Solitary confinement
Two Louisiana prisoners mark 40 years spent in solitary confinement
This April marks the 40th anniversary of Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace being sentenced to solitary confinement in a Louisiana prison. That’s the longest period someone has spent in solitary in U.S. history. Now it has some saying the practice isn’t constitutional.
Making The Case: Arguments For and Against Solitary Confinement
About 30,000 inmates in California are on hunger strike this week protesting the state’s solitary confinement policies and prison overcrowding. California holds some 4,500 inmates in solitary confinement and the psychological and emotional effects of years in solitary can be devastating. Some researchers liken its effects to those of post-traumatic stress disorder. Today we have […]
‘Herman’s House’: The Dreams of a Man in Solitary Confinement for 40 Years
Artist Jackie Sumell first heard about Herman Wallace at a lecture on solitary confinement. She was outraged to learn that Wallace, a Louisiana state prisoner, has lived in solitary confinement 23 hours a day for more than 40 years now. He is believed to be the longest-serving prisoner in solitary confinement in the United States. […]
The Angola Three and Solitary Confinement
This month, two prisoners in the U.S. will mark the 40th anniversary of their solitary confinement in the notorious Angola Prison in Louisiana. It’s believed to be the longest period of time in such confinement in U.S. penal history. Tim Franks of our partner the BBC reports on their case, and meets another former inmate […]
Incarceration in America: Rethinking Solitary Confinement
All this week we’re talking about incarceration in America. Yesterday we looked at juvenile justice, and whether life-without-parole sentences for teenage murder convicts violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Today, we’re talking about super-maximum-security prisons and the effects of solitary confinement. According to the United Nations, the U.S. has more inmates held […]
UN Special Rapportuer: Solitary Confinement is Cruel and Unusual Punishment
The Eighth Amendment declares that “cruel and unusual punishment” may not be inflicted on prisoners. But does solitary confinement constitute cruel and unusual punishment? In a new report looking at the imprisonment of Bradley Manning, the soldier suspected of leaking confidential military documents to the whistleblowing website Wikileaks, the UN Special Rapporteuer on Torture, Juan […]