New this week from Solitary Watch: 

We’ve chosen five stories published in 2025 that exemplify what makes Solitary Watch unique, vital, and indispensable—but we hope you’ll explore our website to find hundreds more. We also hope you will join the small legion of Solitary Watch readers who make this work possible by supporting it with a donation. Please consider making a donation in any amount today, before the year ends, while your gift will be tripled thanks to NewsMatch. We have been—and will remain—at the forefront of covering solitary confinement and the damage it continues to wreak on our nation, communities, and families. Thank you for the support that makes this possible. Solitary Watch 

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

The family of Karim Talib has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging that medical negligence by staff at the San Diego County Jail led to the 82-year-old’s death in solitary confinement. Talib should have been released when he was deemed incompetent to stand trial with no likelihood of regaining competency; however, the prosecutor’s office retained custody under a public safety conservatorship. Talib, who suffered from dementia, relied on a wheelchair, and spent five months in treatment at a state hospital, was moved from the jail’s medical observation unit to administrative segregation. Although Talib’s “rapid and visible decline” was documented by clinicians, according to the lawsuit, he was not removed from solitary confinement. San Diego Tribune 

After the Biden administration commuted the sentences of 37 men on federal death row, President Trump vowed to punish them as harshly as possible upon his return to office. A year later, several of the men have been transferred to ADX Florence in Colorado and many more remain in limbo as they await their own move to the federal supermax prison. People housed at ADX are kept in constant solitary confinement and at least one of the men recently transferred has attempted suicide. To facilitate these transfers the Trump administration has disregarded federal guidelines that determine housing assignments based on a ranking system that considers medical, mental health, and faith needs alongside security risk. NPR 

In a controversial decision, CBS broadcasting officials decided not to air an investigative segment on the notorious El Salvador prison CECOT. Several migrants who were deported from the United States to the prison told journalists that they were punished with sexual abuse and solitary confinement while at CECOT. Although the piece was cleared by CBS’s lawyers and standards division, officials chose not to air it because “it did not advance the ball.” The decision has received widespread accusations that the segment was pulled because it painted the Trump administration in a poor light and many have raised concerns over CBS’s journalistic independence and integrity. Associated Press 

Surprise inspections of federal prison kitchens conducted by the Department of Justice revealed rotting food, insect infested storage spaces, and broken refrigerators. In addition to widespread hazardous food preparation conditions, 36 states allow food to be used as a disciplinary measure. The most common variant of this practice is the loaf—a dense, flavorless nutrition brick most commonly used as a food replacement for people in solitary confinement. Despite being “edible humiliation,” courts have upheld its use because it meets minimum nutritional standards. NYC Food Policy Center

The United States incarcerates more people than any country in the world, and the isolating nature of the American prison system is deeply damaging to the psychological wellbeing of incarcerated people. A main contributing factor to such damage is the reliance on isolation, which includes keeping people from communities and support systems as well as the use of solitary confinement. As this commentary from Mindbridge points out, psychologists, educators, policymakers, and community members are all capable of playing a role in the efforts to reorient the system away from isolation and toward methods of justice that emphasize empathy, rehabilitation, and reintegration. Psychology Today

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