Al Jazeera English’s media show, “The Listening Post,” has a feature on the challenges that journalists and advocates have faced exposing solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and jails—a hidden world that is home to some 100,000 people, but has been kept resolutely off-limits to the public and the press. The piece features Solitary Watch’s James […]
The only people who cannot access Solitary Watch’s work online are also its most important potential readers: the men, women, and children who live in solitary confinement. For this reason, we have long been producing a print edition in newsletter format, published as many times a year as we can afford. The print edition now […]
This post has become an annual tradition at Solitary Watch. To all our readers, warm wishes for the holidays. Special thanks to those who have helped (or plan to help) us shine a light on the darkness of solitary confinement by generously supporting our work. –Jean and Jim . . . . . . . . . . […]
Dear Friends, Colleagues, Readers, and Supporters: With just 10 days left in 2017, we are writing to you one last time to ask that you consider a donation to Solitary Watch. No matter what your beliefs, this time of year tends to be one that is rich in human fellowship, as family and friends gather […]
Dear Friends: Yesterday, we wrote about people living in solitary confinement who found the strength and courage to bring us news from inside a secret world of torment and abuse. We shared with you a few of their most powerful stories telling what it is like to live for years or decades deprived of all […]
Years ago, when we were down in Louisiana working on a story about the notorious plantation prison called Angola, a man who had served nearly 20 years shared with us what he thought to be a common misconception about prisons. He knew that most people looked at the wall around the perimeter of a prison, and […]
Dear Readers, Supporters, Colleagues, and Friends: Every year, Solitary Watch seeks to grow beyond its past achievements. Driven by the vision of tens of thousands of people still locked in solitary confinement in American prisons and jails, we try to work harder, dig deeper, and reach farther with clear, honest, and often game-changing reporting that shines […]
A new report produced by the ACLU of Nevada, Nevada Disability Advocacy & Law Center, and Solitary Watch is the first to document the scope and impact of solitary confinement in Nevada. Unlocking Solitary Confinement: Ending Extreme Isolation in Nevada State Prisons reveals the number of people held in solitary in the state’s eight state prisons, details […]
Dear Friends: We reach out to you just once a year to ask for your support. And even now, we seek your help not for our regular research and reporting work, which catalyzes change by documenting the hidden world of prison isolation. Instead, we ask you to donate to a special program that brings small ray of […]
UPDATE — UPCOMING BOOK EVENTS: After a standing-room-only launch at the Open Society Foundations in New York on March 15, we are planning several more book events/readings in the coming months. Stay tuned for future updates. Wednesday, April 13, 6-8 pm: Launch Event and Reading at Busboys & Poets, 14th and V Streets, Washington, DC. Click […]
Dear Readers: We reach out to you just once a year to ask for your support. And even now, we seek your help not for our regular research and reporting work, which catalyzes change by documenting the hidden world of prison isolation. Instead, we ask you to donate to a special program that brings small ray of […]
For the next two weeks, Solitary Watch will be on hiatus while my colleague Aviva Stahl and I take a reporting trip to the United Kingdom. While there, we will be speaking with officials and inspectors of Her Majesty’s Prison Service, as well as prison reform advocates, scholars, and currently and formerly incarcerated individuals. We also […]