Videos about Solitary Confinement

• Torture in Our Name, a documentary by NRCAT
• Fortress of Solitude, a short video by Diana Diroy, featuring Five Mualimmak. It powerfully tells the story of one man’s experience in solitary confinement.
• The Gray Box, a 15 minute investigative look at solitary confinement.
• Solitary Confinement: Cruel and Inhuman, a five minute look at solitary confinement produced by the American Friends Service Committee.
• Up the Ridge, available for live-streaming here. Through the lens of Wallens Ridge State Prison in Virginia, the documentary offers an in-depth look at the United States prison industry, exploring competing political agendas that align government policy with human rights violations.
• Video excerpts from the October 2013 California legislative hearing in response to the historic California prisoner hunger strike in which over 30,000 incarcerated people took part to protest torture.

Amos Caley, a former seminarian organizer with NRCAT and AFSC in New Jersey, has developed a three-week adult education curriculum for Christian congregations to engage people of faith in work to confront mass incarceration and solitary confinement.  Download the leader's guide and the participant guide.

"Shavuot Resources for Solitary Confinement"  by T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights. T'ruah is putting the spotlight on mass incarceration in America, and specifically on the use of solitary confinement. The resources use Moses' experience on Mount Sinai--alone with God--as a jumping off point for exploring these topics. Use the text study and facilitator's guide for your Tikkun Leil Shavuot, adult study group, or social justice-minded high school students.

"In the Story of Jonah, an Urgent Lesson About the Dangers of Solitary Confinement" by Margo Schlanger, Tablet Magazine, September 11, 2013. Schlanger shares reflections for Yom Kippur about the Book of Jonah and what it may teach us about solitary confinement.

"What I Learned From Herman Wallace: Black Panther, Political Prisoner, and Friend" by Rev. Mae Elise, Huffington Post, November 3, 2013. A powerful reflection on friendship and liberation.

MLK Weekend 2016: Sermon from NRCAT's Rev. Laura Markle Downton this Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend for A Sacred Conversation on Race at Trinity Episcopal Church in Princeton, NJ.

"Misheberach for Hunger Strikers" By Rabbi Lev Meirowitz Nelson. The prayer was written for the hunger strike in California that began in July 2013 which had over 30,000 participants.

"Interfaith Principles Guiding Our Work on U.S. Prisons" These principles focus on why ending prolonged solitary confinement is a moral imperative. A pdf version is available here. 

"Presbyterians Speak Out Against Solitary Confinement" by R. Ward Holder, September 1, 2012. In August of 2012, the Presbyterian Church (USA) accepted a resolution that defined the use of solitary confinement as a form of torture, called on leaders within America to adopt new practices, and to accept the UN Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture.

"Judaism and Solitary Confinement" by Rabbi Jonathan K. Crane. Crane argues why Judaism does not endorse the use of solitary confinement. Crane concludes that an inmate cannot be sent to solitary for arbitrary reasons or for an indefinite amount of time.

Faith-based testimony for the "Reassessing Solitary Confinement: The Human Rights, Fiscal and Public Safety Consequences" hearing held on June 19, 2012, by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights.

"Herman's House and Parahsat Balak" T'ruah Talking Point on Solitary Confinement, by Rabbi Rachel Gartner.

"Herman's House and Parahsat Pinchas" T'ruah Talking Point on Solitary Confinement, by Rabbi Rachel Gartner. 

• Redemption of the Prosecutor, available here for ordering (free of charge), tells the story of a former prosecutor and devout Christian, Preston Shipp, who forges a friendship with one young prisoner which puts his faith in the justice system—and in Jesus—to the ultimate test. 
• The House I Live In, available here, captures heart-wrenching stories from individuals at all levels of the 'war on drugs.' From the dealer to the grieving mother, the narcotics officer to the senator, the inmate to the federal judge, the film offers a penetrating look inside the ‘war on drugs,’ offering a definitive portrait and revealing its profound human rights implications.

Academic Resources

• "Solitary Confinement: Social Death and Its Afterlives" by Lisa Guenther
• "Spirituality in Dark Places: The Ethics of Solitary Confinement (Content and Context in Theological Ethics)" by Derek S. Jeffreys

NRCAT Advocacy Tools:

• NRCAT's Statement Against Prolonged Solitary Confinement