• The New Orleans Lens reported that the non-profit Promise of Justice Initiative (PJI) released a report, claiming that prison administrators and staff responded inadequately to the coronavirus pandemic, causing unnecessary death and suffering. The report found, “Principally, correctional officials [in Louisiana] responded to COVID- 19 or exposure to the virus by placing people in solitary confinement or putting portions […]
• As NorthJersey.com reported, Governor Phil Murphy signed the Isolated Confinement Restriction Act, hailed as “the strongest legislation restricting solitary in the nation,” by ACLU of New Jersey Executive Director Amol Sinha. The bill, taking effect next year, will ban solitary confinement for longer than 20 consecutive days and prohibit the isolation of youth, elderly people, pregnant […]
Photo Requests from Solitary, an art project sponsored by Solitary Watch, invites people in solitary confinement to request an image of anything, real or imagined, and finds volunteers on the outside to make the images for them. Since April 20, a special site-specific exhibition of Photo Request from Solitary has been at the Brooklyn Public […]
Photo Requests from Solitary (PRFS) is an ongoing project hosted by Solitary Watch that invites men and women held in solitary confinement to request a photograph of anything at all, real or imagined, and then finds an artist to make the image. The astonishing range of requests includes “the freestanding columns at the Great Temple of Amun, […]
• WTOP reported the suicide of 20-year-old Jordyn Charity, who had been held at the supermax Red Onion State Prison in Virginia. Charity was convicted of murder at age 16 and was serving a 168-year sentence. The Virginia Department of Corrections has not revealed whether Charity was being held in solitary confinement. Though officials at the […]
The following is excerpted from an article appearing last week on Gothamist, about the Photo Requests from Solitary exhibit currently on display at Photoville in Brooklyn. Solitary Watch has been collaborating on the Photo Requests from Solitary project for the past five years. Scroll down for information on exhibit location and hours. No one knows […]
• The watchdog group Disability Rights New York released a report about conditions inside the mental health treatment unit at Attica Correctional Facility, known as the Residential Mental Health Unit (RMHU). According to Shadowproof, “While in theory the RMHU is supposed to be a therapeutic alternative to punitive solitary confinement, in reality there are many similarities […]
Solitary Watch has been on a brief hiatus this week as we worked on our latest collaboration, Photo Requests From Solitary. Please check out our new page on the project to view more photos. If you are in New York, come see the exhibit at Photoville in Brooklyn, and join us this afternoon for a panel […]