Resources

The following resources focus on New York prisons and jails. For national resources on isolated confinement, see resource sections at the ACLU’s Stop Solitary project, National Religious Campaign Against Torture’s U.S. Prisons project, and Solitary Watch.

SELECTED CAIC PRESS RELEASES AND RESOURCE MATERIALS

NYC End Solitary Community Sign-On Letter, August 1, 2021

Key Flaws & Recommendations for BOC Rules to End Solitary Confinement in NYC, April 2021

Memo on Impact of Statewide HALT Solitary Act on Efforts to End Solitary in NYC, April 2021

Testimony of Jails Action Coalition and #HALTsolitary at NYC Council Hearing on Solitary Confinement, December 2020

New Report Finds HALT Solitary Confinement Act Will Save $132 Million Annually

The Torture of Solitary Confinement in NY: One Pager with Key Facts

#HALTsolitary Testimony at Senate Hearing on COVID-19 in Prisons & Jails, September 2020

The Walls Are Closing In On Me: Suicide and Self-Harm in New York State’s Solitary Confinement Units, 2015-2019, May 2020

HALTsolitary_COVID-19 and Solitary Confinement in New York State – May 2020 May 2020

#HALTsolitary Written Testimony May 18 COVID-19 Hearing May 2020

HALT Solitary Act Will Decrease – Not Increase -Costs to NY State & Counties, January 2020

Blueprint for Ending Solitary Confinement in NYC Oct 2019, October 2019

Key Flaws of Governor Cuomo’s Solitary Confinement Regulations and Need for #HALTsolitary, October 2019

#HALTSolitary Campaign Statement on Legislature’s Rejection of Gov. Cuomo’s Flawed Solitary Confinement Proposal, March 15, 2019

#HALTSolitary Campaign Response to Governor Cuomo’s Budget Proposal re: HALT Solitary Confinement Act, January 2019/Updated March 2019

Statement by the New York Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement on President Obama’s Executive Actions to Restrict Solitary Confinement, January 27, 2016.

CAIC, NYS Legislators Demand End to Torture of Solitary Confinement; Members Hold Parallel Actions in Harlem, Long Island, Ithaca, Poughkeepsie and Beacon in Monthly Series, December 22, 2015

Lawmakers, Advocates, and Survivors of Solitary Confinement Back Legislation Limiting Use of Isolation in New York’s Prisons and Jails, April 22, 2015

Lawmakers, Advocates, and Survivors of Solitary Confinement Back Sweeping Reforms to Use of Isolation in New York’s Prisons and Jails, May 5, 2014

New York Lawmakers Introduce Sweeping Reforms to Solitary Confinement in Prisons and Jails, January 31, 2014

Human Rights Day Vigils Will Challenge the Torture of Solitary Confinement in New York, December 6, 2013.

New York Activists Launch Fast Against Solitary Confinement in Solidarity with California Prison Hunger Strikers, July 13, 2013.

New York Groups Unite in Call for Alternatives to Solitary Confinement in Prisons and Jails, March 12, 2013.

CAIC PRINT MATERIALS

Click on the following links for materials that can be downloaded, printed, and copied for use by CAIC members and others interested in educating the public about isolated confinement in New York’s prisons and jails.

CAIC Petition / Online Version

CAIC Call-In Sheet for HALT, June 2019

General Flyer on CAIC, Solitary Confinement, and the HALT Act

Fact Sheet on Solitary Confinement in NY State

Summary of the HALT Act

Voices from Solitary in NY State

Infographic on Solitary in NY State

UN Special Rapporteur on Torture’s Statement on Solitary in NY State

HALT Act Organizational Endorsement Form

HALT Letter to Legislators

TESTIMONY BY CAIC MEMBERS AND ALLIES

#HALTsolitary Campaign Comments on Proposed Solitary Confinement Regs Oct 2019, October 2019

Jewish Leaders in Support of HALT Solitary Confinement Act: Letter to Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, April 22, 2019

Testimony Submitted to the New York State Public Protection Budget Hearing, Regarding the New York State Executive Budget Proposals, State Fiscal Year 2018-2019, January 30, 2018

Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement (CAIC)

Comments Submitted to the NYS Commission on Correction on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Proposed New Rules for Use of Solitary Confinement in New York’s Jails, December 2017

Rosemary Almonte

Rev. Tama Bell

Ken Bright

Brooklyn Defender Services

Ryan Brown

Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement (CAIC)

Comments Endorsed by 25 Organizations

Correctional Association

Critical Resistance

Dan Doniger

Daniel Dromm, New York City Council Member, 25th District

Kristina Gale

Frances Geteles

Shara Harad-Oaks

Keith Hart

John Hogan

James Jasper

Rebekah Kimble

Richenda Kramer

Lauren Mulligan

Legal Aid Society

National Action Network NYC

Parole Preparation Project

D. Kavitha Rao

Release Aging People In Prison / RAPP

Sharon Roth

Social Justice Committee at the UU Congregation at Shelter Rock

Amy Soucy

Lorenzo Steele Jr.

