Mentally Ill Inmates Sue To Get Out of Solitary Confinement

Attorneys for Troy Anderson, a mentally ill inmate in isolation at the Colorado State Penitentiary, argue that prolonged solitary confinement is contributing to a vicious cycle, making his psychiatric conditions worse and resulting in misbehavior that warrants further punishment, reports the Associated Press. Prison officials defend the practice, saying administrative segregation, which can include up to 23 hours a day in a concrete cell, is a fundamental part of security.

Art Leonardo of the North American Association of Wardens and Superintendents says keeping prisoners away from the general population is a way to "keep them from being harmed." Prisoners' rights advocates say putting mentally ill inmates in long-term solitary confinement amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. In some states, activists are pushing court challenges to get convicts out of isolation. Long-term isolation has "become an integral part of how we manage prisons in this country," says David Fathi of the American Civil Liberties Union. There are no statistics detailing how many inmates are considered mentally ill. Similarly, there is no official estimate as to how many inmates are placed in solitary confinement.

Examining U.S. Corrections Policy

By Ted Gest

 A blue-ribbon panel of national scholars inaugurates a major project to study why U.S. incarceration rates are among the world’s highest.

NY Times Calls Prison Solitary Confinment "Cruel and Futile"

The New York Times editorial page says that solitary confinement--up to 23 hours a day in isolation, can cause depression, rage, and severe mental suffering. Juan Méndez, United Nations special rapporteur on torture, pressed the United Nations Human Rights Council last week to help reduce the use of solitary confinement.

The Times argues that solitary confinement "often sparks violence instead of dampening it" and "tends to increase the likelihood that a prisoner will  "commit another crime when he gets out." Citing its own recent story on the subject, which was summarized in this digest, the Times says that several states are trying to reduce the numbers in solitary. It says a "compelling class action lawsuit" filed last week against Arizona "shows that much needs to be done to force policymakers to abandon this cruel and futile practice."

"The Gray Box": An Investigation of Solitary Confinement in U.S. Prisons

A new report from the Dart Society offers a searing look at solitary confinement in United States prisons. 

Maine's Dramatic Reduction of Solitary Confinement

The state’s new governor and corrections commissioner have sharply reduced prisoners in solitary without a rise in violence. They may have shown other states a way out of the supermax morass.

Solitary Confinement, Not So Bad After All?

Long-term solitary confinement in prison has long been a source of controversy as most literature and critics of the process say it exacerbates mental illness.