Solitary confinement in the news
This page is updated regularly. To suggest a link, send an email.
Misc.
Mentally ill female prisoners treated cruelly, inhumanly, report finds. By Diana Zlomislic (The Star) 9 May 2012
Solitary confinement is no place for a poet By AL Kennedy (The Guardian) 9 May 2012
25 Ohio supermax prisoners start a hunger strike. By Ben Turk (San Francisco Bay View) 8 May 2012
Troy Anderson lawsuit: Supermax conditions draw criticism from judge By Alan Prendergast (Denver Westword) 7 May 2012
Eight Months in Solitary, by Andrew Harmon (The Advocate) 7 May 2012
Tamms' future is on the line: Will panel recommend closing supermax prison? By George Pawlaczyk (News-Democrat) 28 April 2012
W.Va. ends solitary confinement for juveniles. By Associated Press (The Mariertta Times)27 April 2012
Christopher Tappin Extradition: 'My 10 Barbaric Days In US Prison' By Associate Press (Huffington Post) 27 April 2012
A solitary confinement solution: Editorial (Los Angeles Times) 24 April 2012
Forty years in solitary: two men mark sombre anniversary in Louisiana prison By Ed Pilkington (The Guardian) 16 April 2012
Ahmed v UK- a green light for solitary confinement? By Richard Haley (Scotland Against Criminalising Communities) 12 April 2012
Battle ends with Hamza heading for a US prison. By Terri Judd, Jerome Taylor, Kevin Rawlinson (The Independent) 11 April 2012
European court makes the right call on Abu Hamza. By Joshua Rozenberg (The Guardian) 10 April 2012
Just how bad are American 'supermax' prisons? By Sean Clare and Daniel Nasaw in Washington (BBC News) 10 April 2012
Abu Hamza US extradition backed by European Court By Dominic Casciani (BBC News Online) 10 April 2012.
The European Court of Human Rights has backed the extradition of Abu Hamza and four other terror suspects from the UK to the US.
See judgement here
Prisons Rethink Isolation, Saving Money, Lives and Sanity By Erica Goode (New York Times) 10 March 2012
Bradley Manning's treatment was cruel and inhuman, UN torture chief rules. By Ed Pilkington (The Guardian) 12 March 2012
House kills study to reduce solitary confinement in prisons. By Anita Kumar (Washington Post Local) 6 February 2012
Proposed Bill: Directing the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study the use of solitary confinement by the Department of Corrections
(HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 126) Pre-filed January 11, 2012 [LINK TO TEXT]
Super maximum security prison planned (Bangkok Post) 2 February 2012 [further detail of planned prison]
B35bln “super-max” prison planned (Bangkok Post) 1 February 2012
The Gray Box: An investigative look at solitary confinement - A Dart Society Report. By Susan Greene, January 2012
People power pries Abu Jamal from punitive administrative custody. By Linn Washington Jr. (San Francisco Bay) 30 January 2012
Government wants to isolate drug addict prisoners (Bangkok Post) 30 January 2012
GUEST COLUMN: Solitary confinement reform is welcome sign of progress. By Denise Maes (The Gazette, Colorado Springs)January 28, 2012
Mumia Refuses DOC’s demands to cut his locks (Amsterdam News) 27 January 2012
Is Isolation A Form of Torture? UN Expert says It Is. By Evelyn Leopold (Huffington Post) 26 January 2012
New Mexico man who pulled tooth while locked in solitary confinement awarded $ 22 million. 25 January 2012
Feeling Death at our Heels: An update from the frontlines of the struggle (San Francisco Bay View) 25 January, 2012 UPDATE FROM CALIFORNIA
Israeli prisons are accused of violating international conventions for the treatment of children.By Priyanka Boghani (GlobalPost) 23 January, 2012
Solitary Confinement in Great Britain: Still Harsh, But Rare. By Elisa Mosler (SolitaryWatch.com) 19 January 2012
Solitary confinement in Virginia. (Editorial) The Washington Post, 16 January 2012
Mumia Abu-Jamal Moved Off Death Row-and into Solitary Confinement. By James Ridgeway and Jean Casella (SolitaryWatch.com) 13 January, 2012
Private prisons’ blueprint for success: more lobbying, less security. By Alan Prendergast (Westword) 13 January 2012
Irate parents say ‘scream rooms’ in schools are like solitary confinement in prison. By Larry Mcshane (New York Daily News) 11 January 2012
Misbehaving kids at Farm Hill Elementary School locked in closet-sized, blood-stained rooms, parents say
Call for Action: Call Now Stand With Mumia and everyone in Solitary! Shut Down Solitary Units. Close Restricted Housing units end torture blocks. Prison Radio,10 January 2012
“Isolation Kills” Life in F Type Prisons. By Ayca Soylemez (BIA News Centre) 10 January 2012
Va. prisons’ use of solitary confinement is scrutinized. By Anita Kumar (Washington Post Local) 8 January 2012
California bill so reporters can interview prisoners progressing. By Deborah Dupre (Human Rights Examiner) 7 January 2012
Juvenile lifers targeted for rape, excessive isolation in adult prisons. By Alan Prendergast (Westword) 4 January, 2012
