New this week from Solitary Watch:

Solitary Watch is now accepting applications for grants to support original reporting on solitary confinement. Grant awards range from $1,000 to $3,000 for  journalists, reporting teams, and nonprofit newsrooms covering local, national, or thematic reporting projects related to solitary confinement, including investigative, data-driven, or multimedia work. The deadline for submissions is midnight (EDT) July 31, 2026. Solitary Watch 

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

Johnny Morales suffered almost 20 years in solitary confinement on California’s death row—where suicides outnumbered executions. Then, following Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2019 death penalty suspension, Morales was rehoused to a lower-security facility. He recounts spending nearly 7 hours waiting for his new housing assignment “in a small cage where there’s no room, not even to bend.” When officers finally removed his handcuffs, Morales was still hyper-vigilant of each body movement. “I was just trying to remain calm and not do nothing that might make them think I’m gonna do something,” he said. “I want them to know I am not a violent person.” Now, he tutors other incarcerated people, studies college English, and turns to his faith for hope—transforming decades of isolation into human connection. CalMatters

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19-year old Mya Carlton died by suicide while in solitary confinement at Kent County Correctional Facility in Michigan after she was denied mental health resources. In the weeks before her death, Carlton told staff she was suicidal and pleaded for mental health treatment. Instead of providing care, “officers ignored Ms. Carlton’s pleas, mocked her distress, and threatened punishment if she attempted to harm herself.” A deputy told Carlton she was “out of luck.” Hours before she died, she was placed in isolation following a minor altercation. Her family has filed a lawsuit, claiming her death was preventable. MLive.com

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An ongoing federal lawsuit claims children as young as 12 were subjected to unconstitutional, “extended periods of solitary confinement and physical harm” at Wyoming Boys’ School. Solitary confinement conditions—8×10 feet, windowless cells with a floor mattress only at night—held boys for limitless periods with no resources, phone calls, or human contact. One plaintiff recounts staff forcing him to clean his own blood off the walls of his cell after a suicide attempt. Residents who self-harmed were punished with more isolation and excessive physical violence, and staff bragged about breaking children’s arms and shoving their faces into broken glass. Wyoming News Now

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Nevada’s Department of Corrections told state lawmakers it aims to “completely eliminate” solitary confinement, yet significant hurdles remain. Senate Bill 307, restricted solitary confinement to the “shortest period of time safely possible”; however, officials acknowledge a spike in its use last year. Racial disparities are also stark: 45% of people in solitary confinement last year were Black in a system where Black people comprise 40% of the prison population. Staffing shortages complicate legal compliance, particularly requirements for licensed mental health clinicians to review cases after 15 consecutive days in isolation. This Is Reno

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At Virginia’s Farmville Detention Center, Belarusian detainee Aliaksei Scharbachenia spent two weeks in solitary confinement—punishment for sharing know-your-rights information with newly arrived immigrants. He stated, “I totally understand that’s another way of punishment to beat me, so I will be quiet.” His only personal belongings, earplugs and a small blanket, were confiscated following his two weeks in solitary. Meanwhile, untreated masses on his body and nightly panic attacks have worsened during his 11-month detention. Scharbachenia is one of 68,000 immigrants in custody under the Trump administration—three quarters of those at Farmville have no criminal record. News From The States

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Detainees who “described poor treatment and unsafe conditions” to three members of Congress during their visit to the Adelanto ICE Processing Facility reportedly faced immediate retaliation, including solitary confinement, transfer to other facilities, and deportation. One detainee was allegedly removed in violation of a court directive. Representatives Gomez, Aguilar, and Chu are now demanding a federal investigation. US Representative Jimmy Gomez

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On August 10, 2019, Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in the Metropolitan Correctional Center’s Special Housing Unit (SHU), a punitive solitary confinement unit, despite documented suicide risk. “How do you make a noose?” was among Epstein’s first questions after bail was denied. Epstein’s first cellmate found him hanging from a noose and cut him down during an earlier attempt. Despite a psychologist citing Epstein’s “multiple risk factors for suicidiality,” he was returned to the SHU. When his second cellmate transferred, no replacement arrived—leaving Epstein alone overnight. He was found dead the next morning. New York Times 

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Paris Hilton returned to Utah’s Provo Canyon School, the troubled teen facility where she says staff “beat her, watched her shower, fed her unknown pills, and locked her in solitary confinement without clothing” in the late 1990s. Now backing two lawsuits, Hilton remarked she “dreamed of becoming strong enough…be the hero I needed when I was a little girl locked inside.” Families allege a 13-year-old suffered a traumatic brain injury and fractured jaw after being beaten and another child experienced kidney failure in custody. Hilton warns that these private, for-profit facilities prey on parents searching for help for children with behavioral problems and disabilities, and that abuse hasn’t stopped. Washington Post

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