New this week from Solitary Watch:

In the latest piece supported by a grant from Solitary Watch’s Ridgeway Reporting Project, published by Slate, incarcerated journalist Jeremy Busby exposes the shocking treatment endured by incarcerated people with mental illness, among others, in several Texas prisons. His article details the dehumanizing conditions suicidal incarcerated people experience in prolonged periods of solitary confinement in telephone booth-sized “containment cages” as they await treatment, including a lack of access to seating or toilets and constant surveillance by guards, conditions Busby notes are in clear violation of “every protection afforded by the U.S. Constitution and or basic human morality.” Busby emphasizes the counter-intuitive nature of treating mental health crises with isolation, with Psychiatrist Terry Kupers stating in an interview with Busby, “The containment cages make prisoners more prone to eventually take their own lives.” Slate

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Solitary Watch Editor-in-Chief Juan Moreno Haines, now in his 28th year of incarceration at San Quentin, collaborated with The Guardian’s Sam Levin to oversee and report on a mock presidential election at the prison. Their piece examines the United States’ vast history of barring incarcerated people from voting. Various interviews showcase imprisoned people’s perspectives on their desire to vote, why they believe voting to be important, and which policies are important to them. “If [the goal] is rehabilitation, then I don’t think we want to dehumanize them,” said Amy Jamgochian, the chief academic officer at the prison’s in-house academic institution, Mount Tamalpais College, in an interview for the article. “We want to actually deeply respect their humanity, including giving them the right to vote.” The Guardian

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

Prisons across the United States have forced incarcerated people to perform unpaid labor in preparation and response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. At least 30 states outline the use of imprisoned people’s labor in their official natural disaster emergency response protocols, with involved parties earning pennies an hour or often no compensation for their work. Many states classify incarcerated people as volunteers, forgoing their need to provide workers with necessary worksite protections. Protocols in many states, including Louisiana, Texas, and Tennessee, note that refusal to adhere to forced labor will result in prolonged periods of solitary confinement and the loss of recreational privileges. Vera Institute of Justice

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The Texas Supreme Court ruled against executing Robert Roberson after a state House committee voted to subpoena him in a scheduled hearing days after he was to be executed. Roberson, who has spent over 20 years in solitary confinement on death row for a conviction concerning “shaken baby syndrome,” will live for a minimum of three more months as court proceedings continue to progress thanks to the unorthodox legal maneuver headlined by Reps. Jeff Leach (R-Plano) and Joe Moody (D-El Paso). “For over 20 years, Robert Roberson has spent 23.5 hours of every single day in solitary confinement in a cell no bigger than the closets of most Texans, longing and striving to be heard,” said Reps. Leach and Moody. “And while some courthouses may have failed him, the Texas House has not.” Austin American-Statesman 

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The Bureau of Prisons hired a prison warden known for perpetuating cultures of abuse at two federal prisons to direct one of their national training academies. Andrew Ciolli oversaw operations at federal prisons in Thomson, Illinois, and Florence, Colorado, the latter of which an internal investigation revealed staff often “used excessive force in violation of policy,” leading Ciolli to be referred for disciplinary action. The investigation also found that incarcerated people were often pepper-sprayed, shackled, and isolated in solitary confinement despite no immediate threat being posed at the Florence facility during Ciolli’s time as warden. “Historically, when a warden is disciplined for misconduct, they aren’t reassigned as a director of anything, let alone a training center,” said Thomas Bergami, who replaced Ciolli after he’d left the Thomson facility. The Marshall Project

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The Supreme Court declined lawyer Michael Cohen’s appeal to hold his former employer, Donald Trump, accountable for incarcerating him as revenge for authoring a tell-all memoir. Cohen, who faced over a year in federal prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion and lying to Congress in 2018, spent 16 days in solitary confinement until he was ultimately freed to home confinement after a judge declared he’d been imprisoned for writing and attempting to publish a memoir critical of the then-president. Associated Press

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Action Alerts for this week: 

A new documentary detailing the 2013 hunger strike carried out by incarcerated people across California in protest of the state’s solitary confinement policies will screen this Wednesday, Oct. 23, at Oakland’s Grand Lake Theater and Thursday, Oct. 24 at the Roxie. The film, entitled “The Strike,” explores California’s extensive history of implementing solitary confinement at its notorious Pelican Bay State Prison, culminating with the titular strike that ignited immense reforms in the state’s prison system. Solitary survivors from California will speak at the screenings. KQED

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