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

Supported by Congress’s recent approval of $45 billion to expand immigrant detention over the next four years, the Trump administration plans to reopen many former prisons and detention centers that were closed due to “concerns about violence, medical neglect, and systemic understaffing.” At one of these facilities, Reeves County Detention Center in West Texas, an incarcerated man with epilepsy died of medical neglect after being placed in solitary confinement for demanding his anti-seizure medication. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) aims to reopen Reeves by October 2025 under contract with GEO Group, the same private company that managed the prison before, with additional plans to expand the facility’s capacity from 4,000 to more than 5,700 beds. Still, the Trump administration has not outlined plans to fix the chronic issues that previously plagued Reeves or the other facilities. The Washington Post

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A recent lawsuit filed by Disability Rights New York and Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York alleges that the state’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) is knowingly keeping men in the Residential Mental Health Unit (RMHU) at Marcy Correctional Facility confined to their cells for 24 hours a day without access to out-of-cell programming, mental health care, and medical treatment. While the RMHU was originally created to prevent people with serious mental illness from being “kept in isolation and denied mental health services,” those represented in the lawsuit claim that they experience physical abuse by staff, delayed suicide response, and limited human contact beyond the metal slot in their door. So far this year, two people have died by suicide in the RMHU at Marcy and at least three are on huger strike to protest conditions. Truthout | This lawsuit is the latest in a decades-long legal battle over the use of solitary confinement in New York state prisons. Attorneys on the case state that the DOCCS is violating both the Humane Alternatives to Long-term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Act and an earlier law that requires people in RMHUs have at least seven hours of out-of-cell time per day—four hours of individual treatment and three hours for group programming, including one hour of recreation time. Times Union

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Four dozen incarcerated youth were moved to the unused solitary confinement wing of Stafford Creek Corrections Center, an adult prison, to address “unmanageable” levels of overcrowding at Green Hill Youth Prison in Washington. Although some of the young men described the new unit as less chaotic than Green Hill, there is no educational or recreational programming in the new unit and questions remain as to exactly how the state’s Department of Corrections spent the $33 million allocated to solve the overcrowding issues. The Seattle Times

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Joaquín Guzmán, better known as the notorious drug kingpin and former Sinaloa Cartel leader El Chapo, is experiencing “strange and worrying changes” while in solitary confinement at ADX Florence, a maximum-security prison in Colorado. Mariel Colón, Guzmán’s former attorney, stated that “he spends 24 hours a day, 7 days a week completely alone, isolated, without even the privilege of seeing the sunlight.” MSN

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Shaka Senghor, a formerly incarcerated inspirational speaker, shares how he used his 19 years in prison and seven years in solitary confinement as an opportunity to change himself fundamentally. He recounts how writing and reading helped him investigate the darkest parts of himself and commit to rebuilding his identity “from the inside out.” Senghor describes how solitary confinement “is designed to break people” and shares the most important lessons he used to grow through the experience. Fast Company

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In a recent interview, award-winning incarcerated journalist Christopher Blackwell discusses his new book Ending Isolation: The Case Against Solitary Confinement and shares stories from people suffering in solitary confinement. Working from a small desk in his cell at Washington Corrections Center (WCC), Blackwell’s goal is to eliminate solitary confinement entirely by uplifting diverse voices, such as women and LGBTQ+ people, to share their experiences with solitary confinement. Range

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A Real Hood Square’s Perspective: Stories from Da Pen is an anthology featuring unfiltered stories of life inside prison from 12 incarcerated writers. The book examines the realities of solitary confinement, along with other issues such as generational trauma and the criminalization of minority communities. Edited and compiled by Knowledge B, an incarcerated journalist, blogger, and published author, the book also includes an essay from incarcerated journalist and Solitary Watch Contributing Writer Kwaneta Harris. BookBaby

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Action Alerts: 

The Journey to Justice Bus Tour is traveling through Nevada this week, stopping in Reno on Friday, September 19 and Las Vegas on Sunday September 21, 2025. Visitors can walk through several exhibits inside the bus, including a model solitary confinement cell, and meet with local social justice and community resource organizations tabling in the area. Journey to Justice Bus Tour

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The University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and University of Baltimore School of Law will host a screening of the documentary The Strike on Thursday, September 18 from 5:30pm to 8pm. This documentary tells the story of the incarcerated people at Pelican Bay State Prison who led the largest hunger strike in U.S. history to protest the use of solitary confinement in California. The Elm

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