Everyone concerned with solitary confinement has been closely watching a landmark effort in the Maine state legislature to pass a bill that would have significantly limited the practice in state prisons. On Monday that effort culminated in what some advocates have called a “gutted” version of the bill–and others see as a meaningful first step toward […]
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A Suspicious (and Lonely) Death in Maine State Prison's Lockdown Unit
Guest Post by Stan Moody Editors’ note: Our first guest post on Solitary Watch News is by Stan Moody, a former state representative and chaplain at the Maine State Prison, where he ministered to inmates in the supermax unit. Moody, who currently serves as pastor at the Meeting House Church in Manchester, Maine, is the author of […]
Maine's Solitary Confinement Bill: Another Test of Our Tolerance for Torture
For those of us who believe that long-term solitary confinement is cruel and unusual punishment and often qualifies as torture, what happens in the Maine State Legislature in the coming weeks matters just about as much as what happens in the U.S. Justice Department concerning the torture that took place the Bush Administration. So while everyone seems to be talking about the […]