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

A recent report found three of the six suicides in Massachusetts prisons in 2025 took place in segregated units. In 2020, Massachusetts began using Behavior Assessment Units (BAU) for segregation after an investigation determined solitary confinement violates the rights of incarcerated people with mental illness. While corrections officials claim that people have more freedom in these updated units, a 2024 lawsuit alleges that conditions “closely mirror solitary confinement and worsen prisoners’ mental health.” Zahkuan Bailey Sweeting was 25 when he died by suicide in the segregated behavior unit last April. “You expect your child to come home and not in a body bag,” said his mother. A clinical psychologist reviewed the suicides, finding that responses to mental health concerns were inconsistent, with some people punished while others received treatment. The psychologist outlined 15 policy and training recommendations for improving conditions. Boston Globe

Nine activists recently convicted in relation to the non-fatal shooting of a police officer during a 2025 protest at the Prairieland ICE Detention Center in Texas faced solitary confinement during their ten months awaiting trial. The Prairieland defendants, most of whom had engaged only in peaceful protest, were held on $10 million bail each. At the Tarrant County Jail they were classified as “aggressive and dangerous,” and were isolated for months at a time and shackled to carts when they left their cells. While the shooter was convicted of attempted murder, others were convicted on federal terrorism charges brought after President Trump’s designated “Antifa” a domestic terrorist organization. The Nation | Family members of the defendants described how their loved ones decompensated during months of pretrial solitary. “She’s very well read, and she had trouble stringing words together after that,” said the sister of one defendant. The nine face between 10 and 60 years in prison. The New Yorker

In a new book, Eric King, an anarchist activist who served ten years in the federal prison system, describes life inside the U.S. Penitentiary Administrative Maximum, or ADX, in Florence, Colorado. The federal government’s only supermax prison, ADX is one of the most restrictive in existence, holding people in 24-hour lockdown. In the highest security unit, people are prohibited from writing letters to anyone except parents, spouses, and children; all reading material must be approved by the FBI; and mail often takes months to be delivered. The majority of those housed in the most restrictive unit are Muslim with limited or no English skills. In addition to filing numerous lawsuits against the Bureau of Prisons, some have gone on extended hunger strikes to raise awareness about these conditions. Inquest

Eight women at Federal Prison Camp Bryan told reporters that staff groped or coerced them into unwanted sex acts. One woman was groomed by the prison chaplain for months before being sexually assaulted.When she tried to report the incident, officials transferred her to a more restrictive facility. Others stated they did not report similar incidents for fear of retaliation or their safety. More than a dozen women have filed allegations against staff members for sexual abuse. “Keeping all of the secrets, including what was happening to me, really did break me,” one woman wrote. NBC News | Often, incarcerated women who report sexual assault are  sent to solitary confinement solely for speaking up. The abuse these women, and many others, face has long-term impacts on their health even after leaving prison. Solitary Watch 

Despite nearly a century of calls to improve or demolish it, the West Compound of the New Jersey State Prison still operates, subjecting the individuals held there to atrocious conditions, according to an article by an incarcerated journalist. Considered the oldest operating prison in the U.S., the facility houses people in cells as small as 28 square feet, about the size of an elevator, for up to 22 hours per day. One man described having to sleep diagonally on the cell floor because the bed is too small. “Rats came out every night like clockwork,” another man stated. West Compound cells also lack windows and have no air-conditioning or hot water. Prison Journalism Project

A question posted in a Reddit thread turned into a collection of first-hand accounts of solitary confinement. BuzzFeed News featured 14 of the accounts, describing the subhuman conditions faced by both youth and adults. “The scariest thing is the belief that someone will forget about you,” one user wrote. “No clothes, no books, a steel bed, and the room was kept very, very cold,” another described. BuzzFeed provided an anonymous form for readers to continue to provide accounts of their experiences in solitary confinement. BuzzFeed News

Action Alerts:

Registration is now open for Bridging the Gap: Amplifying Incarcerated Voices—a two-day event sponsored by Look2Justice and Haymarket Books, with Solitary Watch among the co-sponsors. The event will bring together newsrooms, publishers, and other organizations to learn tools for supporting incarcerated writers and journalists. Incarcerated storytellers, including Solitary Watch Editor-in-Chief Juan Moreno Haines, will share their expertise on overcoming their unique obstacles and  strategies for building support networks. The event will take place in Chicago from May 29 – 30, and any professionals involved in incarcerated storytelling are encouraged to attend. Registration information can be found here, with stipends available for those unable to afford travel costs.

Get this weekly roundup in your mail every Wednesday, covering the past seven days of solitary confinement news and commentary. Subscribe today.

The work we do is made possible by your support. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation—large or small—today.