SURJ NYC Anti-Mass Incarceration Group

Anita Teekah

Urban Justice Center

Douglas P. Van Zandt / Alicia Barraza

Elly von Wehren

Testimony Presented Before the The New York State Assembly Committees on Health and Corrections Hearing on Healthcare in New York State Prisons and Local Jails, October 30, 2017

Brooklyn Defender Services

Testimony Submitted to the New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Corrections and Assembly Standing Committee on Mental Health: Public Hearing on Mental Illness in Correctional Settings, November 13, 2014

Correctional Association of New York

Disability Rights New York

Incarcerated Nation Corp.

Mental Health Alternatives to Solitary Confinement

NAMI – NYS

New York Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement

New York City Jails Action Coalition

Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York

Urban Justice Center

REPORTS

Prison Within Prison: Voices of Women Held in Isolated Confinement in New York, Correctional Association of New York, June, 2018

Solitary at Southport: A 2017 Report Based Upon the Correctional Association’s Visits, Data Analysis, & First-Hand Accounts of the Torture of Solitary Confinement from one of New York’s Supermax Prisons. Correctional Association of New York, December 13, 2017.

Kaba, Lewis, Glowa-Kollisch, Hadler, Lee, Alper, Selling, MacDonald, Solimo, Parsons and Venters, Solitary Confinement and Risk of Self-Harm Among Jail Inmates, 104 AM.J. PUBLIC HEALTH 442, 445 (2014).

Three Adolescents with Mental Illness in Punitive Segregation at Rikers Island. The City of New York Board of Correction, October 2013.

James Gilligan, MD and Bandy Lee, M.D., M.Div. Report to the New York City Board of Correction (on solitary confinement in New York City jails). September 5, 2013.

Solitary Confinement in New York State (report and resolution). New York State Bar Association Committee on Civil Rights, January 2013.

Ian Kysel. Growing Up Locked Down: Youth in Solitary Confinement in Jails and Prison Across the United States. ACLU/Human Rights Watch, October 2012. (Contains sections on New York State prisons and New York City jails.)

Scarlet Kim, Taylor Pendergrass and Helen Zelon. Boxed In: The True Cost of Extreme Isolation In New York’s Prisons. New York Civil Liberties Union, October 2012.

David Stoelting, Supermax Confinement in U.S. Prisons, New York City Bar Association, Committee on International Human Rights, September 2011.

Lockdown New York: Disciplinary Confinement in New York State Prisons. Correctional Association of New York, 2003.

DOCUMENTS

Letter to New York State DOCCS from New York City Bar Association, February 8, 2013.

Letter to UN Special Rapporteur on Torture from NYCLU, February 5, 2013.

Peoples v. Fischer, complaint filed by the NYCLU on behalf of Leroy Peoples in U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, December 6, 2012.

For an extensive list of additional documents related to isolated confinement in New York, acquired by the NYCLU through the state Freedom of Information Law, see the “Library” section of the Boxed-In website.

ARTICLES AND COMMENTARIES

Legislation Limiting Solitary Confinement in New York Gains Momentum, Marco Poggio, Solitary Watch, April 29, 2015.

Women in New York State Prisons Face Solitary Confinement While Pregnant or Sick, Victoria Law, Solitary Watch, February 16, 2015.

Transgender Women in New York State Prisons Face Solitary Confinement and Sexual Assault, Aviva Stahl, Solitary Watch, August 7, 2014.

Solitary Confinement to End for Youngest at Rikers Island, Michael Shwirtz, The New York Times, September 24, 2014.

For Teens at Rikers Island Solitary Confinement Pushes Mental Limits, Trey Bundy, The Center For Investigative Reporting, March 4, 2014.

N.Y. Becomes Largest Prison System To Curb Solitary Confinement, Brian Mann, NPR, February 23, 2014.

Questioning Solitary Confinement for Adolescents at Rikers Island, PBS Newshour, February 21, 2014.

New York Rethinks Solitary Confinement, The Editorial Board, The New York Times, February 20, 2014.

New York State in Deal to Limit Solitary Confinement, Benjamin Weiser, The New York Times, February 19, 2014.

