• The Washington Post reported that the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program sued federal immigration officials for failing to release records about the use of solitary confinement in immigration detention. The clinic’s director, Sabrineh Ardalan, stated, “There is clear evidence that long term solitary confinement has devastating effects, particularly on trauma survivors. It is essential […]
• The Oregonian and the Oregon Capitol Chronicle both report on a lawsuit filed by the Oregon Justice Resource Center against the state Department of Corrections, seeking a 15-day limit on the use of punitive solitary confinement in the state. The current policy allows punitive segregation to 180 days. In comparison, neighboring Idaho has a 15-day […]
• Christopher Blackwell, incarcerated journalist, and Jessica Sandoval, director of the Unlock the Box national campaign to end solitary confinement, published an commentary in Inquest outlining how solitary confinement dehumanizes and traumatizes people. Blackwell and Sandoval write, “A dirty secret of solitary confinement is that it’s not generally used in response to the most dangerous behaviors, […]
• A study published in Science Advances found that largely due to high rates of incarceration, “11% of all black men in Pennsylvania, born 1986 to 1989, were incarcerated in solitary confinement by age 32.” Given the drastic negative effects of solitary confinement, the study’s authors believe that the high levels of incarceration of Black men […]
• A state court judge ruled that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) inflicted cruel and unusual punishment on people held at San Quentin State Prison, ruling that “because [CDCR] did not reduce the population as recommended, it effectively consigned hundreds of [incarcerated persons] to unwarranted, unnecessary, solitary confinement.” Juan Moreno Haines, an incarcerated […]
• Health and Justice published an research study which analyzed the results of solitary confinement policy changes in the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, seeking to fill a gap in knowledge about “exactly how various [solitary confinement] reforms have actually impacted the lives of people living and working in the prisons where these reforms […]
• Episode 235 of the Hard Luck Show podcast illustrates the history of solitary confinement and gang affiliation, centering voices from Unlock the Box; California Families To Abolish Solitary Confinement; University of California, Irvine Law School; Criminology, Law and Society Professor Keramet Reiter; and Legal Coordinator & Youth Mentor Michael Saavedra. The podcast is intended to […]
• Reporting from the Moultrie Observer draws on various investigations into conditions in Georgia prisons. At a legislative hearing last week, families spoke about the dangers their loved ones faced and the failure to protect them and provide appropriate care. Allegations include inadequate protection, medical neglect, staff absenteeism, and isolation of mentally ill individuals. The Southern […]
• On September 10th, National Suicide Prevention Day, Unlock The Box will be held a vigil on Twitter to “to honor those ”who died by suicide both in and out of solitary confinement.” Unlock the Box invited people to fill out a form so that loved ones could be recognized and honored, and provided this link […]
A New Yorker article by Eyal Press looks at the work of Angela Armstrong, who has spent the past decade examining conditions inside of carceral facilities in Louisiana. This past June, she launched a revolutionary database compiling death statistics for Louisiana prisons and jails, attempting to improve transparency. Armstrong’s database reports on individuals moved to […]
This article is published in partnership with the Crime Report. When the pandemic started, many prisons and jails throughout the country responded by locking people down in their cells for 22 to 24 hours a day, and using solitary confinement cells as quarantine units. In some ways, these lockdown measures seemed like an intuitive response to […]