At least 122,840 persons held in US prisons or jails are placed in solitary confinement 22 hours or more per day, marking a "humanitarian crisis" for the United States, the advocacy coalition Unlock the Box and Solitary Watch said in a press release on their joint report released on Tuesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd May, 2023) At least 122,840 persons held in US prisons or jails are placed in solitary confinement 22 hours or more per day, marking a "humanitarian crisis" for the United States, the advocacy coalition Unlock the Box and Solitary Watch said in a press release on their joint report released on Tuesday.
"The widespread use of solitary confinement in our prisons and jails is a humanitarian crisis. As the United Nations has confirmed, it's torture taking place on US soil. Yet until now, we haven't even had a comprehensive count of how many people are in solitary," the release said.
The report, dubbed Calculating Torture is the first one to combine information about the use of solitary confinement in local and Federal jails in addition to state and federal prisons, the release said.
The report is based on analysis of recently released data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), state prison systems that do not report to the BJS and statistics from a survey of local jails conducted by the Vera Institute of Justice, the release said.
"These report numbers come closer than have any previously published figures in accounting for the total number of people in solitary confinement in US prisons and jails," the release said. "Previous counts have largely focused on prisons, failing to include jails. In some cases, earlier data also omitted some states, and/or counted only those individuals held in solitary confinement for more than two weeks. For these reasons, previous reports have offered an incomplete picture of how extensively the discredited practice is used and the number of people it affects."
The state of Nevada has the highest share of its prison population placed in solitary confinement at almost 26% while the state of Delaware reported not a single detainee placed in solitary confinement, the release said.
"Solitary confinement causes devastating harm and death, and worsens safety for everyone. Locking over 122,000 people in solitary is a stain on our nation," hhe release added.
