Three Decades of “Consistent Torture” on Ohio’s Death Row…and Other News on Solitary Confinement This Week
Seven Days in Solitary for the Week Ending 8/19/26
New this week from Solitary Watch:
Our program that connects people in solitary confinement with someone to write to received a major boost last week: Solitary Watch received a $25,000 matching grant for funds raised in support of our Lifelines to Solitary pen pal program. We currently manage more than 500 pairs of pen pals across the country, but we’ve never had the resources needed to grow and reach the people not just removed from society, but disconnected from humanity.
This matching fund—where every donation is doubled—will make it possible for us to deliver real, immediate relief to hundreds of people in solitary. Lifelines 2026 Match Announcement | Make a Doubled Donation
This week’s pick of news and commentary about solitary confinement:
Keith LaMar is one of the three men whose executions Governor Mike DeWine recently postponed for three years, citing “difficulty in procuring lethal injection drugs from pharmaceutical suppliers.” LaMar, who has spent over 30 years in solitary confinement on Ohio’s death row, says the stay renewed harassment from correctional officers to pressure those on death row toward suicide. For three years, LaMar has avoided breakfast and lunch because of deliberate chemical contamination of his food and cell. Attorney Keegan Stephan hopes that ongoing litigation during this reprieve period will lead to LaMar’s exoneration before the three years are up. Democracy Now
Twenty-five incarcerated men are on hunger strike at Lawrence Correctional Center in southeast Illinois over restrictive housing conditions. The Uptown People’s Law Center has filed two related lawsuits: one arguing that solitary conditions amount to cruel and unusual punishment and another over inadequate mental health treatment, noting that incarcerated people in solitary outnumber mental health staff 85:1. Attorney Nicole Schult observed during a visit that men in restricted housing have no way to communicate with family and no access to educational materials. One man reported getting out-of-cell time just three times in three months—a violation of the Illinois Department of Corrections’ own policy. Another described being placed in a solitary unit with “writing on the wall in someone else’s feces.” Dwayne Croom, currently in restrictive housing, says “It’s to the point where you have 30 plus people who would rather die than be in their circumstances.” WTTW News
Gabar Choli, a 40-year-old Kurdish asylum seeker, was force-fed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) inside a solitary confinement medical cell at Port Isabel Service Processing Center in south Texas. Choli was on a hunger strike for over two months to protest poor conditions when guards shackled his limbs and forcibly inserted a feeding tube through his nose and throat to pump nutritional liquid into his stomach. According to court records, Choli suffered “swollen sinuses, a damaged esophagus, stomach problems, and psychological torment.” Once, a nurse shoved the tube so hard that his nose tore from the inside: “They would take me to a solitary cell and I would just choke on my blood and drink the blood from inside my throat.” The nutrients administered gave him diarrhea, and he was left to defecate on himself without access to a toilet. Court orders show at least 18 other hunger strikers in ICE detention have been force-fed. The Guardian
At least 50% of the adult prison population in Wisconsin has a mental health diagnosis, including 17% classified as having a serious mental illness. Yet, solitary confinement remains common practice as punishment for disciplinary violations. A report by Falcon Correctional and Community Services, Inc. found that suicide-resistant isolation cells meant to protect at-risk people don’t guarantee safety or reduce risk of self-harm. Despite recommendations, including ending solitary confinement for people with mental illness, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections says it lacks the staffing, resources, and alternative housing needed to implement reform. Wisconsin Examiner
A second class action lawsuit against San Bernido County and over 500 juvenile justice staff, alleging widespread sexual abuse at the California county’s juvenile detention facility dating back at least 30 years. The lawsuit comes just three months after 136 other former detainees filed a similar suit alleging rape, molestation, groping, and other sexual assault at the facility between 1996 and 2024. Some plaintiffs say they were “physically restrained” and “threatened with solitary confinement for refusing to comply.” Attorney Doug Rochen, who represents the plaintiffs in both suits, alleges the county knew about the abuse and covered it up—falsifying documents, threatening staff, and tampering with surveillance footage. “These children could not leave,” Rochen said. “The county locked the doors, chose who guarded them, and decided who entered their rooms at night.” San Bernardino Sun
Over the past two months, 52 lawsuits have been filed alleging sexual abuse of children ages 11 to 17 at the now-closed Louis Jetson Center for Youth in Baker, Louisiana. Claims dating from 1972 to 2005 allege rape, sexual assault, and “threats of solitary confinement for children who spoke up.” The allegations are being filed under Louisiana’s “lookback window,” a law that revives civil claims of child sexual abuse otherwise barred by the statute of limitations. Despite prior federal lawsuits over sexual abuse at the facility, Jetson only closed in 2014 for being expensive and outdated. Now, Louisiana is redirecting $42.4 million to move youth back into Jetson and allocating another $70 million to build a new facility on the same land. Louisiana Illuminator
Virginia’s Department of Corrections has faced years of understaffing, lockdowns, and allegations of racism, as a 2023 Prison Policy Initiative report found that Black people are incarcerated at four times the rate of White people in the state. In 2024, six people at Red Onion State Prison burned themselves in protest of conditions, including the use of solitary confinement. An ongoing lawsuit further alleges the prolonged use of solitary confinement is a violation of state policy. In response, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger is assembling a Community Partnership Council on Corrections. The council will include formerly incarcerated people and their families, corrections and probation officers, and criminal justice and faith-based organizations. Spanberger hopes the council will provide insight into improving facility safety, transparency, and addressing the state’s over-reliance on solitary confinement. Virginia Mercury
Karla Saenz, a 26-year-old transgender Venezuelan woman, was held in solitary confinement for the first five days of her detention in an all-men’s unit at Eloy Detention Center in Arizona. She was isolated over a positive COVID-19 test, despite showing no symptoms. Eloy, run by the for-profit CoreCivic, is considered one of the deadliest detention facilities in the United States due to inadequate medical care, poor conditions, and physical abuse. Over her six-week detention, Saenz was denied food, hormone treatment, and medicine for chronic illness, citing pervasive transphobia from both guards and detainees. Saenz believes her detention was retaliation for her activism against ICE’s treatment of transgender women. Notably, ICE stopped publishing data on transgender people in custody in February 2025. “I really believe that nobody deserves to live that life inside,” said Saenz. “It’s hell.” High Country News
Camp 57, an ICE detention center Governor Jeff Landry organized inside Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, occupies a former solitary confinement complex known as “Camp J”. Nearing its first anniversary, the privately run facility is expanding, with the federal government paying $275 per detainee daily. Records show at least $27.7 million was spent in nine months. An American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) report found unsafe conditions, including contaminated water and inadequate medical care, and federal judges have ordered some detainees released for unconstitutional over-detention. Nola News
In an episode of the podcast Inmate Tea with A&P, Kevin Light-Roth—who spent 23 years incarcerated in Washington State, nine of them in solitary confinement—-shares his experience of prolonged isolation. Describing the psychological toll of his lived experience, he says, “When you’ve been in the hole long enough, even your dreams take place in a cell.” Light-Roth is a contributing author at Solitary Watch; read his work here. Inmate Tea with A&P
Action Alerts:
On Thursday, August 20th from 1-2:30 ET join the National Religious Campaign Against Torture for an insightful discussion on how the arts can be used to support justice-impacted people’s healing, health, and wellbeing. The event will begin with a panel discussion of individuals working at the intersection of the arts and the legal system. Following the panel, the winners of NRCAT’s inaugural “Voices Beyond the Walls” Writing Contest will read excerpts from their winning submissions on their experiences of solitary confinement. Register is required to reserve your spot, and please share this event with others in your network who may be interested. NRCAT
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