Solitary Confinement

Long-term solitary confinement is cruel, expensive and ineffective. Isolation creates and exacerbates symptoms of mental illness in prisoners, undermining successful re-entry into society and jeopardizing public safety. Meanwhile, states that have reduced their solitary populations have saved millions and seen violence plummet.

02/27/2012

Groundbreaking Decree in Mississippi Bans Solitary Confinement of Kids Convicted as Adults

By Margaret Winter, National Prison Project at 12:23pm

The decree will also require the state to move such kids out of a brutally violent private prison and into a facility operated in accordance with juvenile justice standards.

02/23/2012

Solitary Confinement

Tightening Belts Means Loosening Restraints: Illinois to Close Supermax Prison

By Tanya Greene, Advocacy and Policy Counsel, ACLU at 11:00am

One of the more positive things to result from deteriorating state budgets across the nation is that some state lawmakers are looking to smart criminal justice reform as a way to trim budgets. Whether motivated by cost savings or human rights, these changes are an important step toward a more humane justice system. One such change began yesterday in Illinois, where Gov. Patrick Quinn announced a budget plan that includes closing the state's Tamms Correctional Center — reportedly saving $21.6 million in the upcoming fiscal year and $26.6 million annually thereafter.

01/25/2012

Solitary Confinement

Podcast: Billy McCarthy of We Are Augustines talks about Solitary Confinement and Mental Illness

By Rachel Myers, ACLU at 9:51am

Many of singer / songwriter Billy McCarthy's songs were inspired by his brother James, who suffered from mental illness and took his own life after spending five years in solitary confinement in a California prison.

11/07/2011

Solitary Confinement

Solitary Confinement Destroys All Kinds of People

By Amy Fettig, ACLU National Prison Project at 4:01pm

An American woman recounts her time in solitary confinement in an Iranian prison, an experience endured by thousands of prisoners here in the U.S.

07/22/2011

Solitary Confinement

Choosing Death Over Life: (Still) Starving to Stop Solitary

By Rebecca McCray, ACLU Criminal Law Reform Project & Tanya Greene, Advocacy and Policy Counsel, ACLU at 10:33am

UPDATE: Although it appears that the hunger strike is over, the problems with solitary confinement remain. Not only are these conditions inhumane and harmful, but they also jeopardize public safety.

07/08/2011

Solitary Confinement

Breaking the Addiction to Incarceration: Weekly Highlights

By Rebecca McCray, ACLU Criminal Law Reform Project at 1:05pm

Today, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. With over 2.3 million men and women living behind bars, our imprisonment rate is the highest it’s ever been in U.S. history. And yet, our criminal justice system has failed on every count: public safety, fairness and cost-effectiveness. Across the country, the criminal justice reform conversation is heating up. Each week, we feature our some of the most exciting and relevant news in overincarceration discourse that we’ve spotted from the previous week. Check back weekly for our top picks.

02/14/2013

Solitary Confinement

Three Questions Senator Durbin and the DOJ Need to Ask about Federal Solitary

By David Fathi, National Prison Project at 3:49pm

On any given day, more than 15,000 federal prisoners are in "the hole."

With a population of over 215,000 prisoners, the Federal Bureau of Prisons is the nation's largest prison system. At a Congressional hearing chaired by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Il) last summer, Bureau Director Charles Samuels said that the Bureau holds about 7 percent of its population in solitary confinement at any given time. That's a shockingly high proportion. Many states have a much smaller percentage of prisoners in solitary, even though state prisoners are far more likely than federal prisoners to be serving time for a violent offense.