Solitary Watch

by Francisco Rodriguez

January 16, 2025

This week’s pick of news and commentary about solitary confinement: During 2024, six incarcerated men intentionally burned themselves at Red Onion State Prison in protest of the notoriously abusive conditions at the Virginia Supermax prison, which include regular placements in prolonged solitary confinement. A set of emails recently obtained by The Appeal revealed that Red […]

by Kilhah St Fort

January 8, 2025

New this week from Solitary Watch: Writing for Filter, Solitary Watch’s Sara Vogel reveals that digital mail further isolates those in solitary confinement in Texas prisons. Under a new policy, letters, photos, greeting cards, and postcards are now redirected to a digital mail processing center to be scanned and electronically sent to tablets or printed […]

by Sara Vogel

January 8, 2025

This article, written by Solitary Watch’s Sara Vogel and supported by Solitary Watch, was originally published by Filter. Kwaneta Harris was cleaning her cell when she came across a manila envelope filled with letters. Letters bearing crayon drawings from her children; letters with her mother’s signature Chanel No. 5 still emanated faintly from the paper. […]

by Francisco Rodriguez

January 2, 2025

New this week from Solitary Watch: Enormous gratitude to the hundreds of donors who responded to our annual appeal for donations. Thanks to you, we met our goal and will receive the full amount of matching funds from NewsMatch. Your support is a huge part of what keeps our vital work going throughout the year. […]

by Kilhah St Fort

December 26, 2024

To our readers: This is the final week of our annual fundraising drive. Make a donation to Solitary Watch now, and your donation will be DOUBLED by NewsMatch! Please consider supporting this vital work before the year ends. Thank you. … New this week from Solitary Watch: Kwaneta Harris, an award-winning incarcerated journalist and our […]

by Jean Casella

December 24, 2024

This is one of the first posts we ever published on Solitary Watch, fifteen years ago, and we now share it with our readers every year. Once a year, we also ask you to consider supporting the work we do: shining light into the darkest corners of our punishment system, and bringing a glimmer of hope […]

by Juan Moreno Haines

December 23, 2024

Dear Readers and Friends: Before you enter full holiday mode, we hope you’ll take just a moment to consider those who will be spending this time of year alone in a solitary confinement cell. For many, this means not only the extreme isolation and loneliness that comes with being deprived of all meaningful human contact. […]

by Christopher Blackwell

December 22, 2024

The latest piece supported by Solitary Watch’s Ridgeway Reporting Project is written by Christopher Blackwell, an award-winning journalist and grassroots organizer incarcerated in Washington State. Below is an excerpt from his piece exposing the state‘s manipulation of a victim protection policy to censor his freedom of expression and that of other incarcerated individuals. Read an […]

by Jean Casella

December 20, 2024

Years ago, when I was down in Louisiana working on a story about the notorious plantation prison called Angola, a man who had served nearly 20 years shared with me what he thought to be a common misconception about prisons. He knew that most people looked at the wall around the perimeter of a prison, […]

by Kwaneta Harris

December 19, 2024

Solitary Watch is honored to announce that the acclaimed incarcerated journalist Kwaneta Harris has joined us as our newest Contributing Writer. Stay tuned to our site for frequent articles and updates from Harris. • • • • • • • • • • After eight and a half years of living in solitary confinement, I […]

by Francisco Rodriguez

December 18, 2024

This week’s pick of news and commentary about solitary confinement: Numerous transgender women incarcerated in New Jersey and Florida prisons say they are subject to discrimination and solitary confinement. One woman incarcerated in a New Jersey men’s prison reportedly castrated herself while in protective custody, a form of solitary confinement she was forced into out […]

by Jean Casella and Juan Moreno Haines

December 13, 2024

Last week, we reported on a group of at least six men incarcerated at Virginia’s notorious Red Onion supermax prison who have burned themselves with makeshift electrical devices in a protest against the isolation in which they had been held for months or even years. Earlier, we reported that two men had lit themselves on […]

by Kilhah St Fort

December 11, 2024

New this week from Solitary Watch: In the latest entry in the Voices from Solitary series, Dwayne “Bim” Staats and Jarreau “Ruk” Ayers co-author a piece about witnessing the mental destruction of two men—Kelly Gibbs and Keith Gibson—behind the torturous walls of solitary confinement. While awaiting trial, the two men were housed indefinitely in solitary, […]

