It’s welcome news that Rikers is banning solitary confinement for all inmates 21 and younger, but watch out for these new “Enhanced Supervision Housing” units where people can be locked in their cells for 17 hours a day. It is clear that certain prisoners are particularly vulnerable to the devastating effects of solitary confinement -- e.g. juveniles, mentally ill prisoners -- and are disproportionately placed in solitary -- e.g. mentally ill prisoners, LGBT prisoners, but let’s not forget that solitary is now well-known to negatively impact ALL prisoners, causing long-lasting psychological and physical harm. The rampant overuse of solitary confinement in the United States (at least 80,000 people currently in isolation) must be severely curtailed across the board to bring us into compliance with human rights standards. That’s one reason CCR is suing the state of California on behalf of hundreds of prisoners in long-term solitary confinement at Pelican Bay State Prison: ccrjustice.org/pelican-bay
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 21:44:29 +0000
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