New this week from Solitary Watch: 

Juan Moreno Haines, Solitary Watch’s editor-in-chief and an award-winning journalist incarcerated at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, recently reviewed Pete Earley’s latest book, No Human Contact: Solitary Confinement, Maximum Security, and Two Inmates Who Changed the System. The book tells the story of two members of the Aryan Brotherhood serving time at the United States Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois, who murdered two prison officers in separate incidents on the same day in 1983, ushering in the modern era of prolonged solitary confinement. Haines shares his perspective on the book while reflecting on solitary, rehabilitation, and the current state of the U.S. criminal legal system. Solitary Watch |  Kensington Books 

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

Twenty-five people died by suicide in New York state prisons in 2024, the highest number since 2000. Nine of these deaths occurred in solitary confinement, where the rate of suicide is seven times higher than the general prison population. According to a report from the HALT Solitary Campaign and Mental Health Alternatives to Solitary Confinement, 60% of the prison suicide and self-harm incidents in 2024 occurred in solitary confinement or other isolated settings. Although solitary confinement was banned in New York by the HALT Solitary Confinement Act of 2022, advocates and experts attribute the high number of deaths to the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision’s (DOCCS) failure to fully implement the law. “The number of people dying by suicide in solitary confinement in New York State prisons is as predictable as it is devastating,” stated forensic psychiatrist and solitary confinement expert Dr. Terry Kupers. Queens Daily Eagle 

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The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted in favor of banning the use of all chemical agents and de-emphasizing solitary confinement in youth detention centers. The motion also requires trauma-informed deescalation training for all probation officers working with young people, and for the Council of Juvenile Justice Administrators to take actions to increase transparency and board oversight. NBC San Diego

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A Michigan state appeals court ruled that a man who spent nearly four years in solitary confinement after stabbing a corrections officer could still receive an additional sentence for the attack since his years of isolation were not a criminal punishment, but a civil one.David Omar Adams had argued that his confinement violated the double jeopardy clause prohibiting the effects of civil punishment to be punitive and thereby a form of criminal punishment. Law 360

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Investigators with the Washington state Office of the Corrections Ombuds uncovered at least four policy violations at the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor. The investigation documented multiple incidents between September 2024 and April 2025, including improper use of pepper spray, delayed responses to suicide attempts, and prolonged solitary confinement. In one incident a woman with a serious mental health issue was held in solitary confinement under “medical seclusion” for at least three weeks without leaving her cell. King5

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Daronte Brown, a man who was incarcerated in the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh, filed a civil rights suit in U.S. District Court alleging use of force, the abuse of solitary confinement for people with mental health issues, inadequate staff training and supervision, and a lack of adequate healthcare at the jail. Brown states in the suit that he was moved to solitary confinement after being brutalized by officers and was forced to sleep on a concrete slab without a mattress for a month while experiencing worsening anxiety, nightmares, and persistent pain. TribLive

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MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility, Oregon’s largest youth prison, continues to use a 1950s-era Intervention Unit, nicknamed the “dungeon,” despite the recent opening of a new isolation unit. Decades of criticism and legal action over Oregon’s use of solitary confinement on youth includes a federal court case holding that the state’s practices amount to cruel and unusual punishment. Recent analyses also show  that young people in Oregon spent more time in isolation than young people in other states, and Latino and Black youth in Oregon were kept in isolation longer than White youth. Oregon Live

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Human Rights Watch is calling on the United States to immediately stop sending immigrant detainees to Guantánamo Bay, where they experience abusive and inhumane conditions. In interviews, Venezuelan immigrants detained at the facility shared that they were held in solitary confinement cells measuring approximately 2 x 3 meters with concrete and steel walls, a single concrete bed, and a combination sink-toilet. Human Rights Watch

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In a rambling set of remarks made as he signed an executive order ending cashless bail in the District of Columbia, President Donald Trump addressed the takeover of the District by federal agents and troops, claiming: “We have some of the worst career professionals out of the country already. They’ve been taken out of the country, and some are in solid confinement because these were killers.” The president was apparently referring to “solitary confinement.” There is no specific information available on whether people recently arrested in Washington, D.C. are being held in solitary, in the D.C. jail, ICE facilities, or elsewhere. Roll Call

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Action Alerts: 

Ending Isolation: The Case Against Solitary Confinement, the new book from award-winning incarcerated journalist Christopher Blackwell and legal expert Deborah Zalesne, will be released on September 4, 2025. Covering topics such as juveniles in solitary, mental illness, racial injustice, and even environmental issues, the book combines powerful personal narrative supported by extensive psychiatric and legal research to present “a devastating case against the inhumane practice of solitary confinement.” Pluto Books | The book’s release date coincides with the launch of a nationwide bus tour to promote the book alongside an interactive museum that “makes the human rights crisis of solitary confinement impossible to ignore.” The Journey to Justice tour’s launch event in the Bay Area on September 4 will include a public conversation with Blackwell and the book’s other contributors, as well as a special remote appearance by Angela Davis. More events will take place in the coming weeks, initially in Washington State, as the bus tour travels across 11 states and the District of Columbia. Journey to Justice 

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The Summer 2025 issue of ZEKE Magazine features photographs of 17 formerly incarcerated people from across the U.S. who have spent extensive amounts of time in solitary confinement. Alongside these photos are testimonies from the participants about their thoughts about the use of solitary as a practice in U.S. carceral systems and information about their experiences in solitary. ZEKE Magazine

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