A new article originally published in Truthout, by Solitary Watch contributor Victoria Law, examines the impact of recent judicial and legislative decisions in California on the future of solitary confinement in the United States. Throughout the article, Law provides context for the recent California Ninth Circuit decision to a federal magistrate’s ability to monitor and limit the use of prolonged solitary and analyzes future challenges to anti-solitary legislation in California.

This article was originally published on Truthout. The movement against prolonged solitary confinement in California is facing new challenges on two different fronts. First, on August 24, a three-judge panel handed down a ruling ending a federal magistrate’s ability to monitor and limit California’s use of prolonged solitary confinement. However, prisoners’ rights advocates aren’t giving up – they appealed the ruling and continued pressing lawmakers to pass the Mandela Act, limiting isolation to no more than 15 days.

In the most recent edition of Voices from Solitary, incarcerated artist and activist Timothy Young writes about his struggles living on California’s Death Row. According to Young, life on Death Row often entails frequent lockdowns, strip searches, and handcuffing whenever a person leaves their cell. Throughout the essay, Young examines how these restrictions of movement go beyond the physical, affecting a person’s mental and emotional health as well. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Timothy James Young, currently 53 years old, has been incarcerated for 24 years, and has lived on San Quentin State Prison’s Death Row for 17 of them. Young has maintained his innocence since his arrest, and believes that false testimony against him only arose from a deal with a jail informant. Living on Death Row, according to Young, entails frequent lockdowns, strip searches, and handcuffing every time a person leaves their cell. “On paper, we’re supposed to average 14 hours of yard per week. In reality, we often spend up to 24 hours a day inside the cell,” Young wrote. There is minimal movement in the unit and no opportunity for jobs, vocations, or programming.

This week, Solitary Watch Senior Writers Juan Moreno Haines and Katie Rose Quandt were named winner of the 2023 Media for a Just Society Award in the category of “Media by a Person Who is Incarcerated” for their article titled “San Quentin Is Still Punishing People for Being Sick.” The article was published in the American Prospect as part of the Type Investigations Inside/Out Journalism Project, and reveals how the California prison’s notorious Death Row “Adjustment Center” was being used for medical quarantine to house people in solitary confinement for contracting Covid-19.

The latest fact sheet in our new series covers Solitary Confinement and Prison Oversight. The fact sheet, by Mirilla Zhu, states: “To ensure the effective implementation of solitary confinement reforms, and to monitor prison conditions more generally, a small but increasing number of states have established prison oversight bodies that operate independently of corrections agencies. While independent oversight bodies vary in structure and effectiveness, and come with challenges and limitations of their own, many advocates believe that oversight will play a key role in the success of efforts to end solitary confinement.” Explore the full fact sheet series here.

Today, Solitary Watch is publishing the sixth in a new series of fact sheets offering facts, analysis, and resources on a variety of topics related to solitary confinement in U.S. prisons, jails, and immigrant and juvenile facilities. This fact sheet, written by Mirilla Zhu, is titled “Solitary Confinement & Prison Oversight.”

Previously confidential records from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties confirm reports of extensive abuse against detained immigrants. The reports document ICE’s extensive use of solitary confinement, medical neglect, mistreatment of transgender immigrants, and failure to prevent sexual assault in its facilities. As of July 2023, ICE had detained over 30,000 immigrants across 120 facilities, most of which are operated by private contracting groups. By refusing to fulfill FOIA requests and make these documents public, DHS undermines the effectiveness of the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and can conceal problems for years. Project on Government Oversight.

The Memory Disorder Unit at Federal Medical Center Devens is the first federal facility built to house incarcerated people with Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia. According to Timothy Doherty, a senior officer specialist who helps run the unit, approximately 90 percent of the unit’s population “don’t know what they did. Some of them don’t even know where they are.” Older adults represent one of the fastest growing demographic groups in correctional facilities, yet it is unknown how many are living with dementia. Without the existence of routine screening protocols and specialized care units, the routine of incarcerated life masks symptoms of dementia. As a result many elderly people in prison end up in solitary confinement due to behavioral problems resulting from undiagnosed changes to their mental health. New York Times.

Incarcerated writer Kwaneta Harris writes that after seven years in solitary confinement, “Reading has been my lifeline… after seven years in solitary confinement. With my earplugs jammed in deep—sometimes too deep—I’ve read books, magazines, and newspapers and found respite amid tortuous conditions. That includes no air conditioning, TV, or recreation.” But at the Lane Murray Unit in Texas, where Harris is incarcerated, some women in solitary are denied even this respite, because they can read very little, if at all. Many of them are transfers from the Juvenile Justice Department and end up in solitary confinement due to their behavioral histories. Although federal law requires incarcerated people under 21 to have guaranteed access to education, educational programming is often a low priority for those in isolation. When “school” is provided at all, it comes in the form of packets of educational materials dropped at the cell door. For the large number of women unable to read the instructions, these packets are entirely useless without teachers. Additionally, people in solitary confinement often have mental health conditions and learning disabilities that make accessing education even more difficult. Harris describes standing at the vent in her cell, reading aloud to her young neighbors. Slate.

