Kevin Kempf is the Director of the Idaho Department of Corrections. Since he first joined the DOC over twenty years ago, Kempf has served in a variety of positions, including correctional officer, parole officer, warden, and chief of prisons. Kempf was appointed to his current leadership role in December 2014, and currently oversees Idaho’s 9 […]
• Truth-Out published an op-ed entitled, “Solitary Confinement Is Used to Break People — I Know Because I Endured It.” Survivor Monica Cosby writes, “I’ve been out of solitary for over 11 years, but I still smell my cell. I still hear the correctional officers clanging the bars and jingling their keys and handcuffs. Because […]
Update, June 7, 2016: According to family members with knowledge of the situation, Tim Muise, Shawn Fisher, and Steven James were all released from solitary on May 26 and returned to general population on May 27. Muise and Fisher received disciplinary reports, dated May 22, alleging an “attempt to build a computer, which they intended […]
• Under a bill just signed into law by Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services will be required to report annually on the number of people placed in solitary confinement. • A federal judge has finalized the terms of the settlement in Rasho V. Baldwin, which charged that Illinois […]
Mariposa & the Saint is a play that began through letters. Sara Fonseca and Julia Steele Allen, both artists, began their correspondence when Fonseca–who goes by the name Mariposa–was in prison in California. Fonseca continues to be incarcerated at the California Institute for Women, where she is in a psychiatric unit. The play, performed by […]
• A Bronx woman is suing New York City for $10 million after spending more than two years in solitary confinement on Rikers Island. Candie Hailey, 32, also alleges she was subject to physical and sexual abuse by guards before eventually being acquitted on attempted murder charges and released. • In its continuing coverage of […]
Dolores Canales can’t seem to find her way around like she used to. She has spent her whole life in Anaheim, California, yet says she gets lost even in her hometown. She feels that her 20 years in prison, and the 18 months she spent in solitary confinement, has resulted in a permanent change to […]
• The Guardian continued its coverage of solitary confinement, publishing an article penned by Chelsea Manning and a video featuring NYC activist Johnny Perez. Also released was investigation into the use of isolation in Florida – where one in five prisoners with mental illness is held in solitary confinement. • A Florida man has spent […]
Despite being held in solitary confinement for years, men known as Kinetik, Dhati, and Brother M, primary leaders of the Free Alabama Movement, have been instrumental in organizing a statewide prison work stoppage in Alabama that began on Sunday, May 1. Currently, the prison labor strike has begun at Alabama’s Holman, Staton, and Elmore Correctional Facilities. St. Clair’s stoppage […]
• The Guardian launched “6×9: A virtual experience of solitary confinement,” a project for which Solitary Watch served as Consulting Producers. A host of accompanying articles about isolation included an introduction to solitary written by Solitary Watch’s Jean Casella and Sal Rodriguez. • Other key material published on the Guardian included an op-ed by Cory Booker […]