Voices from Solitary: Stillness Is My Nemesis
Solitary Watch
by Voices from Solitary
5d ago
In her seventeen years incarcerated, Kwaneta Harris has spent the last eight years in solitary confinement in Texas state prison and is currently held at Lane Murray Unit. Her powerful and shocking stories expose how the intersections of gender, race, and place contribute to state-sanctioned, gender-based violence. As a mother and former nurse, she has a personal commitment to illuminating how the experience of being incarcerated uniquely impacts women. When she is not writing, Harris shares liberatory knowledge on reproductive justice with the other women in her unit. Photo by Ariana Gomez fr ..read more
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D.C. Department of Corrections Withholds Information on Use of Solitary in Jails…And Other News on Solitary Confinement This Week
Solitary Watch
by Sara Vogel
1w ago
This week’s pick of news and commentary about solitary confinement: A recent report from the Council for Court Excellence (CCE) paints a grim picture of the ongoing use of solitary confinement by the Washington, D.C., Department of Corrections. The majority of people at the D.C. jail are being held in pre-trial detention, meaning they’ve yet to be convicted of a crime. However, despite submitting multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Requests, CCE was only able to obtain limited information on the number of people in and conditions of solitary confinement at the jail. Washington City Pape ..read more
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American Psychological Association Resolution Calls for Ban on Youth Solitary…And Other News on Solitary Confinement This Week
Solitary Watch
by Sara Vogel
2w ago
New this week from Solitary Watch: William Blake lived in solitary confinement for 34 years while incarcerated in the New York state prison system, an experience he wrote in the viral essay “A Sentence Worse Than Death.” In 2021, he was released into the general population without receiving any transitional support or mental health treatment for the three decades of torture he endured while in solitary. According to Blake, now 60, six months ago he experienced a psychotic break from the untreated effects of solitary which landed him back in isolation at Attica Correctional Facility. In the lat ..read more
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Voices from Solitary: At Attica, Hard Hearts and a Sliver of Hope
Solitary Watch
by Voices from Solitary
2w ago
In 2021, after 34 years of living in solitary confinement in New York state prisons, William Blake was released into general population. Solitary Watch first encountered Blake, now 60, back in 2013, when we published his essay “A Sentence Worse Than Death.” The essay received more than half a million hits on this site alone, and has been widely reprinted and translated into several languages. Since that first publication, Blake has continued to write about his experience in solitary confinement.  Blake says he was never provided any mental health treatment for the three decades of torture ..read more
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Black History in the United States Has Always Included Solitary Confinement
Solitary Watch
by Steve Brooks
2w ago
More than 9 percent of Black men in Pennsylvania were imprisoned in solitary confinement for 15 days or more before they reached the age of 32, according to a 2021 study conducted at Columbia University. The study’s authors believe their findings likely apply to the broader United States as well. This means nearly one in ten Black men nationally has subjected to conditions that have been defined as torture by the United Nations, and shown to cause psychological damage, suicide, and PTSD.  This is only one of many numbers showing a grossly disparate use of prison isolation on Black people ..read more
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Federal Prisons Under Fire From Watchdogs Over Solitary, Suicides…and Other News on Solitary Confinement This Week
Solitary Watch
by Sara Vogel
3w ago
This week’s pick of news and commentary about solitary confinement: The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is being called “an agency in crisis” after a series of recent reports by government watchdogs. Washington Post | One, by the Justice Department’s Inspector General, revealed that the prison system struggles to keep people in its facilities alive. According to the report, 344 people died by homicide, suicide, accidents, and drug overdoses while in BOP custody between 2014 and 2021. Of the incarcerated people who died by suicide, about half died in solitary confinement. Department of Justice ..read more
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Report Shows Hundreds of Preventable Deaths in Federal Prisons…and Other News on Solitary Confinement This Week
Solitary Watch
by Sara Vogel
1M ago
This week’s pick of news and commentary about solitary confinement: In a recent report, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General found that the Federal Bureau of Prisons routinely subjects incarcerated people to “conditions that put them at heightened risk of self-harm, drug overdoses, accidents and violence.” After analyzing 344 deaths, the inspector general found “unsafe conditions” in nearly all cases. The New York Times | Between 2014 and 2021, 187 people died by suicide while in BOP custody and nearly half of the suicides occurred while the person was isolated in ..read more
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New Study Finds ICE Locks Thousands of Immigrants in Solitary…And Other News on Solitary Confinement This Week
Solitary Watch
by Sara Vogel
1M ago
This week’s pick of news and commentary about solitary confinement: A new study by Harvard-affiliated researchers and the nonprofit Physicians for Human Rights found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continues to “flout international human rights standards” by locking immigrants in solitary confinement en masse. According to the study, approximately 3,000 immigrants were held in solitary confinement by ICE in 2023. Between 2019 and 2023 the number of detained immigrants in solitary confinement with mental health issues skyrocketed from 35 percent to 56 percent. International Conso ..read more
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NY City Council Overrides Mayor’s Veto of Bill Banning Solitary…And Other News on Solitary Confinement This Week
Solitary Watch
by Sara Vogel
1M ago
This week’s pick of news and commentary about solitary confinement: In a 42-9 vote, the New York City Council voted to override Mayor Eric Adam’s vetoes of legislation banning solitary confinement. The new legislation requires all people incarcerated in New York City jails to have a minimum of 14-hours out if cell time in a communal setting and limits confinement to 4 hours immediately following an incident or confrontation. In response to Adams’ veto City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams stated “we cannot allow the human rights and safety crisis on Rikers to continue by maintaining the status q ..read more
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Nebraska Holds Children in Prolonged Solitary in Defiance of State Law…And Other News on Solitary Confinement This Week
Solitary Watch
by Sara Vogel
2M ago
This week’s pick of news and commentary about solitary confinement: Nebraska children are spending increasing amounts of time in solitary confinement. According to a recent report from the state’s Inspector General on Child Welfare, in the last year the number of children in solitary in the state’s youth facilities has increased by 44%. The report suggests state-run detention centers and treatment facilities are not adhering to state laws limiting the use of solitary confinement for children. One 16-year-old told his family that he has been in and out of solitary confinement throughout the du ..read more
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