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

In a recent op-ed, Solitary Watch Director Jean Casella and  Duke’s Dr. David Cloud argue that solitary confinement does not make prisons safer. Contrary to the claims of some politicians, research shows that solitary confinement causes lasting harm to those who endure it, the communities they return to, and those who work in the units. Studies also show rates of violence decrease at facilities in states that have reduced the use of solitary confinement. When the state of Colorado decreased its use of solitary confinement from 7 percent in 2011 to 1.2 percent in 2015, prisoner-on-staff assaults also decreased by over 50 percent. “The evidence is clear: ending prolonged solitary confinement is a matter of prison and public safety, as well as humanity,” write Casella and Cloud “The time to act upon this evidence is now.” This commentary appeared in a group of California publications, including the San Diego Union-Tribune, Orange County Register, San Bernardino Sun, and Riverside Press-Enterprise. Los Angeles Daily News

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Attorneys allege that the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Re-entry is violating state law by depriving incarcerated people with mental illness from recreation time, resulting in conditions that resemble solitary confinement. While some facilities claim that they provide recreation, incarcerated people report that staff have threatened them with violence, forcing them to refuse recreation time and remain in their cells. A recent motion-to-enforce argues that this lack of proper recreation violates a court injunction preventing incarcerated people with mental illnesses from being in solitary confinement for more than 22 hours a day, due to the “elevated risk of harm.” Attorneys are asking for a remedial plan to require incarcerated people with mental illness to have four hours of legitimate recreation time and two hours of “tier time” to use common areas. Arizona Capitol Times

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Two hundred incarcerated women at Arizona’s Perryville prison complex went on a three-week hunger strike to protest conditions and the assault of Shajiyah X Iman. According to Iman, a staff member used excessive force against her, slamming her into a bed and pressing her face into the mattress as she cried and screamed. Seeing this as their final straw, Iman and other women at the complex drafted “21 Polite Requests,” a grievance demanding better living conditions and treatment by staff, and began a hunger strike. Iman was quickly placed on suicide watch and isolated within a mental health unit for 20 days. The strike ended once the wardens visited Iman, claiming that only the state legislature had the power to meet the strike’s demands. However, Iman still considers the strike a success because it allowed the prison community to come together under a united cause. The Appeal

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Formerly incarcerated people report that immigration detention facilities are “worse than prisons.” After serving a 20-year sentence in California, Gustabo Guevara Alarcon stated that at least in prison he was able to “hug his loved ones during visitation,” access programming, and get a job within the facility.  In addition to lack of adequate food and medical care in immigration detention, Alarcon has witnessed those who protest these conditions be pepper sprayed and placed in solitary confinement. Huffpost

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There has been little improvement at Arizona’s Eloy Detention Center since a 2025 report exposed “a litany of abuses, including frequent suicide attempts, preventable deaths, excessive use of segregation, especially of people living with a serious mental illness, and inhumane living conditions.” The Kino Border Initiative has recently received many reports from deported migrants about the medical abuses they witnessed at Eloy. One report described how a detainee had fallen to ground and called for help and received none. “I really never saw anybody receive health treatment that they needed,” said advocate Christy Stewart. Due to lack of federal oversight and the economic incentives of private contractors, these facilities are often not held accountable. Tucson Sentinel

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After releasing a devastating report, advocates are calling for Aurora Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Colorado to be shut down. Based on the testimonies of 31 detainees, the report details medical abuses, use of solitary confinement, forced labor, lack of food, verbal and physical abuse by staff, and extreme temperatures. Advocates hope that the report will push the Department of Homeland Security to end its partnership with private contractor GEO Group. However, GEO Group denies the allegations, claims that they are politically motivated by outside groups, and maintains that it will continue to be a long-time partner of the federal government. Denverite

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Manuela “Mannie” Morgado is the third person to die at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York in the past four weeks. Her apparent suicide comes in the midst of turmoil at the facility over continued staffing shortages and the appointment of Michael Blot as superintendent. Since his arrival, Blot has limited access to showers, kitchens, phones, and laundry.  Morgado’s friend Vanessa Santiago understands why she might have taken her life, saying “it’s very hard to keep your sanity when every little thing is scrutinized, and it feels like you’re being punished for every little thing.” New York Focus

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A lawsuit alleges that the Missouri Department of Corrections and Centurion Health, a private health provider, “systemically deny and unreasonably delay necessary medical care to [incarcerated people] diagnosed with opioid use disorder.” Bradley Ketcherside died in solitary confinement, despite begging staff for life-saving medication to treat his opioid use disorder. The lawsuit claims that Ketcherside’s death is related to a larger pattern of staff responding to addiction with punishment and creating inconsistent barriers to treatment by denying access to medication if a person has been sober for too long and if they are current users. The Marshall Project

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The mother of Chasity Congious, a formerly incarcerated woman with mental illness and an intellectual disability, is asking to revive a lawsuit over her daughter giving birth alone in solitary confinement, which resulted in the baby’s death. After previously settling with Tarrant County Jail in Texas for $1.2 million, Congious’s mother now accuses Dr. Aaron Shaw, the jail’s former medical director, of deliberate indifference. She argues Dr. Shaw was notified via email that Congious may be going into labor and failed to act. Courthouse News Service

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Maurice Able, who is incarcerated at State Correctional Instituion–Greene in Pennsylvania, received $37,500 in a civil lawsuit over being held for 50 days in a solitary confinement unit reserved for people with mental illness. . Able alleges that he was wrongfully  placed in solitary for possession of contraband and remained there even after the charges were dropped. While in solitary Able was deprived outside recreation, basic necessities, and legal materials, leading him to experience a mental and emotional breakdown. After six hours of deliberation, a jury accepted his claims against Candice Lackey, the unit supervisor at SCI Greene, and officer Michael Beers; but, did not find sufficient evidence to support allegations against two other officers. Observer-Reporter

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In a review of Ending Isolation: The Case Against Solitary Confinement by incarcerated journalist Christopher Blackwell and Deborah Zalesne, Joshua Manson describes how the authors use academic research interspersed with first-hand accounts to call for the end of solitary confinement. Blackwell explains that the pervasiveness of solitary confinement is due to a lack of public clarity on what solitary confinement actually is and how it impacts people. Manson writes: “How has this idiosyncratic U.S. version of solitary-confinement-as-catchall-solution, younger than so many of its victims, been allowed to grow into and continue as what it is today? Like so many of the criminal legal system’s harshest practices, its proliferation—and the lack of a countervailing power to stop it—is part of a law-and-order politics that has swept all branches of government.” Inquest

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Efforts to spread awareness of solitary confinement also benefit from experiential learning opportunities, as seen in the replica solitary confinement cell installed at Nebraska’s state capitol. Advocating for a cap on how long people can be held in solitary, a sign outside the 6×9 foot cell reads: “Think outside the box. Solitary reform now.” ACLU of Nebraska

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Action Alerts for this week:

IIn conjunction with the publication of Ending Isolation: The Case Against Solitary Confinement, The BLACK Gallery PDX and Look2Justice are hosting a photography exhibition called “Window Into Solitary.” The opening event for the exhibit, which features the stories of 17 solitary survivors and reveals the “human cost of isolation,” will be on Saturday, March 14, from 5 pm to 8 pm at The Black Gallery PDX in Portland, Oregon. Tickets are free but registration is requested. Eventbrite

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