This week’s roundup of news on solitary confinement:. Last week, a coalition of House Democrats introduced new legislation that would broadly ban the use of solitary confinement in federal prisons, jails, and immigration detention facilities. If made law, the End Solitary Confinement Act would limit the use of solitary confinement to a maximum of four hours while staff de-escalate emergency situations. The bill also guarantees incarcerated people at least 14 hours of out-of-cell time and access to seven hours of programming per day. In addition, it mandates that federal facilities report the number of incidents of self-harm and suicide as well as the frequency and demographic breakdown of those who are placed in solitary confinement. To ensure the law is implemented as intended, the End Solitary Confinement Act includes the creation of a civilian oversight body with the power to independently investigate allegations of abuse. Representative Cori Bush, who is sponsoring the legislation, stated, “someday, we will look back and ask why we ever subjected people to prolonged solitary confinement and expected anything other than trauma, violence and death as a response.” Although Senate Democrats introduced legislation last fall intended to reduce the use of federal solitary confinement, it does not go nearly as far as the End Solitary Confinement Act. NBC News.

This morning, Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) and a coalition of progressive House Democrats introduced a sweeping bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, aimed at all but eliminating the use of solitary confinement in federal facilities and offer incentives to states to reduce solitary as well. Advocates release the following press release on the bill. Solitary Watch will report further on the legislation in the coming weeks.

This week’s pick of news and commentary about solitary confinement:. Children incarcerated in the former death row unit of Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, an adult maximum security prison, are being held in dangerous conditions as heat indexes in the state reach up to 133 degrees. According to the ACLU of Louisiana, the mostly Black youth are confined to windowless cells for up to 24 hours a day without air conditioning. In recent court filings, one child states that he was maced in his cell the day after receiving open wounds on his back from being thrown against a wall by staff. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards stated that placing children in the adult maximum security facility was a temporary solution to problems at existing youth facilities. However, the state has since invested millions of dollars in keeping the children at Angola. As a local advocate notes, Louisiana has historically relied heavily on the overuse of unlawful solitary confinement” on youth. In addition, “The vast majority of youth in the Louisiana youth incarceration system are Black teens, including many who have behavioral and mental health issues and have experienced trauma. Black youth are six times more likely than White youth to face incarceration.” Truthout | Times-Picayune.

Solitary Watch’s Yen-Tung Lin and Luke Baltay reported on a symposium held in California on July 8-9, where solitary survivors and advocates gathered to “commemorate the tenth anniversary of the historic hunger strike that was organized by men held in the supermax Pelican Bay State Prison” in July 2013, as well as “assess the progress of the movement against solitary confinement, strategize for passage of a sweeping anti-solitary bill in California, and heal with longtime comrades.” Their article looks at the significance and impact of the strike, the progress made and obstacles encountered in the past decade, and future prospects for further limiting solitary confinement in California. Solitary Watch.

On July 8 and 9, about a hundred solitary survivors, their families, activists, and scholars gathered in southern California to mark the tenth anniversary of one of the most important events in the history of prison activism: the 2013 hunger strike organized by men held in the supermax Pelican Bay State Prison, which quickly spread throughout California to become the largest prison hunger strike ever held in the United States.

In the latest edition of Voices from Solitary, a pair of essays by Michael Bankert describes his search for companionship in confinement and the struggle to survive depths of despair brought about by isolation. Throughout his time in solitary confinement Bankert returns to art and writing as a means of processing his trauma and developing connections with other survivors of solitary. In a letter to Solitary Watch, he said, “[Writing shows] I am, I exist, I am still a person who can contribute to society through writing.” Solitary Watch.

Michael Bankert has been sent to solitary confinement numerous times while serving the past 32 years of a life sentence in New Mexico. Despite the lingering fear that he could be sent back to solitary at any time, Bankert continues to write and make art about his experiences and is working to establish a writing group at Lea County Correctional Facility. Bankert’s essays were published by PEN America in 2020 and Iron City magazine in 2022. In a letter to Solitary Watch, he spoke of the ability of writing to give an incarcerated person a voice even if their body is locked away: “[It shows] I am, I exist, I am still a person who can contribute to society through writing.” What follows are two written pieces and a drawing that reflect Bankert’s experience of solitary confinement. —Sara Vogel.

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This week’s pick of news and commentary about solitary confinement:. Texas has one of the highest rates of solitary confinement use in the nation. Of the more than 3,000 Texans in solitary state prisons, 500 of them have been there for over a decade, causing severe damage to their psyche and well-being. “I’m already isolated from my community, the prison sentence should be the punishment; I shouldn’t be forced to watch people descend into madness back here,” said Kwaneta Harris in an interview. In January, incarcerated people across eleven Texas facilities went on a hunger strike, resulting in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) denying media access to individuals involved. The strike ended after seven weeks with no concessions made by TDCJ. Afterwards, several bills were introduced in the Texas legislature to limit solitary confinement as well as study its effects, but none was voted into law. “They know the damage solitary confinement causes, it isn’t new,” said Kwaneta Harris. “We’ve known this for over 100 years. It destroys people’s souls, it’s a slaughterhouse for souls. They have to end this.” AlJazeera | Exacerbating the problem, over two-thirds of Texas prisons have no air-conditioning, causing brutal living conditions for all incarcerated people and sometimes resulting in heat-induced deaths. The TDCJ has denied the impact heat plays in these deaths to avoid culpability. Texas Tribune | While the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has not reported a heat-related death since 2012, a study found that extreme heat was likely behind 271 summer deaths between 2001 and 2019. Truthout.

Solitary Watch this week announced the recipients of grants awarded by the Ridgeway Reporting Project for Incarcerated Journalists. The grants program, which is funded by the Vital Projects Fund, will support 16 projects that expose prison policies and practices from the inside out, exploring their impact on incarcerated people, the criminal legal system, and the larger society that permits and pays for them. The journalists, who have experienced firsthand the realities of prison abuse, solitary confinement, inadequate medical and mental health care, environmental contamination, and the “slave wages” paid in prison, will report on these topics and others. Solitary Watch.