There has to be a better way, this is a disgrace.
New report reveals over 122K are held in solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and jails
By Erik Ortiz
Poor and incomplete data collection makes it difficult to know the full scope of people held in solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and jails. But a first-of-its-kind analysis is aiming to become a benchmark for tracking the practice — part of a larger effort as cities, states and the federal government weigh how to limit its use.
About 122,840 people in federal and state adult prisons and federal and local jails were placed in restrictive housing — informally known as solitary confinement — for 22 hours or more on a given day in mid-2019, according to a new report released Tuesday based on the most recently available government data.
That amounts to about 6% of the total U.S. prison and jail population at the time.
The report — prepared by Solitary Watch, a nonprofit watchdog group, and Unlock the Box, an advocacy campaign — relies on self-reported figures from states and the federal government's Bureau of Justice Statistics as well as a survey sent to all U.S. jails from the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit criminal justice advocacy group.
Democratic Rep. Cori Bush, whose home state of Missouri counted nearly 12% of its total prison population in restrictive housing on a single day, said the report's findings underscore a "catastrophe."
"Inflicting solitary on one person is a moral blight on this nation," she said. "Inflicting it on hundreds of thousands of people — disproportionately Black, brown and Indigenous people — is a disaster. We as public officials must act now to stop this widespread infliction of torture."
The overall figure amounts to more than 1 in 20 incarcerated people in solitary confinement in the United States, said Solitary Watch Director Jean Casella, adding that the report is still an incomplete picture because not all states provide their restrictive housing numbers to the federal government and local jails are not generally compelled to log incidents. The report also does not include uses of solitary confinement in immigration detention centers or youth facilities, where data is also limited.
"Until a better system is developed and is mandated, what we're going to have is this snapshot," Casella said. "And since there's no penalty for not reporting to the [Bureau of Justice Statistics], we're fortunate we have this many states even doing it at all."
According to the report, only one state — West Virginia — did not provide numbers to the bureau or make them publicly available. The West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation did not respond to a request for comment.
The state with the highest share of its prison population in solitary confinement was Nevada, with almost 26%, according to the report.
The Nevada Department of Corrections said in 2019 that it was looking at alternatives to segregating and isolating inmates after acknowledging a Vera Institute report that found people would spend additional days or weeks being held as they waited for a general population bed to open and inmates' mental health needs were not being adequately addressed.
The department did not immediately return requests for comment.
Meanwhile, Delaware was the only state in the report to say there were zero instances of solitary confinement in its prisons.
A state Department of Correction spokesman credited this to Delaware’s overhaul of its restrictive housing policy in 2019, and said the opening of a specialized unit at the state's largest prison is treating mentally ill inmates who would have normally been held in maximum security housing.
more:
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-report-reveals-122k-are-held-solitary-confinement-us-prisons-jails-rcna84840?
Do something positive.
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