While often justified as a way to deter violence inside facilities, solitary confinement is more often used to punish non-violent transgressions such as dress code violations, refusal to work, or lack of respect toward correctional officials. Despite the failure of the U.S. Supreme Court to find that solitary confinement per se violates the Eighth Amendment, increasing numbers of stakeholders, including correctional officers, have called for its abolition.

The presentation includes a brief PowerPoint presentation on topics from the Female Offender Manual. A panel discussion follows to address questions on the policy, medical treatment, special needs and challenges regarding the administration of female facilities. 

NACDL has serious concerns with many of the changes in the proposed rule Inmate Discipline Program: Disciplinary Segregation and Prohibited Act Code Changes, 89 FR 6455. …the proposed regulations provide no protections for people in administrative segregation and other forms of solitary confinement. Second, the creation and elevation of disciplinary violations … will lead to arbitrary and capricious enforcement and further erode public trust in the agency. Third, the proposed ban on social media accounts … impedes a critical component of successful reentry...

Many states have passed legislation limiting or prohibiting solitary confinement for certain groups, including pregnant women and young people. Although the pace of change has been slow in the solitary confinement landscape, it is moving in the right direction.

Presented by Judith Resnik, Yale Law School, New Haven, CT; and JoEllyn Jones, Jones & Ortiz P.A., Glassboro, NJ

What happens to our clients after sentencing is largely a mystery to defense attorneys. For most of us, our impressions of prison are created more by fictionalized media than actual knowledge. Our lack of familiarity with the corrections system makes us ill-equipped to prepare our clients for what they can actually expect on the inside. In this webcast, former federal prisoner turned professor Michael Santos speaks about what defenders can do to help prepare their clients prepare for prison and beyond.

Our members tell us that conditions at NYC Department of Corrections detention facilities have deteriorated to the point of near collapse. News coverage, the NYC Board of Corrections report issued September 12, 2022, and the latest report from the Monitor appointed by SDNY Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain show a terrible toll of preventable pain, suffering, and death.

Letter with NACDL New York affiliate NYSACDL to Department of Justice leadership regarding unsafe, inhumane, and unconstitutional conditions persisting at the Rikers Island Correctional Facility.

Coalition letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland regarding the risks of contracting COVID-19 for those living and working in carceral facilities, and the release options available to reduce that risk through compassionate release, home confinement, and other CARES Act-authorized release programs (H.R.748, 2020).

This month Susan Elizabeth Reese reviews American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey Into the Business of Punishment by Shane Bauer.

Law enforcement officers have renewed their demand that Congress alter the law to allow states to jam phone signals of contraband cellphones in prisons.

Incarcerated individuals are entitled to a basic standard of care, but stories of subhuman conditions still abound in the media. Defense attorneys perhaps can obtain additional doctor visits or proper medication. The fundamental abuses, however, are harder to combat.

Solitary confinement is unconstitutional punishment for prisoners who have, or are at risk of, serious mental illness. Dan Jackson and Nicholas Goldberg point out the negative effects — hallucinations, hypertension, uncontrollable anger, suicidal thoughts, and chronic depression. It is no excuse to claim that the rules against solitary confinement do not apply as long as the prisoner has contact with guards and occasional visits from lawyers, psychiatrists, and family members.

This month Allan F. Brooke II reviews Solitary: Unbroken by Four Decades in Solitary Confinement by Albert Woodfox with Leslie George.