FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 29, 2021
CONTACT: T.C. Morrow, 202-547-1920 or
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
With New Survey Showing Widespread Public Support For Changes to Solitary Confinement, Experts Urge Adoption of Federal Blueprint for Ending Solitary
In Light of President Biden’s Campaign Pledge to End Solitary Confinement, and With a New Study Showing 86% of Registered Voters Support Change, the Blueprint Provides Specific Plans for How the President and U.S. Congress Can Stop This Torture
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, along with people who survived solitary, impacted family members, and other leading experts urged the Biden Administration and Congress to immediately adopt a Blueprint for Ending Solitary Confinement recently released by the Federal Anti-Solitary Taskforce. Their call for action comes in light of a new survey released today by the Program for Public Consultation (PPC) at the University of Maryland, which revealed that 86% of registered voters, including 84% of Republicans and 90% of Democrats, supported changes to solitary confinement policies and practices in U.S. prisons and jails. The Blueprint provides specific proposals for how the U.S. federal government can use executive, administrative, and legislative action to end solitary confinement in federal custody, while also incentivizing states and localities to do the same. On the campaign trail, President Biden and Vice President Harris, as well as other leading Democratic presidential candidates, including Senators Warren and Sanders, promised to end solitary confinement. Advocates urged that now is the moment to fulfill those campaign pledges by adopting the Blueprint’s recommendations.
Johnny Perez, Director of the U.S. Prisons Program at the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, said: “This new survey shows that current solitary confinement policies are way out of step with public opinion and that there is overwhelming, bipartisan support for taking a stand against this torturous and counterproductive practice. As a growing number of states and localities pursue dramatic policy changes to end or restrict solitary, now is the moment for bold action by the federal government to end the practice once and for all, including incentivizing states to end it. We are hopeful the Biden-Harris Administration, as well as Congress, will follow through with their campaign promise to end solitary by any name and in all forms.”
“This is unprecedented. Surveys like these rarely find such broad bi-partisan agreement, and in this case they favor sharply restricting the use of solitary confinement. An overwhelming majority (86%) of American voters support reforms in current Congressional legislation that would greatly restrict the use of solitary confinement, including 84% of Republicans and 90% of Democrats,” said Jessica Sandoval, National Director of the Unlock the Box Campaign. “We are calling on the Biden Administration, Congress and other federal agencies to seize this opportunity to end this barbaric form of punishment, and transform the punishment paradigm in this country, as well as our definition of safety. We are looking forward to the Biden Administration to make good on the promise of ending solitary confinement.”
BACKGROUND:
A newly-formed Federal Anti-Solitary Taskforce (FAST) is urging the Biden-Harris Administration and the U.S. Congress to lead the way in ending the inhumane, harmful, and counterproductive practice of solitary confinement in federal jurisdictions, while incentivizing states and localities to do the same. FAST recently released a Blueprint for Ending Solitary Confinement which calls on the U.S. government to:
- End all forms of solitary confinement in all federal custody, other than lock-ins measured at most in hours to de-escalate emergency situations involving imminent serious physical injury, or true medical quarantine in units overseen by medical staff;
- Ensure that all separation/alternatives to solitary, regardless of what they are called, are the opposite of solitary, with access to full days out-of-cell (at least 14 hours per day) and congregate, meaningful programming and activities (at least 7 hours per day) without restraints and with at least several other people in group spaces conducive to meaningful human engagement;
- Enhance due process protections, using neutral decision-makers and representation at hearings, restricting conduct that can result in any separation to the most egregious conduct in need of an intensive intervention, and imposing strict time limits on any separation; and
- Create oversight and enforcement mechanisms, including ensuring a private cause of action, mandatory data collection, independent oversight by an Ombudsperson, media, and community stakeholders, and incentives for states and localities to end solitary and create safer and more effective interventions.
Currently, over 10,000 people on any given day are in some form of solitary confinement in federal Bureau of Prisons facilities alone (not including other forms of federal detention), representing nearly 8% of the total federal prison population. This is a substantially higher percentage than the national average in state prison systems and even higher than in the federal BOP a decade ago before reductions were made under the Obama administration. In federal custody, as in state and local jurisdictions across the country, solitary and other forms of restrictive housing and practices are disproportionately inflicted on Black people, Latinx people, Native people, and other people of color, as well as transgender and gender non-conforming people, people with mental health needs, and young people. In April 2020 right after the COVID-19 pandemic began, there was an estimated 500 percent increase in the use of solitary confinement, with more than 300,000 people being held in these cruel and inhumane conditions (includes federal, and state systems).
Experts agree that the sensory deprivation, lack of normal interaction, and extreme idleness of solitary can lead to severe psychological, physical, and neurological damage, heart disease, dramatically increased rates of self-mutilation and suicide, and dramatically increased rates of death even after release. Even one or two days in solitary can cause severe health impacts. Solitary has directly caused the deaths of far too many people, and it has increased violence and harm in prisons, detention facilities, and outside communities. Evidence shows that in fact the opposite of solitary confinement - providing people full days out-of-cell with pro-social engagement and programming - actually increases safety.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both committed to ending the practice of solitary confinement in their 2020 campaigns and policy platforms. Thanks to a growing movement against solitary across the country that was fueled by the deaths of Kalief Browder and Layleen Polanco, these commitments were shared widely among other leading Democratic presidential candidates, including Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Cory Booker.
At the same time, states and localities across the country are restricting the use of solitary across partisan lines, and multiple local and state jurisdictions are moving toward fully ending solitary. In 2021, 70 pieces of legislation were filed across 32 states to end some aspect of solitary confinement in state prisons and jails.
For access to the executive summary of the findings and more information, visit: https://publicconsultation.org/criminal-justice/solitary-confinement/
The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is a membership organization committed to ending U.S.-sponsored torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Since its formation in January 2006, more than 300 religious organizations have joined NRCAT, including representatives from the Catholic, evangelical Christian, mainline Protestant, Unitarian Universalist, Quaker, Orthodox Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Baha’i, Buddhist, and Sikh communities. Members include national denominations and faith groups, regional organizations and local congregations.
