New this week from Solitary Watch:

Sherren Moore, 51, won first place in the inaugural Voices Beyond the Walls writing contest presented by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture’s National Network of Solitary Survivors in collaboration with Solitary Watch. The contest “aims to uplift the lived experiences, resilience, and advocacy of individuals affected by solitary confinement.” Moore’s short story takes readers through what life is like with a loved one in solitary. “My heart goes out to the men and women on both sides of the wall,” she writes. “We are all doing this time together, and nothing about it is easy for either side.” Solitary Watch

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

The MacArthur Justice Center and Akin are suing the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) on behalf of three incarcerated men who suffered “chronic, physical, and psychological pain,” resulting from extreme and extended isolation in “dungeon-like” solitary confinement units at Menard Correctional Center. The “stacking” of consecutive punishments resulted in the plaintiffs being denied yard time and confined to dirty, unventilated cells that restricted almost all movement and left them exposed to weather conditions. One of the men, Clarence Jones, spent a year in the unit, where he was denied yard access until his muscles atrophied into chronic neck and back pain. Chicago Tribune | Another plaintiff, Alexander Castillo, spent over two years in solitary, including an eight-month period with no movement at all. He calls Menard “the pit,” describing its dark cells as “designed to break your mental and physical state.” According to the lawsuit, such conditions and denial of recreation violates both the men’s Eighth Amendment rights and internal IDOC policies. MacArthur Justice Center

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After vetoing the California Mandela Act in 2022, which would have aligned the state’s solitary confinement practices with international UN standards, Governor Gavin Newsom attempted to compromise with advocates by implementing reforms to reduce the violations punishable by solitary and increase out-of-cell time. Now, citing rising violence and overdoses, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is rolling back those reforms, doubling solitary terms for serious violations and banning outside communication for up to six months following accusations of simple battery. Roughly 3,000 people in restrictive housing are affected by these changes. The rollback in limits on solitary comes just two years after the 2015 settlement ending indefinite confinement expired, further hindering judicial oversight. CDCR has also failed to comply with a separate mental health care mandate, accumulating over $100 million in fines. Notably, two-thirds of people in restrictive housing in 2025 had mental health disorders, and CDCR data shows suicides rates increased in solitary. “Segregation is so dangerous that even with all these [protective] measures, people still commit suicide at tremendously high rates,” a civil rights lawyer said. Bolts Magazine

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A report found Multnomah County Jail in Portland, Oregon, failed to implement six out of 13 recommendations from a 2022 audit of jail conditions, including ending solitary confinement and creating an independent review process for use-of-force cases. Auditor Jennifer McGuirk expressed concern over solitary confinement, which she said is strongly correlated with suicide risk, “particularly for those with mental health conditions,” noting that “misconduct citations result in solitary 91% of the time.” The original audit found Black people disproportionately received disciplinary violations and use-of-force incidents, while people with mental health conditions spent the most time in solitary on average. KGW8

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A report by Human Rights Watch and the ACLU on ICE’s Camp East Montana in Fort Bliss, Texas, found immigrant detainees were arbitrarily placed in solitary confinement as punishment for alleged rule violations, hunger strikes, and protests demanding outdoor recreation. Rafael H. said guards beat detainees who kicked their doors in desperation for sunlight, sending many to solitary for weeks without outside communication. Luciano R. said hunger strikers were beaten until they ate food or were sent to solitary. One detainee described being dragged, stripped, and slammed to the ground by guards: “I was handcuffed… They took me to SHU where I passed out.” The report calls prolonged solitary confinement torture, in alignment with the UN Mandela Rules. Human Rights Watch

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Columbia Legal Services have filed a class-action lawsuit against Washington State Department of Corrections, alleging “extreme and unlawful” solitary confinement practices at the Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW). The suit centers on “dry cell” searches, where incarcerated people are x-rayed for contraband—often without any medical review to confirm the result. As a result, conditions including constipation, gas, surgical material, or birth control are often mistaken for contraband. If they test positive, women at WCCW are strip-searched, made to wear restraint suits, and isolated in small cells with no toilet or running water. Women report “bruising, infections, panic, humiliation, and retraumatization” in isolation. According to John Cummings, an attorney for the suit, “the dry cell program is exempted from the protection of DOC policy against putting people in torturous solitary confinement.” MyNorthwest 

