Solitary Confinement
Jensen v. Thornell
UPDATE: On July 17, 2026, U.S. District Judge Roslyn O. Silver issued an order formally appointing a receiver to assume control and management of health care provided to more than 25,000 people incarcerated in Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry (ADCRR) prisons, in a long-running lawsuit against the state prison system brought by the Prison Law Office, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU of Arizona, and Disability Rights Arizona. More details here.
Status: Closed (Judgment)
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2 Solitary Confinement Cases
Pennsylvania
Jan 2018
Solitary Confinement
Reid v. Wetzel
The ACLU, the ACLU of Pennsylvania, the Abolitionist Law Center, Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, and Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing, Feinberg & Lin LLP filed a class action lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Department of Corrections (DOC) for holding death-sentenced prisoners in permanent, degrading, and inhumane solitary confinement. These prisoners have suffered under the DOC’s cruel and baseless policies and practices, confined in solitary until they die by execution, die of natural causes while awaiting execution, or have their capital sentence overturned.
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Pennsylvania
Jan 2018
Solitary Confinement
Reid v. Wetzel
The ACLU, the ACLU of Pennsylvania, the Abolitionist Law Center, Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, and Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing, Feinberg & Lin LLP filed a class action lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Department of Corrections (DOC) for holding death-sentenced prisoners in permanent, degrading, and inhumane solitary confinement. These prisoners have suffered under the DOC’s cruel and baseless policies and practices, confined in solitary until they die by execution, die of natural causes while awaiting execution, or have their capital sentence overturned.
Court Case
Nov 2016
Solitary Confinement
National Security
ACLU v. Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons
The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against the federal Bureau of Prisons for refusing to fulfill a Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to its officials’ visit in 2002 to a CIA detention site in Afghanistan, their positive assessment of the conditions, and the training they provided to the site’s administrators. Code-named COBALT and also called “the Salt Pit,” the site held people suspected of terrorism, and they were tortured there, according to the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee’s torture report that was declassified in 2014.
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Court Case
Nov 2016
Solitary Confinement
National Security
ACLU v. Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons
The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against the federal Bureau of Prisons for refusing to fulfill a Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to its officials’ visit in 2002 to a CIA detention site in Afghanistan, their positive assessment of the conditions, and the training they provided to the site’s administrators. Code-named COBALT and also called “the Salt Pit,” the site held people suspected of terrorism, and they were tortured there, according to the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee’s torture report that was declassified in 2014.