From The Hill:
The safety of our prison staff should be one of our paramount concerns — alongside the safety of inmates and the communities into which they eventually will be released. Some states are enacting reforms that enhance all of the above, through putting appropriate limits on solitary confinement.
Why should we care about those in solitary? The Vera Institute’s Segregation Reduction Project found that 85 percent of prisoners were sent to disciplinary segregation for minor rule infractions in Illinois. Common violations included being out of place and failing to report to an assignment. Being confined for 22 to 23 hours a day in an often windowless room that averages about 60 square feet is not healthy. Indeed, research has found that prolonged solitary confinement has significant mental and physical health repercussions. Indeed, a 2019 study found that, upon release, those who had spent time in solitary confinement were substantially more likely to die within the first year. Anthony Graves, who spent 10 years in solitary confinement in Texas before being exonerated, attributes his inability to have a good night’s sleep and his mood swings, resulting in emotional breakdowns, to this experience. Continue reading >>>
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