Seven Days in Solitary [12/28/2014]

by | December 28, 2014

Solitary confinement news roundup: 7 Days in SolitaryThe following roundup features noteworthy news, reports and opinions on solitary confinement from the past week that have not been covered in other Solitary Watch posts.

• The Marshall Project published an article outlining the significant shifts in the legal landscape of solitary confinement over the course of recent years.  In 2014, “as a result of legislation or lawsuits, ten states adopted 14 measures aimed at curtailing the use of solitary, abolishing solitary for juveniles or the mentally ill, improving conditions in segregated units, or gradually easing isolated inmates back into the general population.”

• The New York Law Journal published an opinion piece about solitary confinement entitled, “We Shouldn’t Allow Eight Amendment to Be Undermined,”

• Ruth Marcus of The Washington Post published a column about Reginald Latson, a 23-year-old diagnosed with autism; he is currently facing assault charges that resulted from a mental health crisis he experienced when he was held in isolation.  The ACLU of Virginia submitted a letter to Governor McAuliffe asking him to grant clemency to Latson and facilitate his transfer to a secure treatment facility in Florida.

• Writing for CNN, Raphael Sperry – the president of Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility- condemned the American Institute of Architects for refusing to add language to its code of ethics that would prohibit participation in “the design of torture chambers in US prisons and around the world,” including “prisons intended for prolonged solitary confinement.”

• KGNU, a community radio station, interviewed Colorado Independent journalist Susan Greene about her recent story focusing on a transgender woman held in solitary confinement at ADX Florence.

• The Buffalo News reports that the first of two lawsuits related to prisoner deaths in a solitary confinement unit at Niagara County Jail have gone forward.  Daniel Pantera, 46, had a mental health diagnosis and was arrested for shoplifting a cup of coffee in 2012; his cell was so cold that the main cause of his death was cited in a state report as hypothermia.

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5 comments

  • jay troy

    Your Faith will help heal. I lost mine, unfortunately, however huge respect for those who held onto or found some. Love.

  • Lesly Vail

    How about someone interview my husband who in 2003 was sentanced to 7 yrs solitary after an escape and yet well exceeding the 7 yrs remains in solitary with non contact visits , no phone calls to our twins , not even photos are permitted to be taken . Yet PLS has the nerve to contact him and seek him out for him to donate drawings they can auction off for funding . Others involved with the solitary issue have promised to help yet another year has gone by without my husband even being contacted . WTF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • Jean Casella and James Ridgeway

      Lesly, please feel free to contact us at info AT solitarywatch.com.

    • Tom

      Are you allowed to visit him Lesly?

    • jay troy

      It’s just not just the men (+women) that get sentenced it’s the family too. The innocent little ones who can’t make sense of it and the single parents and families who struggle as life has to go on for the kids on the out. SUPPORT FOR THE PRISON FAMILY.

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