American Civil Liberties Union

As we observed International Human Rights Day on Saturday, we needed look no further than New York City for a sobering reminder of how this nation too often fails to meet international human rights standards.

Sadly, we learned recently that the New York City Department of Corrections (NYCDOC) is dramatically expanding the use of solitary confinement in its jails on Rikers Island. This development flies in the face of long-recognized evidence that solitary confinement has devastating effects on the human psyche. International human rights bodies, such as the U.N. Human Rights Committee and Committee Against Torture, have determined that the practice may violate international human rights law.