Solitary Watch

by Francisco Rodriguez

March 13, 2025

For nearly thirty years, Jack Morris awoke every day in silence, isolated in his parking-space-sized cell, and began his routine: put on his shoes, comb water through his hair, brush his teeth, and clean the floor. As hours blended into days and weeks into months, the passing of time was only discernible by the arrival […]

by Djamilah Diabate

March 12, 2025

New this week from Solitary Watch: In the most recent edition of Voices from Solitary, incarcerated journalist Sara Kielly brings readers with her as she travels back to her time at a men’s maximum security facility. Like more than 90 percent of transgender woman, Kielly spent long stints in solitary confinement before her transfer to […]

by Kwaneta Harris

March 11, 2025

In the shadowed corners of American prisons, where time stands still and humanity often crumbles, women have endured the cruel practice of solitary confinement for over two centuries. From suffragettes to political activists, from the mentally ill to the wrongfully accused, their stories echo through concrete walls, telling a tale of systemic oppression that persists […]

by Voices from Solitary

March 6, 2025

Sara Kielly is an investigative journalist, poet, and jailhouse lawyer currently incarcerated at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York. Identifying as “an Irish-American transgender woman,” Kielly “works to change conditions of confinement for minority prisoners.” Her work has appeared in Slate, Spotlong Review, New York Amsterdam News, New York Focus, and Film Comment. She […]

by Kilhah St Fort

March 5, 2025

This week’s pick of news and commentary about solitary confinement: On Friday, February 28, New York Governor Kathy Hochul agreed to several concessions in hope of ending an illegal strike by state corrections officers. Central to the compromise is the “temporary” suspension of several provisions of the HALT Solitary Confinement law. The City | There […]

by Djamilah Diabate

February 26, 2025

New this week from Solitary Watch:  In celebration of Black History Month, Solitary Watch Editor-in-Chief Juan Moreno Haines reflects on his lived experiences as Black men incarcerated at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center. Haines’ reflection is complemented by the words of Jason “Knowledge Supreme Mind” Jackson, an incarcerated poet and spoken-word artist also incarcerated at San […]

by Juan Moreno Haines and Knowledge Supreme Mind Jackson

February 25, 2025

Black History Month By Juan Moreno Haines I, on the brink of 30 years of incarceration, am relying on my 67 years of lived experience to reflect on Black History Month. In addition, I asked poet and spoken word artist, Jason “Knowledge Supreme Mind” Jackson to join me by writing and recording something evocative. He […]

by Voices from Solitary

February 21, 2025

Now entering her second year in solitary confinement, Lanae Tipton has spent nearly five years incarcerated in Texas. Tipton describes herself as a proud mother of one and an aspiring author, and says that her writing strives to voice the struggles and barriers incarcerated people are faced with, providing readers with an inside look of […]

by Francisco Rodriguez

February 19, 2025

This week’s pick of news and commentary about solitary confinement: The New York City Board of Correction (BOC), the city’s jail oversight body, condemned the Department of Correction for secretly constructing a new high-security unit on Rikers Island that may violate Local Law 42, which mandates incarcerated individuals spend 14 hours outside of their cells […]

by Djamilah Diabate

February 12, 2025

New this week from Solitary Watch: Solitary Watch recently published the fact sheet “Solitary Confinement in Immigration Detention,” the ninth in a series of short publications that offer facts, analysis, and resources on a variety of topics related to solitary confinement in the United States. This fact sheet, written by Francisco Rodriguez, states: “Solitary confinement […]

by Jean Casella

February 6, 2025

Today, Solitary Watch is publishing the ninth in a series of fact sheets that offer facts, analysis, and resources on a variety of topics related to solitary confinement in U.S. prisons, jails, and immigrant and juvenile facilities. This fact sheet, written by Francisco Rodriguez, is titled “Solitary Confinement in Immigrant Detention.” As the fact sheet […]

by Kilhah St Fort

February 5, 2025

New this week from Solitary Watch: Having spent more than eight years in solitary confinement, Solitary Watch Contributing Writer Kwaneta Harris was finally moved into “medium custody” in her Texas women’s prison. However, she soon discovered the practice of “23:59” lockdowns—a bureaucratic loophole that allows Texas prison officials to place individuals in solitary confinement for twenty-three […]

by Kwaneta Harris

February 4, 2025

When they promoted me to medium custody after more than eight years in isolation, I thought I was leaving solitary confinement behind. Instead, I found myself in a strange space: not quite solitary, not quite general population, but somehow managing to combine the worst aspects of both. On paper, in Texas, medium custody is supposed […]