Man dies in Calif. state-sponsored torture scandal. By Deborah Dupre (Human Rights Examiner) 31 December 2011
Robert Hood: A former supermax warden’s resolutions for 2012. By Alan Prendergast (Denver Westword) 28 December 2011
Jailed Belarusian Oppositionist to Remain In Solitary Confinement (Radio Free Europe) 22 December 2011
Local death-row inmate deemed ‘too dangerous’ to relocate Springfield inmate one of six to stay at super maximum facility. By Leo Grieco and Jessica Heffner (Springfield News Sun) 21 December 2011
Georgia Judge Accused of Misconduct Will Resign. By Robbie Brown (New York Times) 20 December 2011
To witness people say no to state-sanctioned torture is a beautiful sight indeed. By Randall Sondai Ellis (San Francisco Bay View) 18 December, 2011
Manning finally has day in court as prosecutors detail ‘crimes’: US Army private accused of sending secrets to WikiLeaks turns fire on judge as trial begins
By David Usborne(The Independent)17 December 2011
Pre-Trial Hearing Begins for Soldier Tied to Wikileaks. By William Ide (Voice of America) 16 December 2011
Beyond Guantánamo, a Web of Prisons for Terrorism Inmates. By Scott Shane (New York Times) 10 December 2011
Ireland: Number of prisoners on 23-hour lock-up drops (The Journal) 29 November 2011
Bradley Manning: MEPs’ open letter to the US government (The Guardian) 29 November 2011
The letter signed by more than 50 European parliament members expressing concern over whistleblower’s treatment in custody
The Shocking Ways the Corporate Prison Industry Games the System by Rania Khalek (AlterNet) 29 November 2011
Solitary Confinement In Colorado Prisons Overused, State-Funded Report Finds. By John Rudolf (Huffington Post) 28 November 2011
Appeals court weighs suits of four terrorists challenging Supermax move. By John Ingold (Denver Post) 18 November 2011
Solitary confinement: Isolating prisoners overused in Colorado, study suggests. By Alan Prendergast (Westword) 17 November 2011
Birtukan tells UN new Ethiopia wouldn’t terrorize citizens. By Abebe Gellaw (ESAT News) 17 November 2011.
Iran uses beatings to pressure Christian pastor: Reports confirm jailed leader resisting campaign to make him recant. By Michael Carl (WND) 17 November 2011
Beatings and solitary confinement are two of the tools being used by Iranian officials to pressure a Christian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani condemned for blasphemy to recant his faith, according to reports.
Council of Europe anti-torture Committee: solitary confinement in prisons should be minimised (Strasbourg, 10 November 2011)
In its annual report, which was published today, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) urges States to minimise the use of solitary confinement of prisoners. This measure should be applied only in exceptional circumstances and for the shortest possible period of time. Download PDF copy.
Reducing solitary confinement: How Maine’s corrections commissioner dropped supermax numbers by 70 percent . . . and became a national leader in prison reform (if anybody follows). By Lance Tapley (The Portland Phoenix) 2 November 2011
Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, Or Carlos The Jackal, Reportedly On Hunger Strike (Huffington Post) 25 October 2011
In solitary: I wanted to talk with people: that was the biggest desire’ By Kyaw Kha (Mizzima, Burma News) 24 October 2011
Supporters of Tamms inmate: Solitary should not be dumping ground for mentally ill. BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK AND BETH HUNDSDORFER (News-Democrat) 23 October 2011
UN Special Rapporteur on torture calls for the prohibition of solitary confinement, 18 Oct 2011
Why California prisoners press on with hunger strike. By George Lavender (The Guardian) 17 October 2011
Some inmates continue prison hunger strike, advocates say. By Mary Slosson (Reuters) 15 October 2011
ACLU launches new campaign: Stop Solitary - The Dangerous Overuse of Solitary Confinement in the United States
Judge tosses suit of inmate long held in solitary. “A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed by an inmate who has been in solitary confinement for nearly 28 years, saying the convicted murderer’s conditions are not extreme”. By Sara Burnett (The Denver Post), 5 October 2011
‘Judge Allows Trial on Terrorist’s Challenge to Prison Rules’ .By John Schwartz and Benjamin Weiser (The New York Times) 3 October 2011
‘Lawsuit Breaks Ground for Transgender Supermax Inmates’. By Adam Klasfeld (Courthouse News Service) 8 September 2011
‘After Magnitsky, Prison Doctors Ordered to Check Inmates’: Chastened by the Kremlin and the international community after the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, the Justice Ministry has ordered prison doctors to check the health of prisoners being punished with solitary confinement. By Natalya Krainova (The Moscow Times) 07 September 2011