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that Alabama prisons’ “staggering” suicide rate stems from “deliberate indifference to the serious mental healthcare needs,” including placing suicidal people in solitary units with “access to tie off points” and failing to monitor them. Just weeks before the ruling, Jeffery Floyd, 45, died by suicide at Donaldson Correctional Facility after seeking help for severe mental illness the night before and receiving none. The court found the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) misrepresented its progress on suicide prevention despite being required to report restrictive housing unit data monthly—claiming no one with serious mental illness had died by suicide in isolation in nearly six years. Yet, in just six months of 2024, four men with documented mental health histories died in restrictive housing while showing signs of crisis. Many of these deaths go uninvestigated—ADOC failed to conduct autopsies in over a quarter of 2024 prison deaths—suggesting the true suicide rate may be far higher. Equal Justice Initiative

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Federal Judge Marilyn Horan in Pennsylvania ordered a teenager from Guinea transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement for children’s shelter placement after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) held him in adult detention for two months due to a clerical error. The teen, who turned 17 in custody, was placed in solitary-like conditions after a judge ordered he be held separate from adult detainees while the case was reviewed. A Safe Passage Project attorney said the court “recognized the irreparable harm our client will continue to suffer at Moshannon Valley Processing Center.” The City Reporter

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After Officer Sandra Munagay punched J.M. and another officer allegedly sexually assaulted him at Atwater Federal Penitentiary in California, he was placed in solitary confinement for “making threats, insolence, and refusing to obey an order.” J.M. was locked in four-point restraints for hours, each limb chained to a concrete slab. Similarly, Aron Laureano was placed in solitary and lost visits and phone calls after filing a grievance at FCI Dublin, now closed due to rampant sexual abuse. Both face a reality where prison staff exercise “near-total control” over whether incarcerated people can file a complaint, or someday sue over what happened to them. Guards are known to “destroy paperwork, claim it got lost, or simply deny the [needed] forms.” Many incarcerated people in federal prisons have been punished for even trying to speak out, sometimes with solitary confinement. Filing complaints from isolation is especially difficult, attorney John Boston noted, since people must hand forms directly to the officers they’re reporting. NPR

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The Kern County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) in Bakersfield, California, has completed its reform of solitary confinement, reducing the number of people isolated by 95%. Working with Disability Rights California and the Prison Law Office, the jail phased out solitary and added a mental health unit. Though the changes were expensive, sheriffs call it a “necessary evil” that has led to better outcomes for incarcerated people and staff. Disability Rights California now plans to use KCSO as a statewide model, aiming to improve re-entry outcomes by expanding programming and, “developing operational practices, staff training, data collection systems, accountability measures, and mental health interventions.” Bakersfield.com

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San Diego high school students focused on protecting mentally ill, LGBTQ+, and elderly detainees, organized as Youth to End Solitary SD, are pressing Sheriff Kelly Martinez to scale back the use of isolation cells in county jails. Group founder Nikhil Plettner Booker warns that isolating people with mental illness “without any meaningful access to psychological support” raises their risk of self-harm. The effort follows two deaths in administrative segregation and a recent legal settlement requiring the county to lean less on isolation and provide more treatment.  San Diego Tribune

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Nick Reiner, 32, was reportedly “unrecognizable” after five months in solitary confinement at a mental health unit in the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles, California. Sources close to him say that he is deteriorating rapidly, both physically and cognitively—his lawyers “have a hard time talking to him.” A family member described Reiner’s isolation: “He is alone all the time with his own dark thoughts. It is extremely unhealthy.” In 2023, the facility drew scrutiny from senators over “appalling conditions,” including people sleeping in urine and feces. MSN

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