• According to WBRC, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released their investigation of the Alabama Department of Corrections, which found “violations are severe, systemic, and exacerbated by serious deficiencies in staffing and supervision.” The report found a “high level of violence that is too common, cruel, of an unusual nature, and pervasive” and “the use […]
• Democracy Now! interviewed Albert Woodfox, who spent over 44 years in solitary confinement in Louisiana after being wrongfully convicted of a prison guard’s murder. Woodfox discussed his recently released memoir Solitary and shared memories of his time incarcerated as a member of the Angola 3, along with Herman Wallace and Robert King, who formed the […]
• A Panamanian man killed himself at a privately run immigration detention center in Georgia after spending 19 days in solitary confinement. The death of Jean Jimenez-Joseph, 27, is supposedly being investigated by federal authorities. Trump has promised to detain more immigrants than ever before, and to relax protections for people inside immigration detention, including when […]
• Just before leaving office, President Obama commuted the sentences of two survivors of solitary confinement. Puerto Rican Nationalist Oscar López Rivera spent 12 of his 35 years in prison in isolation. Whisteblower Chelsea Manning spent about a year in the box after her arrest, and was also placed in solitary after trying to commit […]
• Federal appellate judges decided a lawsuit can proceed against officials at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, after correctional officers allegedly forced a prisoner to live in a solitary confinement cell flooded with raw sewage. Raul Arellano filed the lawsuit in October 2014, claiming that what occurred violated his Eighth Amendment […]
• A report was released examining the “disproportionate and discriminatory” placement of people with disabilities in Washington’s jails. “Cruel But Not Unusual,” which was published by the non-profit Disability Rights Washington, also identifies best practices and recommendations for reform. • Whisteblower Chelsea Manning has formally asked President Obama to grant her clemency. Manning, who is […]
• A 36-year-old man is said to have pleaded for his much needed seizure medication while in solitary confinement on Rikers Island, just shortly before he died, according to a video procured by Eyewitness News. The surviving family of Rolando Perez is now suing Rikers and New York City. • Akeem Browder was interviewed on […]
• Rikers Island has officially ended its placement of 19-to-21 year olds in solitary confinement, who will now instead be placed in the jail’s Secure Unit or Enhanced Supervision Unit. Advocates expressed concern that young people will still spend extended time in some form of isolation. “Our goal has never been to eliminate the term […]
• The LA Times published an in-depth look into the use of solitary confinement at the Men’s Central Jail, including efforts to reduce the use of isolation. Dominic Walker, who was in solitary confinement at the jail for three years, said “it makes you feel like nobody. I’m here, the walls are closing in. It […]
• CNN profiled changes in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections with regards to the use of solitary confinement. “Inmates with mental illness are no longer held in solitary confinement. Additionally, all staff members — 15,000 to 16,000 people, according to [DOC Secretary] Wetzel — are trained in Mental Health First Aid.” • James Holmes, who […]
After attempting to take her own life early last month, Chelsea Manning faces indefinite solitary confinement while she serves her time at the Fort Leavenworth disciplinary barracks. The former intelligence analyst for the U.S. Army is being investigated for having prohibited items in her cell and resisting being transferred out of her cell. If convicted […]