The Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania (DRNP) has filed a lawsuit against John Wetzel, the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, charging that the confinement of prisoners in Restricted Housing Units (RHUs) amounts to “cruel and unusual punishment” of those diagnosed as “seriously mentally ill.” The suit seeks an end to long-term segregation of such individuals […]
On Tuesday, September 18th the Pennsylvania House Democratic Party Policy Committee will hold a hearing entitled “Effects of Solitary Confinement.” The hearing will feature testimony from Dr. Terry Kupers, Dr. Craig Haney, former Restricted Housing Unit inmate LuQman Abdullah, and others. The hearing will be at 10:00 AM at Temple University, President’s Conference Suite, First Floor, 1810 […]
The following was submitted to Solitary Watch by Ricardo “Truth” Noble, who has spent five years in Pennsylvania’s Restrictive Housing Units. Pennsylvania’s RHU’s hold over 1,500 inmates in solitary confinement. Incarcerated for 21 years, he is serving life-without-parole. Noble describes the experience of being in the RHU as an intense and hopeless place where he […]
Note: The following came to Solitary Watch in a letter from Gordon Davis, who is doing time in Pennsylvania’s SCI Somerset. He describes his situation as “Currently serving 600 days in the RHU (Restricted Housing Unit) for an assault on an inmate in general population.” I sit in solitude alone in my cell, with thoughts of freedom running wild […]