NEWS ON ISOLATED CONFINEMENT IN NEW YORK
VOICES: The Loneliest Place in the World
By Shawn Smith. Reprinted from Solitary Watch. The following essay is by Shawn Smith, who is serving time for drug sales and assault in New York. He is one of some 4,500 individuals currently being held in isolated confinement in the state’s prison system. In a letter to Solitary Watch, he writes “I’m so lonely that [...]
NEWS: NYC Board of Correction Rejects Regulating Use of Solitary Confinement
Press Release from the Jails Action Coalition. June 3 – Today, the Board of Correction denied a petition to adopt rules regulating the use of solitary confinement in jails, also known as “punitive segregation,” and decided to appoint a committee to study the practice- delaying a decision until its September meeting. On April 9th, the NYC [...]
NEWS: Roundup of National News on Isolated Confinement, May 2013
Compiled by the CAIC Research Committee. May 2013 Numerous advocacy and religious organizations are supporting a sign-on campaign for a letter asking Attorney General Eric Holder to ban the practice of holding youth in federal custody in solitary confinement. http://activism.thenation.com/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=10781 May 30, 2013 The ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Law Offices of [...]
NEWS & EVENTS: Board of Correction to Vote on Solitary Reform in New York City Jails
The following is an open letter from the NYC Jails Action Coalition regarding the upcoming vote by the New York City Board of Correction, the body that oversees city jails, on a proposal from JAC that would bring significant reform to solitary confinement practices. Click here for an earlier story on this subject. Dear Supporters: Thank you again for [...]
NEWS: Solitary Confinement Is Just Criminal
By Karen Murtagh. Reprinted from the Albany Times-Union. The Times Union recently published an opinion piece by the president of the prison guards’ union responding to a published profile of Jeffrey Rockefeller. Due to a near lifetime of serious mental illness, Rockefeller landed in prison and spent half of his 40-month incarceration in solitary confinement [...]
VOICES: You Are Solitary Confinement
By Nicholas Zimmerman. The following narrative and poem are by Nicholas Zimmerman, who is currently incarcerated at Attica. He has spent, in total, a decade in solitary confinement. The website maintained by his loved ones is www.FREENicholasZimmerman.com. Thanks to CAIC member Desiray Smith for sharing his story. You are the most profound form of Cruel and Unusual [...]
NEWS: Bill Aims to Reduce Solitary Confinement in New York City Jails
By Josey Bartlett. Excerpted from the Queens Chronicle. About 12 years ago Five Omar Mualimmak — who says his unique numerical name is the subject of a whole other article — was arrested on drug trafficking, possession of an illegal weapon, money laundering and tax evasion charges and sent to Rikers Island. Those charges were [...]
NEWS: No Peace Outside “The Box” for People with Mental Illness in New York’s Prisons
By Paul Grondahl. Excerpted from the Albany Times-Union. Jeff Rockefeller never got past the eighth grade growing up in Troy. He spent his 20s in the Capital District Psychiatric Center and has struggled with severe depression and suicidal thoughts. “He’s never had a day of peace in his life,” his mother said. Now 44 years [...]
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