‘Indefinite solitary confinement persists in California prisons’ By Jack Dolan (Los Angeles Times) 05 September 2011
‘Solitary confinement was the worst thing. I thought I’d never get out’. A free man after spending five months in Gaddafi’s notorious Abu Salim prison,
Matthew VanDyke explains his horrific ordeal (The Independent) 29 August 2011
US film-maker held in Libyan jails for six months describes his joy at release. By David Smith (The Guardian) 29 August 2011
Freeing the West Memphis Three (The Daily Beast) 28 August 2011
Japanese Officials Reveal Execution Chambers. By Hiroko Tabuchi (The New York Times) 27 August, 2010
Years-long isolation of inmates under attack. By Dane Schiller (Houston Chronicle) 16 August 2011
‘Taiwan begins to deal with its amateur spies caught by China’ By Cindy Sui (Los Angeles Times) 14 August 2011
‘Dog Cell’ for Striking Prisoners (Burma) Radio Free Asia, 24 May 2011
Opposition Leader Describes Jail (Burma) Radio Free Asia 12 March 2010
Solitary: Tough test of survival instinct (BBC World News, Asia-Pacific)
Andres Breivik (Norway)
Who, What, Why: How do you assess a killer’s mental health? (BBC News) 29 November 2011
Norway massacre: Breivik declared insane (BBC News) 29 November 2011
Anders Behring Breivik to leave solitary confinement
Norwegian extremist Anders Behring Breivik, who has confessed to twin attacks in July that killed 77 people, will be allowed out of solitary confinement but will still be subjected to heavy restrictions, police said on Thursday. (The Telegraph) 13 October 2011
Norway killer describes isolation as ‘torture’ (ITN) 19 September 2011
Anders Behring Breivik held for further eight weeks (The Guardian) 19 September 2011
Norway Killer will spend a month in isolation ITN News, 26 July 2011
Norwegian Police Probe Shooting Massacre Suspect’s Claims of ‘More Cells’. By Marianne Stigset and Josiane Kremer, 26 July 2011
Prisons ‘often’ break isolation laws: Norwegian prisons have admitted that they “often” hold prisoners in solitary confinement without permission from the courts. 10 August 2011
Hunger Strike at Pelican Bay Security Housing Unit (SHU) July 2011 & September 2011
On July 1st, 2011 prisoners in California’s Security Housing Unit (SHU) at Pelican Bay State Prison began a hunger strike, calling for an end to their long term isolation and other conditions of imprisonment at the SHU.
For further information and updates see the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition’s blog
Second hunger strike, September 2011
‘Nearly 12,000 Prisoners Join California Hunger Strike To End Torture Conditions’. By Jeffrey Kaye (The Public Record) 3 October 2011
‘California prisoners launch second hunger strike’. BY Sam Stanton (The Sacramento Bee) 29 September 2011
‘Prisoners Renew a Protest in California’. By Erica Goode (The New York Times) 29 September 2011
To read about the prisoners’ key demands and to sign a petition in support of the hunger strikers
http://www.change.org/petitions/support-prisoners-on-hunger-strike-at-pelican-bay-state-prison
A statement by medical professionals in support of the hunger strike
Hunger Strike by Inmates Is Latest Challenge to California’s Prison System, by Ian Lovett (New York Times 8 July 2011)
STRIKE UPDATES:
Tell the California Department of Corrections to Meet the Demands of Prisoners. By Nadra Kareem Nittle, 8 August, 2011
Prison officials move to improve inmate isolation conditions. By Michael Montgomery (California Watch) 18 August 2011
Hunger Strike Updates. By Isaac Ontiveros (Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity). San Francisco Bay View, 22 August 2011
ANGOLA 3
Angola 3 News
Amnesty International launches campaign to release Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace from isolation
Court Rules Against Angola 3′s Albert Woodfox: No End in Sight to 38 Years in Solitary Confinement (Solitary Watch 22 June 2010)
“WHAT KIND OF HOUSE DOES A MAN WHO HAS LIVED IN A 6’ X9’ BOX FOR OVER 30 YEARS DREAM OF?” The House That Herman Built
From the Bottom of the Heap by Robert Hillary King (website and book info)
Bradley Manning
News and comment on Bradley Manning from the Guardian (ongoing updates)
News and comment on Bradley Manning from the New York Times (ongoing updates)
Independent UN expert on torture calls for unrestricted access to US detainees
UN Special Rapporteur statement
The shameful abuse of Bradley Manning, by Daniel Ellsberg (Guardian, 11 March 2011)
On Bradley Manning, solitary confinement and selective outrage, by Jean Casella and James Ridgeway (SolitaryWatch 2 January 2011)
Psychologists for Social Responsibility Open Letter re Bradley Manning
A typical day for Bradley Manning, Blog Post by David E Coombs, Bradley Manning’s lawyer (18 December 2010)
The inhuman conditions of Bradley Manning’s detention, By Glenn Greenwald (Salon.com, 15 December 2010)