by Voices from Solitary

December 6, 2024

Dwayne “Bim” Staats and Jarreau “Ruk” Ayers co-authored, in alternating sections, the following piece about witnessing the mental destruction of two men—Kelly Gibbs and Keith Gibson—behind the torturous walls of solitary confinement. Staats and Ayers both grew up in Wilmington, Delaware, and were both serving life sentences when they were indicted—along with fifteen others—for their […]

by Francisco Rodriguez

December 4, 2024

This week’s pick of news and commentary about solitary confinement: No fewer than six incarcerated men at Red Onion State Prison in Virginia burned themselves with makeshift devices in recent months, according to the Virginia Department of Corrections. Red Onion is a supermax prison many formerly incarcerated people describe as physically and racially abusive, with […]

by Jean Casella and Juan Moreno Haines

December 3, 2024

Dear Friends: For tens of thousands of people locked away in U.S. prisons and jails, the extreme deprivation and isolation of solitary confinement causes unimaginable suffering. One person living in solitary described his existence to us as “a soul-destroying loneliness that never ends.” In these conditions, even the smallest human connection can make a difference—and […]

by Kilhah St Fort

November 27, 2024

New this week from Solitary Watch: Marking Native American Heritage Month, our Voices from Solitary series features an essay by Charles Longshore, is a Skokomish Tribal member serving time in the Washington State prison system. A fierce advocate for his people, Longshore points out that Native Americans are underrepresented in nearly every segment of U.S. […]

by Jean Casella and Juan Moreno Haines

November 26, 2024

In the United States, the fourth Thursday in November is when we take a moment to reflect on the things we’re thankful for. There’s power, both profound and humbling, in putting words to the things that get us through the tough times. But not everybody’s tough times are the same, and not all gratitude carries […]

by Voices from Solitary

November 26, 2024

The author of this piece, Charles Longshore, is a Skokomish Tribal member who is nearly 13 years into a 35.8 year sentence in the Washington State Department of Corrections. Longshore is a founding member and board of directors chair at the Judicial Second Look Coalition and one of the key authors of the Judicial Discretion […]

by Francisco Rodriguez

November 20, 2024

This week’s pick of news and commentary about solitary confinement: A whistleblower at Baker County Detention Center, an ICE facility near Jacksonville, Florida, reported a trend of systemic human rights violations. The whistleblower’s testimony recounted staff routinely refusing incarcerated individuals basic medical care, fabricating reports to save face, and fostering a culture of racial and […]

by Sara Vogel

November 13, 2024

New this week from Solitary Watch: Across the country, progressively minded individuals have struggled to hold on to hope following the re-election of Donald Trump. In the wake of last week’s election, Solitary Watch Director Jean Casella and Editor-in-Chief Juan Moreno Haines provide insight on their vision of the path forward for the fight to […]

by Jean Casella and Juan Moreno Haines

November 12, 2024

In the past week, it’s been difficult to resist slipping into dejection or even despair, as we look toward an uncertain and in many ways frightening future.  But resist we must—not only for our own well-being, but for the sake of those who live in even more precarious and dangerous conditions, and who will need […]

by Francisco Rodriguez

November 6, 2024

New this week from Solitary Watch: Solitary Watch Editor-in-Chief Juan Moreno Haines, who is currently in his 28th year of incarceration at San Quentin, examines the 2024 presidential election and what election day means to the approximately 4 million American citizens like him who are barred from voting over felony convictions. His commentary analyzes the […]

by Juan Moreno Haines

November 4, 2024

This commentary is the latest in “The Word from Solitary Watch,” our series of dispatches by Solitary Watch staff and contributors. • As the United States prepares to choose its next president, I am toiling through my 28th year of incarceration. It is with Election Day fast approaching that I consider the famous 1852 speech […]

by Sara Vogel

October 31, 2024

New this week from Solitary Watch: Elizabeth Hawes is an incarcerated journalist, playwright, poet, gardener, and actress whose work examines women’s incarceration and its effects on children. Hawes’ most recent article vividly illustrates the invasive and traumatizing practice of constant strip searches and drug testing at the Minnesota State Women’s Prison at Shakopee. The article […]

by Elizabeth Hawes

October 29, 2024

The following article is the latest piece supported by Solitary Watch’s Ridgeway Reporting Project, written by incarcerated journalist, playwright, poet, gardener, and actress Elizabeth Hawes. In this piece, Hawes vividly illustrates the invasive and traumatizing practice of constant strip searches and drug testing at the Minnesota state women’s prison at Shakopee. Below is an excerpt […]