New this week from Solitary Watch:

In a gut-wrenching retrospective, Solitary Watch Senior Writer Kwaneta Harris shares the pain and grief of a mother whose child died in prison. “It is a wound that festers inside a deliberately manufactured silence,” writes Harris. She goes on to tell the story of Jennifer Rodriguez, whose daughter, Brooklyn Hogrell, died by suicide after spending months self-harming in solitary confinement with no therapeutic support from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). Rodriguez only learned of her daughter’s condition after receiving a call from one of Hogrell’s neighbors in solitary. Still, the TDCJ refused to tell Rodriguez which hospital her daughter was taken to until she threatened to “go room to room until she found her baby.” Solitary Watch 

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

Sexual abuse is rampant within the federal prison system, and a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office attempts to address ways to improve prevention efforts. Between 2014 and 2022, there were approximately 8,500 allegations of sexual abuse from people incarcerated in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Of the nearly 4,000 allegations against staff, 77 percent were found to be unsubstantiated. Alleging sexual abuse, especially against staff, can be dangerous for incarcerated people, and many incidents go unreported for fear of being placed in solitary confinement in retaliation or under the guise of protective custody. GAO 

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Immigrants detained at the privately operated Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania are hunger striking to protest inhumane conditions and the deaths of at least two people. At least one person has been put in solitary confinement for participating in the strike. Advocates, lawmakers, local residents, and family members of the strikers are calling for the facility, which holds over 1,600 detainees, to be shut down. Documented 

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Alexander Hernández was hospitalized after self-harming in solitary confinement at Eloy Detention Center in Arizona. Reporters and family members have not been able to reach Hernández following his placement in solitary. While other detainees told Hernández’s family of his hospitalization, Immigration and Customs Enforcement only confirmed the information after Hernández’s attorney showed up at the facility. Arizona Daily Star 

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Upon arrival at a minimum security prison in Idaho, Kristine Scott and 14 other women were immediately sent to restrictive housing due to a lack of beds in the general population dorm. The women, confined in cells with a roommate for 23 hours a day, are only allowed outside for one hour of recreation in a metal cage each day and ten minute showers every other day. “I got moved from a work center to be stuck in the hole,” said Scott. “So we’re basically being punished even though we’ve had good behavior.” Investigate West | Like Idaho, many other states are facing an over-incarceration and understaffing crisis that results in many being sent to solitary. Prison Policy Institute

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Despite agreeing with advocates’ proposed reforms, the Washington State Department of Corrections may be doing less than it claims to reduce solitary confinement. Washington State defines solitary as less than two hours out of cell per day. While the number of people in solitary dropped by nearly 50 percent since 2024, critics argue that the 800 people currently in maximum security housing are living in de facto solitary repackaged under a new name. Washington State Standard | Additionally, the state is facing a lawsuit for administering faulty drug screenings that result in false positives, which cause incarcerated people to face solitary confinement and loss of parole opportunities. MyNorthWest 

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Congressional Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) has reintroduced the Pregnant Women in Custody Act, which aims to protect pregnant and post-partum incarcerated people. The Act extends protections against medical neglect, shackling, and solitary confinement across all federal agencies, including for people in immigration detention. “Pregnancy should be a time of care and support—not uncertainty and risk,” stated Aiden Cotter, Director of Federal Advocacy at the Vera Institute of Justice. “This legislation acknowledges the realities faced by pregnant women in custody and takes meaningful steps to ensure they are treated with dignity during one of the most vulnerable moments of their lives.” Rep. Kamlager-Dove

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The closed information system inside prisons and jails affects the way incarcerated people receive and interpret the news. In Texas, media access is determined by security level. While those in low security settings may be able to vote on what channels to watch, people in solitary confinement or maximum security facilities are fed a steady stream of Fox News and white Christian Nationalist commentary, according to incarcerated writer Solitary Watch staff member Kwaneta Harris. Prism

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Prior to becoming a well-known actor, Danny Trejo spent years incarcerated in different facilities. Four years into his sentence, Trejo realized that becoming sober and turning to the arts was the only way to improve his life. His love for acting came about during his time in solitary confinement, when he began acting out and reciting dialogue from various movies to cope with the isolation. Sirius XM 

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Mohammad Salahat spent a year and a half working as a porter inside the solitary confinement unit at Pinckneyville Correctional Center in Illinois. One morning, as he was sweeping the unit’s floor for $0.04 an hour, Salahat smelled smoke and began to hear men scream. A man had lit his cell on fire to get staff’s attention. This was just one of many incidents Salahat observed while working in the hole, each an indication of the ways the system failed to help those with mental illness. Chicago Reader

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Troy Hendrix has spent 16 of his 40 years of life in solitary confinement in New York. His first time in solitary was because his anger at the system exploded in court, but being isolated in a tiny, dirty cell only made things worse. Solitary confinement steals bites from the mind, heart, and soul every day, without you even realizing it. Eventually these stolen bites equal a whole piece of you gone,” writes Hendrix. “This confinement dismantles you and then reconstructs you, making you a product of this environment.” Inquest 

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