Poor and incomplete data collection makes it difficult to understand the full range of people held in solitary confinement in US prisons and jails. But a one-of-a-kind analysis aims to become a benchmark for tracking the practice, part of a larger effort in which cities, states and the federal government weigh how to limit its use.
About 122,840 people in federal and state prisons for adults and federal and local jails were placed in restrictive housing — informally known as solitary confinement — for 22 hours or more on any given day in mid-2019, according to a new report released Tuesday based on the most recent government data available.
That equates to about 6% of the total US prison and jail population at the time.
The report, prepared by Solitary Watch, a nonprofit watchdog group, and Unlock the Box, an advocacy campaign, is based on self-reported figures from states and the federal government’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, as well as a Survey sent to all US prisons of the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit criminal justice advocacy group.
Democratic Rep. Cori Bush, whose home state of Missouri had nearly 12% of its total prison population in restrictive housing in a single day, said the report’s findings underscore a «catastrophe.»
«Inflicting loneliness on a person is a moral plague on this nation,» he said. «Inflicting it on hundreds of thousands of people, disproportionately Black, Brown and Indigenous, is a disaster. We as public officials must act now to stop this widespread torture.»
The overall figure is more than 1 in 20 people incarcerated in solitary confinement in the United States, Solitary Watch director Jean Casella said, adding that the report is still an incomplete picture because not all states provide their restrictive numbers. Housing to the federal government and local jails are generally not required to record incidents. The report also does not include the uses of solitary confinement in immigration detention centers either youth facilitieswhere data is also limited.
“Until a better system is developed and demanded, what we are going to have is this snapshot,” Casella said. «And since there is no penalty for not informing the [Bureau of Justice Statistics]We’re lucky to have so many states even doing it.»
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 proportion 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 he was looking for alternatives to segregate and isolate inmates after recognizing a Vera Institute Report which found that people would spend additional days or weeks being held while waiting for a general population bed to open up and inmates’ mental health needs not being adequately addressed.
The department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, Delaware was the only state in the report to say there were no cases of solitary confinement in its prisons.
A spokesman for the state Department of Correction attributed this to the revision of Delaware’s restrictive housing policy in 2019, saying the opening of a specialized unit at the state’s largest prison is treating mentally ill inmates who normally They would have been confined in maximum security housing.
While extended solitary confinement is generally defined as placing someone in a cell for at least 22 hours per day for 15 or more consecutive days, Delaware updated its disciplinary policy so that inmates are not held in isolation for more than 15 days and must get 10 weekly hours of recreation time.
Correctional staff and organizations of correctional officers have responded that isolating inmates can be a necessary tool to prevent serious harm to inmates or others. But studies have shown it also increases the risk of self-harm and suicide and may not be effective in combating recidivism.
the last report differs from previous studies by not focusing solely on inmates who have been held 15 days or more in solitary confinement, but who have spent any number of days in a cell for 22 hours or more.
Casella said she hopes the report can help encourage corrections officials to isolate inmates only in very limited situations, such as reduced violence, and only for short periods, not days at a time.
Waves of solitary confinement
Efforts are underway in some places.
State legislators in Nevada are considering a bill that it would address the use of solitary confinement so that it «can only be used as a last resort, in the least restrictive manner, and for the shortest period of time possible.»
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is currently tasked with creating new guidelines for segregated confinement after Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, vetoed a bill last year end indefinitely solitary confinement for security reasons. The invoice was reintroduced in this sessionand if approved, it would define solitary confinement as segregating someone for more than 17 hours a day and without contact with others besides prison staff.
In New York City, a push to ban solitary confinement in jails has won resistance from corrections officials despite the City Council holding a veto-proof supermajority. Meanwhile, the city agreed last month to settle a $53 million lawsuit filed by pretrial detainees who claimed they were being held in jail conditions similar to solitary confinement.
«It is a shame that our government institutions lock more than 120,000 people in solitary confinement every day,» said New York City Ombudsman Jumaane Williams, who helped introduce legislation banning solitary confinement. «Behind that number are real people suffering alone, many in silence, so we have to talk.»
At the federal level, President Joe Biden vowed to largely end solitary confinement and also issued an executive order a year ago aiming to review the practice, but an NBC News analysis found that its use was only increasing in the subsequent months.
A Justice Department report in February said a task force of senior federal corrections officials was examining the use of restrictive housing and «actively investigating» why the number of prisoners in restrictive housing has increased in recent years.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons is «taking the necessary short- and long-term steps to carefully address this issue, and we trust [BOP Director Colette Peters’] ability to effectively carry out the objectives of the President’s Executive Order,» a Justice Department spokesperson said.
At the very least, Casella said, the federal government can improve its overall data collection process.
«Prisons and jails are perhaps the most change-resistant government institutions we have in this country,» he said, «so achieving any kind of change is going to be a long and arduous process.»