Stop Solitary - State-Specific Resources

The ACLU's unique and powerful network of state affiliate offices has been working on the frontlines to reduce reliance on solitary confinement, making states safer while saving taxpayer dollars.

 

California

• SB 61 January 8, 2013 (This bill would provide that a minor or ward who is detained in, or sentenced to, any juvenile facility, jail, or other secure state or local facility shall not be subject to solitary confinement, as defined, unless the minor or ward poses an immediate and substantial risk of harm to others or to the security of the facility, and all other less-restrictive options have been exhausted.)

Colorado

• Report on CO-DOC’s Implementation of Administrative Segregation Plan
• Colorado Department of Corrections Administrative Segregation and Classification Review Technical Assistance # 11P1022
• SB 176: Concerning Appropriate Use of Restrictive Confinement: Rights of Prisoners

Florida

• Youth in Solitary Confinement Reduction Act (SB 812) (2013)

Illinois

• Edwin Yohnka, “Saving Dollars… With Good Policy” Huffington Post, March 28, 2012 (About the closing of the Tamms supermax facility)
• Letter from the ACLU of Illinois to Governor Pat Quinn Regarding the Closure of the Tamms Correctional Facility
• David Fathi’s statement before the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability For the Hearing on the Proposed Closure of Tamms Correctional Center

Maine

• Maine CLU Resources and Information Regarding Solitary Confinement
• Final Working Group Report
• “Reform Comes to the Supermax,” Lance Tapley, The Portland Phoenix, May 25, 2011

Massachusetts

• S1133 (January 22, 2013)

Mississippi

• Mississippi DOC Deputy Commissioner on Reducing the Use of Segregation in Prisons (2011)
• Complaint, Presley v. Epps, No. 4:05CV148-JAD (N.D. Miss. June 22, 2005)
• Supplemental Consent Decree, Presley v. Epps, No. 4:05CV148-JAD (N.D. Miss. November 3, 2007)
• Expert Report of James Austin, Presley v. Epps, No. 4:05CV148-JAD (N.D. Miss. November 15, 2007) (classification)
• “Mississippi's Corrections Reform: How America's Reddest State – And Most Notorious Prison – Became a Model of Corrections Reform,” John Buntin, Governing Magazine, August 2010
• “Beyond Supermax Administrative Segregation,” Terry Kupers, et. al, Criminal Justice and Behavior, July 21, 2009
• Vera Institute of Justice, Segregation Reduction Project

Montana

• HB536 (February 20, 2013)

Nevada

• SB 107 (February 11, 2013)

New Hampshire

• HB480 (January 17, 2013)

New Mexico

• House Memorial 62

New York

• Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur Concerning New York State Prisoners Held in Solitary Confinement and Other Forms of Extreme Isolation
• New York City Bar Association Letter to Commissioner Brian Fischer, New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision
• Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement in New York's Prisons and Jails
• Summary compilation of NY SHU Exclusion Law
• SB 5906 (Inmates shall not be in segregated confinement for reason of discipline, detention, administrative segregation, protective  custody, keeplock, or any other reason for admission, unless they have engaged in highly dangerous, violent or serious escape-related behavior while incarcerated in that facility; ninety day review)

Texas

• TX HB 1266/SB 1003 -- Solitary Study Bill that Would Create an Administrative Segregation Task Force
• TX HB 686/SB 1802 -- Bill Would Require a Report on the Number of People in Solitary and the Status of Mental Health Referrals
• TX SB 1357 -- Bill Would Regulate Administrative Segregation in County Jails
• Senate Criminal Justice Interim Charge -- Administrative Segregation Study (January 13, 2012)
• HB 3764 (adult solitary confinement)
• HB 3303 (juvenile solitary confinement)

Virginia

• Sindey Rittenberg, “Solitary Torture,” Washington Post, Jan. 27, 2011.
• Anita Kumar, “Solitary Confinement in Virginia Prisons Should be Reduced, Lawmakers Say,” Washington Post, Jan. 11, 2012
• Solitary confinement in Virginia, Washington Post Editorial, Jan. 11, 2012
• HJ126: Directing the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study the use of solitary confinement by the Department of Corrections
• SJ93: Directing the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study the use of solitary confinement by the Department of Corrections