Limiting Solitary Confinement in Corrections

NEW YORK STATE

The New York Civil Liberties Union scored legal victory in its challenges against long-term solitary confinement, the New York Times reported on February 19, 2014. See an excerpt below:

New York State has agreed to sweeping reforms intended to curtail the widespread use of solitary confinement, including prohibiting its use in disciplining prisoners under 18. In doing so, New York becomes the largest prison system in the United States to prohibit the use of disciplinary confinement for minors, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union . . . State correction officials will also be prohibited from imposing solitary confinement as a disciplinary measure for inmates who are pregnant, and the punishment will be limited to 30 days for those who are developmentally disabled, the court filing says.

The agreement imposes “sentencing guidelines” for all prisoners, specifying the length of punishment allowed for different infractions and, for the first time in all cases, a maximum length that such sentences may run, the civil liberties group said. No such guidelines exist, except in cases involving certain violent and drug-related offenses.

U.S. SENATE

On February 25, 2014, USA Today published the following encouraging news:  Leaders of a Senate panel called on federal and state prison authorities Tuesday to ban the use of solitary confinement for juveniles, pregnant women and the mentally ill as part of a national reassessment of the harshest method of incarceration. Citing the country's extensive use of solitary confinement since the 1980s, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said the extreme conditions contribute to the gradual deterioration of prisoners' mental health.

UNITED NATIONS

On October 18, 2011, a United Nations expert on torture called on all countries to ban the solitary confinement of prisoners except in very exceptional circumstances and for as short a time as possible, with an absolute prohibition in the case of juveniles and people with mental disabilities.

“Segregation, isolation, separation, cellular, lockdown, Supermax, the hole, Secure Housing Unit … whatever the name, solitary confinement should be banned by States as a punishment or extortion technique,” UN Special Rapporteur on torture Juan E. Méndez told the General Assembly’s third committee, which deals with social, humanitarian and cultural affairs, saying the practice could amount to torture.

“Solitary confinement is a harsh measure which is contrary to rehabilitation, the aim of the penitentiary system,” he stressed in presenting his first interim report on the practice, calling it global in nature and subject to widespread abuse.

Solitary confinement causes and worsens mental illness and is an extreme punishment even for inmates with sound minds. Solitary confinement has caused much controversy in recent years. Prisoners in numerous correctional institutions united and staged hunger and labor strikes to protest solitary confinement and other harsh practices that are objectionable from a human rights standpoint. Some American inmates have been interned in tiny solitary cells for decades, including people who are generally considered to be political prisoners, like the Angola 3 in Louisiana.

Dr. Mustafa Ansari, an International Human Rights Attorney who was featured on the Human Rights for Prisoners March broadcast in February 2014, said: "The United States signed the Convention on Torture and Degrading Treatment. The United Nations' Special Rapporteur says that more than 15 days in solitary confinement is illegal. The State has the right to rule; however, the State should rule correctly and release these prisoners. The Human Rights Defenders that we train [at American Institute of Human Rights] will move to have ALL of political prisoners removed from solitary confinement and some from prison with compensation for their harm. As the U.N. Special Rapporteur said, 'Indefinite and prolonged solitary confinement in excess of 15 days should be subject to an absolute prohibition.'" 

Solitary Confinement May Dramatically Alter Brain Shape In Just Days, Neuroscientist Says

Excerpts from the article by ThinkProgress dated February 18, 2014: 

Solitary confinement has been called a “living death,” cruel and unusual, and torture. Studies of the prison practice of placing inmates in a solitary, often concrete windowless cell for 23 hours a day with almost no human contact, have found that the psychological impact is dramatic after just a few days.

A University of Michigan neuroscientist suggested Friday that the physical impact on the brain could be just as significant if not moreso, and could “dramatically change the brain” in just a matter of days. Speaking on a panel about solitary confinement, neuroscientist Huda Akil said a number of other studies have documented how each of the factors involved in solitary confinement change the physical shape of the brain. 

The lack of physical interaction with the natural world, the lack of social interaction, and the lack of touch and visual stimulation alone are each “by itself is sufficient to dramatically change the brain,” Akil said at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting. She said particular parts of the brain that are subject to extreme stress can “actually shrink,” including the hippocampus, which is responsible for memory, spatial orientation, and control of emotions.

SCIENCE AGREES WITH GENESIS REGARDING
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

God bless America with justice for all! Join the MaryLovesJustice Prayer Meeting at 9pm PST every Sunday on National Network in Action at BlogTalkRadio when Christians pray for improvements in the justice system. On Feb. 23, we prayed against SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. "It is not good for man to be alone" ~Gen. 2:18.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nnia1/2014/02/24/marylovesjustice-prayer-meeting

Thanks to Elisa Obeso, who discussed her daughter, Bianca Marquez, on the "Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill (AIMI)" Blogtalkradio broadcast. We broadcast Wednesdays at 9pm PST. AIMI endeavors to decriminalize mental illness by exposing and opposing mistreatment of mentally dysfunctional people like Bianca, who is suffering in solitary confinement this very minute in Arizona State Prison - Perryville, the Lumley Unit.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nnia1/2014/02/27/assistance-to-the-incarcerated-mentally-ill

Referenced Sources:

NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/20/nyregion/new-york-state-agrees-to-big-changes-in-how-prisons-discipline-inmates.html

NYCLU

http://www.nyclu.org/news/nyclu-lawsuit-secures-historic-reforms-solitary-confinement

NYCLU and NY State Agreement Regarding Solitary Confinement
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/02/20/nyregion/20solitary-solitary-stipulation-document.html

USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/25/judiciary-prison-ban-juvenile-solitary-confinement/5817559/

United Nations.org

https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=40097

Think Progress
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/02/18/3303721/solitary-confinement-dramatically-alter-brain-shape-just-days-neuroscientist-says/

CONGRATULATIONS to the NY Civil Liberties Union, New York State, the United Nations, and the U.S. Senate for deliberations and advancements in effecting humane incarceration without long-term solitary confinement. Long-term solitary confinement and execution are extreme punishments that should not be used by any civilized nation.

Call or write with information about legal victories you wish to highlight

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