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 fire in the prison’s solitary confinement unit in an attempt at self-immolation, to demand an end to the unbearable isolation, racism, and brutality. These men are not the first to take a courageous and desperate stand against solitary confinement using the only means available to them, and they will surely not be the last. 

Locked in their cells in a remote mountain town, the men held at Red Onion know what everyone who has experienced solitary knows: Being deprived of human contact is a form of torture, even if the scars it leaves are invisible to the eye. And this fact means that they are victims of the largest incidence of mass torture in the United States today.   

The idea of solitary as torture—a concept absent from the public consciousness just a decade ago—has been steadily gaining ground. This change in consciousness has been propelled by evidence-based information, investigative journalism, and firsthand accounts of life in solitary—all of which were pioneered, in large part, by Solitary Watch.

A recent poll by Data for Progress found that a bipartisan majority of likely voters supports limiting solitary confinement to brief periods for de-escalation purposes, with even stronger majorities supporting bans on solitary for people with mental illness or physical disabilities, along with other vulnerable groups. Remarkably, nearly two-thirds of all voters favor “rehabilitation and treatment” as a response to misbehavior in prison, rather than the punishment of solitary confinement.

These, in turn, have helped garner attention and condemnation from the UN and other international human rights bodies, and build a growing and determined advocacy movement, with strong leadership from solitary survivors. The first laws sharply limiting solitary confinement, and mandating more humane alternatives, have been passed in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Nevada, while Colorado and other states have drastically reduced their use of solitary as a matter of policy.

Despite all of this, a report published in 2023 by Solitary Watch and Unlock the Box found well over 122,000 people are held in solitary confinement daily in federal and state prisons and local jails. Even in states with potentially transformative legislation or policy directives, resistance to change from prison staff and some local officials has been fierce. At the national level, the Biden administration, which made a campaign promise of “ending the practice of solitary confinement, with very limited exceptions,” took no meaningful action to reduce solitary confinement. Based on past performance, the new Trump administration is likely to dramatically increase it.

What is necessary to finally achieve the goal of ending solitary confinement? What will it take to end the most widespread practice of torture currently taking place on American soil?

“The day will come when [we] will ask: ‘How could we ever have done that to human beings?’”

The new poll shows that when people are made aware of the reality and ubiquity of prolonged solitary confinement—and the availability of alternatives to this torturous punishment—most will oppose it. When they are forced to consider solitary as torture, that opposition becomes stronger. So public awareness and education, while they are constantly growing, remain a challenge.

A second challenge has to do with the fact that prisons are hidden worlds, and the people held in prisons are often viewed as somehow less than full human beings, and thus less deserving of protection of their basic human rights.

Imagine, for a moment, the outrage that would be generated if random Americans were being publicly tortured by the government in the public squares of cities and towns across the country. Something like that level of outrage is needed—is demanded—in response to the use of solitary confinement, even though it happens inside prisons and jails, to people who have been convicted or accused of crimes. That outrage, in turn, needs to translate to political engagement and action.

An advocate once told us that he believes the day will come when the bulk of Americans will look back at solitary confinement the way they do slavery, and other abominations that were once legal and widespread in this country. When that happens, he said, they will ask: “How could we ever have done that to human beings?”

At Solitary Watch, we also believe that day will come. But for the Red Onion protestors, and for tens of thousands of others enduring lonely torture in their prison cells, it can’t come soon enough.

If you would like to do your part to bring an end to the use of solitary confinement in U.S. jails and prisons, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Solitary Watch today. Your support alone allows us to continue our groundbreaking reporting, including hard-hitting work by incarcerated writers, which we publish throughout the year both on our own website and in other high-profile publications. Our articles, fact sheets, and reports are also the go-to resource for advocates and policymakers working against the scourge of solitary.

Right now, all one-time donations will be matched by NewsMatch, and all monthly donations will be matched 12 times. Donations at every level are deeply appreciated and valued—as is your concern for those who are buried, and too often forgotten, in the darkest corners of the U.S. prison system.

With gratitude,

Jean Casella, Director

Juan Moreno Haines, Editor-in-Chief