This week’s pick of news and commentary about solitary confinement:

Immigrant detainees are subject to “inhumane conditions” within Pennsylvania’s largest ICE facility, which is riddled with human rights violations according to a new report by Temple Law students and Juntos, a Philadelphia-based immigration advocacy group. The report, In the Shadow of the Valley, found migrants detained within Moshannon Valley Processing Center, a former prison privately owned by the GEO Group, were often subject to physical and psychological abuse at the hands of guards as well as racial discrimination, and were routinely placed solitary confinement for minor infractions. In one such case, a detainee was placed in solitary confinement for two months following a verbal argument with a fellow detainee. “Two months they put me in the hole, locked up in a cell,” the detainee testified. “As if I were a criminal, as if I had murdered someone, when all I had done was argue with a fellow detainee. I felt very frustrated, I felt like I was going to go crazy in that place.” WHYY

The Onondaga County Justice Center plans several renovations to its jail to comply with New York’s HALT Solitary Confinement law, which mandates that incarcerated people be allotted out-of-cell time. The downtown Syracuse facility plans to construct “day spaces,” 25-square-foot enclosures attached to the outside of solitary confinement cells where people would spend out-of-cell time. The New York State Commission of Correction ordered the sheriff’s office to present its documentation demonstrating compliance with state laws by September 30. Syracuse.com | A similar approach on Rikers Island several years ago was slammed by lawmakers and advocates, who said spending time in cages attached to cells was not a true alternative to solitary confinement and should not be considered “out of cell” time. Queens Daily Eagle

Deaths of incarcerated people are surging in prisons and jails across the country, with more than 40 percent of incarcerated deaths estimated to be suicide or drug-related. Jeff Brandes, a former Florida state senator and founder of the Florida Policy Project attributes the rise in suicides and drug-related deaths to inadequate mental healthcare within facilities, emphasizing the harm solitary confinement can cause people with mental health conditions. “[Solitary Confinement] leads to a spiral of these individuals–putting these individuals in a room by themselves for hours, sometimes days on end. It does not improve their mental state,” said Brandes. WFSU

The U.S. Justice Department has opened an investigation into the alleged sexual abuse of incarcerated women at two California prisons. Women at both facilities report facing “forcible rape, groping and threats of violence and punishment” by the male officers in authority. According to a lawsuit against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation filed by 144 individual women from both facilities, many of them felt reluctant to speak out against their abusers for fear of retaliation, such as placement in solitary confinement or physical abuse. “The incarcerated population shared many stories about typical forms of retaliation that everyone knew to expect after filing a PREA [Prison Rape Elimination Act] report,” said a working group of advocacy organizations in a report. Courthouse News Service

An Inspector General’s investigation found children at the Dallas County Juvenile Detention Center were enclosed within their cells for multiple days, in violation of state laws. According to the report, the facility’s staff and administration utilized a program entitled the Special Needs Unit as a loophole to bypass the Texas Administrative Code, resulting in various youths essentially being in solitary confinement for up to five days at a time. The report also found that the detention center falsified the facility’s observation sheets, likely intending to conceal the Special Needs Unit.  “There was pervasive falsification of documents regarding observation checks and school attendance rosters implying an intentional attempt to conceal the practice within the facility,” the report states. WFAA

Action Alerts for this week:

The Unlock the Box DC campaign, which is “dedicated to ending the inhumane practice of solitary confinement and advocating for meaningful justice reform,” will be hosting a Rally and Town Hall at Foundry United Methodist Church, 1500 16th St NW, Washington, DC, on Thursday, September 19th, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. The campaign encourages people to “join us for a powerful evening of advocacy and action! Your presence at this event will amplify the voices of those directly impacted and demonstrate our collective commitment to ending these unjust practices.” You can also take action online here to support the Eliminating Restrictive and Segregated Enclosures (“ERASE”) Solitary Confinement Act, which would put an end to the use of solitary confinement in D.C.’s jails.

As we covered last week, the California State legislature has passed what advocates consider a highly flawed bill, AB 2527, which codifies the use of solitary confinement on pregnant individuals rather than banning it. The Essie Justice Group has launched a letter writing campaign urging California Governor Gavin Newsom “to veto AB 2527 in its current form and instead support legislation that truly protects the health, dignity, and well-being of pregnant individuals in California’s correctional system.” Use this online form and send your message.

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