Dear Readers: We reach out to you just once a year to ask for your support. And even now, we seek your help not for our regular research and reporting work, which catalyzes change by documenting the hidden world of prison isolation. Instead, we ask you to donate to a special program that brings small ray of […]
• A Texas man is suing the state’s prison system, alleging that the two years he spent in solitary confinement constituted a violation of the 14th Amendment. Nelson Patterson maintains his time in isolation caused him physical and mental harm and aggravated a pre-existing medical condition. • A survey by the national law firm Lowenstein Sandler found […]
This post has become a Christmas tradition at Solitary Watch. To all our readers, warm wishes for the holidays. Special thanks to those who have helped (or plan to help) us bring a small ray of light into the darkness of solitary confinement by supporting our Lifelines to Solitary project. –Jean and Jim = = = = […]
• The Intercept published an in-depth look into the federal lawsuit recently filed against the Santa Clara County jails. “While there have been a number of legal challenges to the use of solitary confinement over the last few decades, this is the first to take on its use in jails.” • Solitary Watch’s Victoria Law covered changes […]
The settlement announced Wednesday by the New York Civil Liberties Union in the Peoples v Fischer case brings broad, deep, and meaningful change to the way New York utilizes solitary confinement in its state prisons. It is a significant and hard-won victory for the plaintiffs, their attorneys, and the hundreds of advocates who have long […]
• The Colorado Department of Corrections will spend more than $4.7 million to build an outdoor recreation area at the state’s highest security prison, Colorado State Penitentiary (CSP). The move is a result of a lawsuit settlement alleging that the conditions of confinement at CSP were unconstitutional. • Those in attendance at a legislative hearing in Alaska […]
Dear Readers: We reach out to you just once a year to ask for your support. And even now, we seek your help not for our regular research and reporting work, which catalyzes change by documenting the hidden world of prison isolation. Instead, we ask you to donate to a special program that brings small ray of […]
Albert Woodfox, the last remaining incarcerated member of the “Angola 3,” is appealing to the Supreme Court for his release after a tumultuous succession of appeals and overturned decisions. Sent to Louisiana’s Angola Prison in 1971 for armed robbery, Woodfox was then twice convicted—and twice saw those convictions overturned—of the 1972 murder of an Angola […]
• A California state senator announced he would push for the passage of a bill to limit the placement of children in solitary confinement. Mark Leno, a Democrat from San Francisco, plans to introduce the Stop Torture of Children Act when the legislature reconvenes in January. • Washington DC Councilmember Mary Cheh has introduced legislation to limit […]