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Voices from Solitary: A Sentence Worse Than Death
The following essay is by William Blake, who has been held in solitary confinement for nearly 26 years. Currently he is in administrative segregation at Elmira Correctional Facility, a maximum...
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“Systemic Failures Persist” in California Prison Mental Health Care, Judge Rules
California Security Housing Unit Cell California Governor Jerry Brown’s bid to end federal control over the state prison system’s mental health system was denied in federal court on Friday, April 5, in...
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Seven Days in Solitary [4.12.13]
The following roundup features noteworthy news, reports, and opinions on solitary confinement from the past week that have not been covered in other Solitary Watch posts. • Developments surrounding the...
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Voices from Solitary: Your Imagination, But My Reality
Photo Credits: AFSC Prison Watch The following was written by Troy Hendrix, who is currently serving a life sentence at Elmira Correctional Facility, a maximum security facility located in south...
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Seven Days in Solitary [6/2/13]
The following roundup features noteworthy news, reports and opinions on solitary confinement from the past week that have not been covered in other Solitary Watch posts. • The Guardian reports on an...
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Records Show Excessive Use of Force at Colorado Supermax
Records kept by the Colorado Department of Corrections show 61 instances from March 1, 2012 to March 1 of this year of corrections officers using force on men held at the Colorado State Penitentiary...
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Faces and Voices of the California Prison Hunger Strike
Today the massive California prison hunger strike enters its third day. Below are six individuals in Pelican Bay State Prison and Corcoran State Prison SHUs. All have been held in the SHU for over a...
View ArticleThousands of California Prisoners, One Hunger Strike, One Week
California prisoners have been on hunger strike for one full week, today, in protest of long-term solitary confinement. The hunger strike began on July 8th with participation of approximately 30,000...
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California Prison Officials Retaliating Against Hunger Strikers
Christian Gomez, who lost his life during February 2012 hunger strike California prison hunger strikers are entering their twelfth day of refusing state-issued meals in protest of long-term solitary...
View ArticleDay 41 of California Hunger Strike: CDCR Still Insists It’s A Gang Power Play
It is day 41 of the California prison hunger strike, with 129 hunger strikers in six prisons across the state, with 69 of them having refused food since July 8th. As of this writing, the California...
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How Many People Are In Solitary Confinement in California’s Prisons?
With the considerable attention focused on solitary confinement in California, Solitary Watch has observed inconsistent and widely varied statistics provided on the number of individuals housed in...
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Seven Days in Solitary [12/29/13]
The following roundup features noteworthy news, reports and opinions on solitary confinement from the past week that have not been covered in other Solitary Watch posts. • The Denver Post publishes an...
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Voices from Solitary, Analyzing Isolation, Part II
This post is the next in a series of pieces Solitary Watch is publishing as part of a project calling for people held in solitary confinement to write on various proposed themes. Our second suggested...
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Voices from Solitary: A Day in the Life, Part VI
This post is the next in a series of pieces Solitary Watch is publishing as part of a project calling for people held in solitary confinement to write on various proposed themes. Our first suggested...
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Voices from Solitary: The Life of an Escape Artist
The following comes from Steven Jay Russell, who is currently serving a 144-year sentence at the all-solitary Allan B. Polunsky Unit in Texas. Notorious for masterminding four successful, non-violent...
View ArticleVoices from Solitary: Concrete Solitaire
In 2010, the website Planet Waves began publishing the work of prisoner Enceno Macy. For his own protection against retaliation, the name is a pseudonym and the site does not name the prison in which...
View ArticleTexas Senate Hearing Finds Prisoners Released from Solitary Confinement...
In Texas, some 8,100 prisoners are in administrative segregation, which is what the state calls solitary confinement. They are held in isolation in cells that measure 6 x 9 feet for 23 hours a day,...
View ArticleVoices from Solitary: “It Has Zapped Me Of My Personality”
The following comes from a prisoner held at the French Robertson Unit in Abilene, Texas. Robertson Unit is a maximum security facility that houses over 2,900 inmates. The prison houses a large number...
View ArticleVoices from Solitary: What Solitary Confinement Does to the Mind
The following was submitted to Solitary Watch by Michael Jewell, who was sentenced to death in Texas for capital murder in 1970 and spent three years in solitary confinement as a death row prisoner....
View ArticleVoices from Solitary: A Sentence Worse Than Death
The following essay is by William Blake, who has been held in solitary confinement for nearly 26 years. When he wrote this essay he was in administrative segregation at Elmira Correctional Facility, a...
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