New York Lawmakers Introduce Bill to End Long-Term Solitary Confinement, Jean Casella, Solitary Watch, February 4, 2013.

Limiting Solitary, Graham Kates, The Crime Report, January 31, 2014.

As New York City Jails Amend Their Solitary Confinement Practices, Abuses on Rikers Island Continue, Aviva Stahl, Solitary Watch, January 16, 2014.

Reports Condemn Solitary Confinement in New York City’s Jails, As Officials Weigh Its Future, Marlies Talay, Solitary Watch, November 6, 2013.

Solitary Confinement’s Invisible Scars, Five Omar Mualimm-ak, The Guardian, October 30, 2013.

Sick and in Solitary, Maura R. O’Connor, The New York World, February 6, 2013.

The Cost of Solitary Confinement, Editorial, New York Times, December 14, 2012.

Jason Echeverria’s Death In City Jail Ruled Homicide, Graham Rayman, Village Voice, December 13, 2012.

Leroy Peoples Lawsuit Renews Debate Over Solitary Confinement, Matt Sledge, Huffington Post, December 10, 2012.

New York State Is Sued Over Use of Isolation in Its Prisons, Mosi Secret, New York Times, December 7, 2012.

Adolescents in Grown-Up Jails, Editorial, New York Times, October 16, 2012.

NYCLU Says NY Prisons Too Reliant on Solitary Confinement, Coleen Siuzdak, Legislative Gazette, October 9, 2012.

Unlock The Box: The Fight Against Solitary Confinement in New York, Jean Casella and James Ridgeway, The Nation, October 2, 2012.

No Human Dignity in ‘The Box’, Taylor Pendergrass, Albany Times-Union, October 2, 2012.

Prisoners’ Letters Offer a Window Into Lives Spent Alone in Tiny Cells, Mosi Secret, New York Times, October 2, 2012.

Solitary Confinement: New York’s Hidden Problem, Michael B. Mushlin, New York Law Journal, September 5, 2012.

New York’s Barbaric Prisons, Editorial, Albany Times-Union, August 15, 2012.

New York’s Black Sites, Jean Casella and James Ridgeway, The Nation, July 30, 2012.

The Crime of Solitary Confinement, Sister Marion Defeis, New York Daily News, June 4, 2012.

Solitary Confinement On the Rise at Rikers, Jeamarie Evelly, City Limits, May 27, 2012.

City to Sharply Increase Solitary Confinement on Rikers Island, Jean Casella and Dina Levy, Solitary Watch, November 21, 2011.

Special Report: Prison Suicide Rates Rise; Solitary Confinement Adds to Risk, Mary Beth Pfeiffer, Poughkeepsie Journal, April 11, 2011.

VIDEO AND AUDIO

Solitary Confinement (featuring Buffalo CAIC members), WBNY Radio, August 2015.

Breaking Down the Box, National Religious Campaign Against Torture, June 2015.

From Solitary to the Street, Democracy Now, June 2015.

UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Video Statement in Support of HALT Act, April 2015.

Why Solitary Confinement Is a Form of Torture by Molly Crabapple, Fusion, March 2015.

The wHole, Episode 1, 2015

Children of the Incarcerated, 2015

Solitary Symposium: Four Who Have Spent Time in Solitary, symposium organized by the New York Institute for the Humanities at NYU, November 17, 2012.

Solitary Symposium: The Scandal of Solitary in the U.S. Today, symposium organized by the New York Institute for the Humanities at NYU, November 17, 2012.

In Solitary — The Brian Lehrer Show, with Breyten Breytenbach, Taylor Pendergrass, and Lawrence Weschler, WNYC, November 16, 2012.

Solitary Confinement in New York State, panel discussion hosted by Metro New York Religious Campaign Against Torture, New York City, October 17, 2012.

Solitary Confinement in New York, town hall hosted by State Senator Bill Perkins, Harlem, NY, October 4, 2012.

Boxed-In: The True Cost of Extreme Isolation in New York’s Prisons, NYCLU, October 2, 2012.

Solitary Confinement Numbers at Rikers Buck National Trend, Courtney Gross, NY 1, September 11, 2012.

Is Solitary Confinement Torture?, with Liliana Segura and Jean Casella, Nation Conversations, July 26, 2012.

Solitary Confinement and New York’s Dramatic Rise in Prison Suicides, YNN News, December 6, 2011.

Torture in New York State Prisons?, panel discussion hosted by Metro New York Religious Campaign Against Torture, New York City, June 21, 2011.

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