News this week from Solitary Watch:

In her latest piece for Solitary Watch, Kwaneta Harris describes how 11 days in a hospital cell brought her to new places of psychological suffering. She initially thought that her temporary transfer for medical treatment would bring relief, but instead she endured darkness for hours on end and was even more socially isolated than before. Correctional staff claimed that Harris’s isolation was necessary because she is a “High Profile: Media” case, a classification she received due to her work as an incarcerated journalist, as well as to protect her from the men in the hospital unit. As a result, Harris was forced into solitary while the men were able to call their loved ones, watch TV in the common area, and participate in work placement activities. Solitary Watch

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

In their new documentary, The Alabama Solution, filmmakers Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman depict the reality of life as an incarcerated person in Alabama’s prisons, including what it is like to be in solitary confinement. What began as a single prison visit became a six-year investigation into the violence, corruption, and exploitation that thrives within the prison system. The documentary centers the story of Steven Davis, who died after being beaten by prison guards, and the risks taken by incarcerated people to communicate with the outside world. Gold Derby | By placing videos recorded by incarcerated people on contraband cellphones in opposition to interviews with correctional officials, The Alabama Solution challenges viewer bias against incarcerated people’s narratives. Incarcerated activist Robert Earl Council, known as Kinetic Justice, explains that “the public is already conditioned not to believe a person who is incarcerated.” New York Times | Using contraband cellphone, even while in solitary confinement, Justice and another incarcerated activist, Melvin Ray, founded the Free Alabama Movement to bring attention to the dire conditions in the state’s prisons. Jarecki and Kaufman highlight the ways the prison system is failing incarcerated people and the need for immediate reform. “Our film is about a failing system that is supposed to keep us safe, create healing and return people to society in better shape but is actually perpetuating the cycles of harm, addiction, abuse and violence that they should be correcting,” explains Kaufman. UPI | Kinetic Justice is quoted in Solitary Watch’s fact sheet on Solitary Confinement and Prison Activism. Solitary Watch

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Last December, video footage emerged showing more than a dozen staff watching, smirking, or joining in as Robert Brooks was beaten to death by guards at Marcy Correctional Facility. Marcy has since become synonymous with the broader issues plaguing New York’s prison system. Over the course of 2025, the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) has made headlines for widespread staff misconduct and repeated failures to comply with state laws enacted to protect incarcerated people, as well as for a wildcat strike by corrections officers. Most recently, DOCCS officials have begun to push back against the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Act, falsely arguing that limiting solitary confinement creates conditions where staff must resort to violence. The New Yorker

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Cadre of HOPE, which stands for “Helping Other People Evolve,” is a housing unit at Lee Correctional Institution in South Carolina designed to “foster dignity, accountability, and healing for people in prison.” It is one of the “Restoring Promise” units developed in five states by the Vera. Incarcerated people in this housing unit express feeling safer, as they develop non-violent conflict resolution skills, and more seen, as they foster connection through healing circles and other restorative justice practices. People in this unit are also encouraged to build community inside and outside of prison, which has been proven to improve mental health and increase the likelihood of successful reentry. In addition, a 2023, a study found that young adults living in a Restoring Promise unit experienced a 73 percent decrease in their odds of receiving a violent infraction and an 83 percent decrease in their chances of experiencing a stay in solitary confinement compared to those in the general population. Vera

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The Solitary Confinement Transformation Project (SCTP) was started at Stafford Creek Corrections Center in June 2024 to support the Washington State Department of Corrections’ goal to reduce the overall use of solitary confinement. Nine months of data collection showed that the number of people placed in solitary increased, but the conditions and amount of out-of-cell time in the units greatly improved. SCTP also provided Stafford Creek with funding for mental health treatment and support for correctional officers which has improved overall facility safety and created a more positive culture between staff and incarcerated people. Correctional News

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South Central Correctional Facility (SCCF) is one of six Tennessee prisons with a Supportive Living Unit (SLU), where incarcerated people with severe mental health or substance use issues are housed separately to ensure they receive comprehensive treatment and to prevent exploitation or violent victimization. But in December 2024, 128 people incarcerated at SCCF were transferred from the SLU to the general population while construction staff completed security upgrades. A month later, they learned the transfer would be permanent. Since then, many have been sent to solitary confinement, either for behavioral conduct or protective custody, incarcerated journalist Tony Vick reports. Filter

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Ebony J. Brown, an attorney at the Southern Center for Human Rights, explains profound and heartbreaking effects experienced by the loved ones of people in solitary confinement. She describes how this “silent sentence” causes positive memories and connections to wither away. “It is well known that relationships thrive on consistency, communication, and shared experiences,” writes Brown. “Solitary confinement deprives the family unit of all three.”  The Indignant South

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The recent death of an incarcerated person at Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI) Intake Service Center in Rhode Island has prompted public outcry. The Direct Action for Rights and Equality’s (DARE) Behind the Walls Committee and family members of those incarcerated are calling on the state’s Department of Corrections to implement more oversight mechanisms to over protect incarcerated people. Brandon Robinson, who leads the Stop Torture RI Coalition, called on state legislatures to “Support the passage of Reform Solitary Act in the 2026 legislative session because we need to stop [deaths] from happening.” SteveAhlquist.news

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Although staff made Autumn Mason feel like “an animal at the zoo,” her experience being pregnant and giving birth in prison was greatly improved by the assistance of a prison doula. The doula’s presence was so impactful that it inspired Mason to become a prison doula, and she has since trained over 100 others through the Minnesota Prison Doula Project. Many incarcerated pregnant women are suffering from “inadequate nutrition to support growing a healthy child, harmful cavity searches, and delivery while shackled or in solitary confinement.” Having a doula present through all stages of pregnancy provides incarcerated women with a personal advocate and essential support. The Nation

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Action Alerts: 

This week, the Journey to Justice Bus Tour is traveling to Michigan. The tour stop on Wednesday, October 15, in Lansing will coincide with an educational, cross-disciplinary event at Michigan State University. On Thursday, October 16, the tour will stop at the State Capitol for an all-day anti-solitary festival and rally. On Friday, October 17, the tour will stop in Ann Arbor for another educational, cross-disciplinary event at the University of Michigan. 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 Tour

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Jailbirds, an exhibit featuring the work of formerly incarcerated artist Gilberto Rivera, will open at the Center for Art and Advocacy in New York on Friday, October 17. Rivera’s work explores the psychological effects of solitary confinement, colonialism, and exploitation in the prison system, the relationship between the U.S. criminal legal and immigration systems, and other themes. This exhibit will run through February 2026. Center for Art and Advocacy

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Window into Solitary, an exhibition featuring the portraits and stories of 17 solitary survivors, will open on Friday, October 17, at the Seattle Mutual Arts Collective. The opening is presented alongside the book Ending Isolation: The Case Against Solitary Confinement by Christopher Blackwell, Prof. Deborah Zalesne, Kwaneta Harris, and Dr. Terry Kupers. The exhibit wll run through December 31, 2025. Eventbrite

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