by Francisco Rodriguez

January 29, 2025

This week’s pick of news and commentary about solitary confinement: On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order that mandated transgender women incarcerated in federal prisons be housed in men’s facilities, and also suspended their gender-transitioning-related medical treatment. The executive order, which more broadly aims to reduce the government’s recognition of […]

by Kilhah St Fort

January 22, 2025

New this week from Solitary Watch: The latest entry in our Voices from Solitary series features excerpts from the new book Unit 29: Writings from Parchman Prison. Including the work of more than 30 incarcerated individuals, the volume depicts the gritty reality of life at Mississippi State Penitentiary, also known as the Parchman Farm. Following […]

by Voices from Solitary

January 20, 2025

The culmination of three years of working with incarcerated students, Unit 29: Writings from Parchman Prison is a rare and gritty portrayal of the realities of prison life. Published on December 1, 2024, by VOX Press, this collection features writings from over 30 currently incarcerated individuals housed in Unit 29 at Mississippi State Penitentiary, also […]

by Francisco Rodriguez

January 16, 2025

This week’s pick of news and commentary about solitary confinement: During 2024, six incarcerated men intentionally burned themselves at Red Onion State Prison in protest of the notoriously abusive conditions at the Virginia Supermax prison, which include regular placements in prolonged solitary confinement. A set of emails recently obtained by The Appeal revealed that Red […]

by Kilhah St Fort

January 8, 2025

New this week from Solitary Watch: Writing for Filter, Solitary Watch’s Sara Vogel reveals that digital mail further isolates those in solitary confinement in Texas prisons. Under a new policy, letters, photos, greeting cards, and postcards are now redirected to a digital mail processing center to be scanned and electronically sent to tablets or printed […]

by Sara Vogel

January 8, 2025

This article, written by Solitary Watch’s Sara Vogel and supported by Solitary Watch, was originally published by Filter. Kwaneta Harris was cleaning her cell when she came across a manila envelope filled with letters. Letters bearing crayon drawings from her children; letters with her mother’s signature Chanel No. 5 still emanated faintly from the paper. […]

by Francisco Rodriguez

January 2, 2025

New this week from Solitary Watch: Enormous gratitude to the hundreds of donors who responded to our annual appeal for donations. Thanks to you, we met our goal and will receive the full amount of matching funds from NewsMatch. Your support is a huge part of what keeps our vital work going throughout the year. […]

by Kilhah St Fort

December 26, 2024

To our readers: This is the final week of our annual fundraising drive. Make a donation to Solitary Watch now, and your donation will be DOUBLED by NewsMatch! Please consider supporting this vital work before the year ends. Thank you. … New this week from Solitary Watch: Kwaneta Harris, an award-winning incarcerated journalist and our […]

by Jean Casella

December 24, 2024

This is one of the first posts we ever published on Solitary Watch, fifteen years ago, and we now share it with our readers every year. Once a year, we also ask you to consider supporting the work we do: shining light into the darkest corners of our punishment system, and bringing a glimmer of hope […]

by Juan Moreno Haines

December 23, 2024

Dear Readers and Friends: Before you enter full holiday mode, we hope you’ll take just a moment to consider those who will be spending this time of year alone in a solitary confinement cell. For many, this means not only the extreme isolation and loneliness that comes with being deprived of all meaningful human contact. […]

by Christopher Blackwell

December 22, 2024

The latest piece supported by Solitary Watch’s Ridgeway Reporting Project is written by Christopher Blackwell, an award-winning journalist and grassroots organizer incarcerated in Washington State. Below is an excerpt from his piece exposing the state‘s manipulation of a victim protection policy to censor his freedom of expression and that of other incarcerated individuals. Read an […]

by Jean Casella

December 20, 2024

Years ago, when I was down in Louisiana working on a story about the notorious plantation prison called Angola, a man who had served nearly 20 years shared with me what he thought to be a common misconception about prisons. He knew that most people looked at the wall around the perimeter of a prison, […]

by Kwaneta Harris

December 19, 2024

Solitary Watch is honored to announce that the acclaimed incarcerated journalist Kwaneta Harris has joined us as our newest Contributing Writer. Stay tuned to our site for frequent articles and updates from Harris. • • • • • • • • • • After eight and a half years of living in solitary confinement, I […]