New this week from Solitary Watch:

This is the third week of our Lifelines to Solitary 2026 Match—we are lucky and thrilled to be able to highlight the work we do connecting people in solitary with people outside. Our latest discussions have reinforced the understanding that being along—that loneliness—has degrees and depths that no person deserves; that no one should be allowed to impose on one another. Lifelines 2026 Match

On Thursday, Solitary Watch Senior Writer Kwaneta Harris shares how receiving a penpal through Lifelines to Solitary four and a half years ago opened a window to the outside world for herself and the other women in her solitary confinement unit. Harris describes the ways a pen pal relationship through Lifelines has profound, viral effects within incarcerated communities, adding color, texture, and new vocabulary to their lives as the world spins on without them. Read Kwaneta’s piece here.

On Monday, Editorial and Project Assistant Lizzie Twardock—responsible for monitoring and forwarding the mail for Lifelines—wrote about what that experience is like and—most importantly—writing about the difficulty seeing people wait for a pen pal, and the difficulty knowing that people would help if only they knew about the program. “Each time I go to the mailbox, I realize there is always more hope to be had, and when I see someone in solitary reach out—and see someone reach back—it’s nothing short of beautiful,” she writes. Read Lizzie’s piece here.

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

Terral Ellis, 26, died on October 22, 2015, one day after suffering a seizure in solitary confinement at Ottawa County Jail in Oklahoma, a death District Attorney Ben Loring attributed to “lack of appropriate care.” Ellis had voluntarily surrendered at the jail twelve days earlier, and his health declined almost immediately. Staff denied his repeated medical requests, leaving him “ignored, ridiculed, and tormented,” according to Loring. Ellis’s cause of death was septic shock due to untreated pneumonia. In 2017, his family filed a lawsuit in Tulsa’s Northern District federal court against the Board of Commissioners and supervising sheriffs, nurses, paramedics, and staff, alleging Eighth Amendment violations. The case concluded in August 2023 with a $33 million in compensatory damages award, but without criminal charges. On appeal, the judge cited “substantial evidence, both direct and circumstantial, that shows Ottawa County knew of a substantial risk of harm” and “failed to take reasonable measures to abate that risk.” This week, county voters will have to vote on how to pay for the $33 million judgement by raising sales and/or property taxes. The case is seen as a warning to other counties of the cost of negligence and misconduct inside their jails. Southwest Ledger

On August 4, 2026, the Shelby County, Tennessee, Board of Commissioners banned solitary confinement as a punishment at the Youth Justice and Education Center, though seclusion remains permitted for up to two hours as a de-escalation response to threatening behavior. The reform accompanies new restorative housing practices for youth, including immediate access to education, unlimited phone access, and daily social activities. “For years, advocates in our community have raised concerns about young people being isolated from their families, their education, and the support systems they need while in detention,” noted Shirley Bonden, Executive Director of the Black Clergy Collaborative in Memphis. The change follows another solitary ban within Shelby County’s Division of Corrections and a 2025 report finding youth were held in isolation for 23 or more hours a day. “Solitary confinement has no place in a center focused on a child’s wellbeing,” said former Mayor Lee Harris, whose says his administration’s focus is rehabilitative justice practices. Yahoo News

In 2019, Carl Henry Louis spent months in solitary confinement at Missouri’s Clay County Jail, where he was left sitting in his own feces and urine, subjected to chemicals agents and pepper balls from the tactical team, and restrained once for over four hours. At one point, Louis, who has a history of mental illness, began writing on the wall with feces because “he got tired of looking at the same wall and wanted to make it look different and his own.” The overcrowded jail failed to meet basic needs, including food, hygiene, and health care—having only one mental health therapist on staff and no local psychiatric hospital available. After judges and sheriffs raised concerns over the constitutionality of indefinite solitary confinement, Clay County created a restoration program. However, the program was underfunded, understaffed, voluntary, often excluded the most vulnerable populations, and was eventually abandoned. Missouri Independent

Families and advocates of detainees at South Louisiana Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Processing Center in Basile have raised concerns over conditions at the facility, including allegations of medical neglect. In September 2025, the Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center, the ACLU of Louisiana, and other organizations sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security accusing center officials of “sexual, physical, and verbal abuse, retaliation, abusive implementation of solitary confinement, and medical neglect.” Acadiana News First

Under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” deportation policy, routine practices at immigrant detention facilities now reportedly include solitary confinement, beatings, and sleep deprivation—adding up to torture. In one case, a Kurdish detainee was force-fed for eight consecutive months while held in isolation by ICE. The Guardian

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