mushlin, professor at Pace Law School, has a long history of involvement with prisoners rights as a lawyer and legal scholar. He has lectured and published...
View ArticleReport Blasts Conditions at District of Columbia Jail
Much has been written of late about the emergence of a bipartisan consensus on the need for criminal justice reform, encompassing both the White House and Congress. If this is true, the President and...
View ArticleWith New Report, Prison Officials Commit to Reducing Their Use of Solitary...
Prison officials across the country dedicated themselves to reducing the use of solitary confinement as they released a ground-breaking survey showing as many as 100,000 people were in solitary as of...
View ArticleToxic Traps: Environmental Hazards Threaten Two Federal Supermax Prisons
The following article originally appeared on Counterpunch. A Solitary Watch investigation into the sites of the federal government’s two “supermax” facilities—the first open for two decades, the second...
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