New this week from Solitary Watch:

In the latest Voices from Solitary piece, Thomas Bartlett Whitaker recounts the arrival of a new man to his section, who he quickly notices is suffering from mental illness. He describes being torn between an instinct of self-preservation, knowing that such people could be dangerous when sharing a cell, and sympathy, realizing that the man’s experience in administrative segregation has only exacerbated his illness. Whitaker explains how, throughout his years incarcerated, he has witnessed how solitary confinement has shifted from “a well into which the most dangerous gangsters were dumped into a repository for the severely mentally ill.” Until there are better institutions that provide humane treatment for those experiencing mental health problems, he laments that people like this newcomer are bound to end up in solitary. Solitary Watch 

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

Texas faces a new wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Jason Wilson who died in solitary confinement in 2024. The suit, which comes amidst ongoing federal court action over the brutal heat conditions in the state’s prisons, argues that Wilson’s death was caused by the facility’s lack of air conditioning and the failure of correctional officers to carry out wellness checks. Over 60% of people held in Texas prisons are incarcerated in cells without air conditioning, subjected to temperatures that rise above 115 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. A lawyer working on both the suit over Wilson’s death and the federal action stated that “prisoners in solitary confinement like Jason Wilson are basically being cooked to death.” The Guardian | Solitary Watch Senior Writer/Editor Kwaneta Harris has written extensively about her experience of summer heat in a Texas women’s prison. Prism | Scalawag | The Appeal

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Since Ben Blostein died by suicide in a Michigan jail in 2024, his parents have campaigned to improve how the county handles mental health and to end solitary confinement. Despite his making suicidal statements to police, the Oakland County Jail did not classify Blostein as a suicide risk and placed him in high-maximum security, which experts classified as solitary—a label that the county disputes. Previously diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Blostein did not receive psychiatric care until six weeks into his detention, was prevented from attending therapeutic programs, and was restricted from communicating with his family members. His parents have sued the county jail, arguing that such conditions led to their son’s death. At least 30 people have died by suicide in Michigan jails in the four years preceding Blostein’s death. Detroit Free Press 

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A woman has levied a federal civil rights lawsuit against Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and nine correctional officers at the jail, seeking accountability after she was allegedly sexually assaulted multiple times while in pretrial detention. The plaintiff reported facing retaliation after making a formal complaint about the assaults, including being transferred to a mental health unit, prevented from working or attending classes, denied food, and forcefully moved to solitary confinement. Trib Live

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After a multi-year investigation and reform effort at Lerdo Jail in Kern County, California, the jail’s use of solitary has been reduced by over 95%. An inspection in 2023 revealed that nearly one-fifth of the jail’s population was being held in administrative segregation, kicking off an investigation that discovered unsanitary living conditions, high rates of mental illness, and the housing of some people in segregated cells for years. In response, the jail implemented a variety of reforms, expanding mental health treatment and eliminating disciplinary segregation. “Maintaining safety in the jail does not require relying on long-term isolation,” the county’s sheriff stated. 23ABC News Bakersfield

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The nonprofit Disability Rights Tennessee filed a motion to certify a class action lawsuit against the state’s Department of Children’s Services, seeking to represent young people with disabilities who they argue are subjected to unlawful confinement and conditions in the state’s juvenile justice system. The suit, levied on behalf of four young plaintiffs, alleges that the Department has placed youth in “unnecessarily restrictive settings,” including solitary confinement, and calls for a change to these practices. Youth Law Center

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The Utah Department of Health and Human Services revoked the license of Provo Canyon School, a youth psychiatric treatment facility, following multiple health and safety violations. Paris Hilton previously came forward about her experience of abuse at the school as a teenager, alleging that she was physically abused by staff members and forced to spend a day in solitary confinement without clothing. State officials said the facility must cease from providing services by August 6, 2026, due to allegations that the school used an unnecessary restraint with a student and neglected client care, among other safety concerns. USA TODAY

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Tennessee is set to execute Christa Pike by lethal injection this September, which would make her the first woman executed in the state in over two centuries. She—like the 46 other women on death row in the U.S.—experiences disparately harsher treatment within the justice system because of her gender. As the only woman in Tennessee with a death sentence, she has spent 27 years housed separately from the all-male death row, in what her lawyers say constitutes solitary confinement. In addition to restricted socialization, incarcerated women such as Pike also face unique hardships, including slut-shaming by prosecutors, limited access to period products while incarcerated, and harassment by male guards. “Female prisoners receive the worst of both worlds,” experts said. USA TODAY

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President Donald Trump and his administration have argued that mass deportations are being used to rid the country of the “worst of the worst.” Professors Joshua Page and Keramet Reiter, researchers of law and punishment, argue that the phrase has been a historic “tool of political demonology” to inflame public perception of crisis and advance exceptional responses. For instance, the “worst of the worst” was used in California to justify sending alleged gang leaders to solitary confinement at Pelican Bay State Prison in the late 1980s and instituting the infamous “Three Strikes” law in the 1990s. Page and Reiter trace how this rhetoric has fueled a hyper-punitive culture within the American criminal legal system, showcasing the necessity of rejecting this framing for immigration policy. Dissent Magazine

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