• The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska has filed a lawsuit alleging that overcrowding in the state’s prison system had caused the “needless suffering and death” of people on the inside. According to the Omaha World-Herald, “the 87-page suit alleges that inmates, especially those with disabilities and mental health problems, are denied adequate health care […]
• Six people locked up at a maximum-security prison in Arkansas stole keys from guards and took control of an area of the facility. The incident was eventually resolved without “major injuries.” • “Federal appeals judges unanimously reinstated a $2.3 million award to a Baltimore man mistaken for the ‘Charles Village Rapist’ and held in solitary confinement […]
• Boston Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham penned a piece about solitary confinement. “We like to think of ourselves as enlightened here in Massachusetts,” she writes. “But when it comes to how we treat inmates in our jails and prisons, a bunch of other states have us beat.” • Senators Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren introduced The Dignity […]
• A legislative commission in Rhode Island, tasked with studying the use of solitary confinement in the state, has reported back to lawmakers and made recommendations for reform. According to one local outlet, the Department of Corrections has already made some policy changes with regards to the number of phone calls permitted to people in the […]
Oregon corrections officials have agreed to reduce the isolation of people with serious mental illness in the Behavioral Health Unit (BHU) at Oregon State Penitentiary, settling over a year of discussions with Disability Rights Oregon (DRO), the state’s federally designated Protection and Advocacy System. The agreement, signed January 8, has the potential to significantly improve the […]
• A Texas man is suing the state’s prison system, alleging that the two years he spent in solitary confinement constituted a violation of the 14th Amendment. Nelson Patterson maintains his time in isolation caused him physical and mental harm and aggravated a pre-existing medical condition. • A survey by the national law firm Lowenstein Sandler found […]
The 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. • A student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison wrote a piece for the Huffington Post calling for the end of youth solitary in prisons across the country. A bill to end […]
The 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 American Civil Liberties Union and the Texas Civil Rights Project released a report on the use of the solitary confinement in the state’s prisons. According to the report, Texas […]
The 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. • At his first news conference devoted exclusively to conditions on Rikers Island, Mayor Bill DeBlasio announced plans to create a $14.8 million “enhanced supervision housing” (EHS) to hold […]
The 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 Seattle Times reports on a new program for prisoners with mental illness who are held in isolation at Washington’s Monroe Correctional Complex. According to the story, “The new Reintegration and […]
California Governor Jerry Brown’s bid to end federal control over the state prison system’s mental health system was denied in federal court on Friday, April 5, in a sharply worded ruling by U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton. In the 68-page ruling, Judge Karlton determined that “systemic failures persist in the form of inadequate suicide […]