New York State Prisons Archives

New York State Prisons

The following essay is by William Blake. In 1987, Blake, then 23 and in county court on a drug charge, grabbed a gun from a sheriff’s deputy in a failed escape attempt, murdering one deputy and wounding another. He was sentenced to 77 years to life. The New York State prison system, classifying him as […]

Voices from Solitary

New York State Prisons

Voices from Solitary: A Sentence Worse Than Death

Seven Days in Solitary [11/16/2022]

New York’s Oldest Supermax Prison Closes as State Prepares to Implement Law Limiting Solitary Confinement

Voices from Solitary: “You Are Solitary Confinement”

Voices from Solitary: Your Imagination, But My Reality

Voices from Solitary: The Loneliest Place in the World

Voices from Solitary: Welcome to the SHU

Voices from Solitary: Double Celling

Voices from Solitary: Cruel and Unusual Punishment for Transgender Women

Voices from Solitary: At War With My Own Self

Voices from Solitary: A Mouse and a Murderer

Voices from Solitary: Is It Normal to Think That?

Voices from Solitary: My Tranz Brothers and Sisters Are There, Boxed

Voices from Solitary: Injury x Insult

Voices from Solitary: A Second-by-Second Attack on Your Soul

Voices from Solitary: Solitary Is a Living Death

Voices from Solitary: Sent to Solitary Confinement for Being Disabled

“Ready to Return to Humanity” After 34 Years in Solitary Confinement

Voices from Solitary: What My Mother Doesn’t Know

Transgender Women in New York State Prisons Face Solitary Confinement and Sexual Assault

How the New Settlement Will—and Will Not—Change Solitary Confinement in New York’s Prisons (Redux)

How the Landmark Settlement Will—and Will Not—Change Solitary Confinement in New York’s Prisons

Writer in Solitary Confinement Is Barred from Reading His Own Book

Suicidal in Solitary

New York Supermax

“I Watch the Roaches and I Envy Them.” After 34 Years, Billy Blake Is Released from Solitary Confinement in New York

New York State Passes the Nation’s Strongest Anti-Solitary Legislation

Widespread Brutality and Solitary Confinement Followed New York Prison Escape, Report Finds

Solitary Confinement in New York (and in the New York Times)