Hearing: Reassessing Solitary Confinement: The Human Rights, Fiscal, and Public Safety Consequences

Date 

Add to My Calendar Tuesday, June 19, 2012 12:00am

Location 

Hearing: Reassessing Solitary Confinement - The Human Rights, Fiscal, and Public Safety Consequences

Before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights

 

What: Hearing before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Solitary Confinement
When: Tuesday, June 19, 2012, 10:00 a.m.
Where: Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226


U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) is chairing a hearing on the human rights, fiscal, and public safety consequences of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons, jails, and detention centers.  This is the first-ever Congressional hearing on solitary confinement. 

In May, CCR filed a lawsuit against the state of California for its use of prolonged solitary confinement in the infamous Pelican Bay prison. CCR’s case against solitary confinement at Pelican Bay is the latest in a long history of challenges to the use of isolation in prisons. In Wilkinson v. Austin, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in support of CCR’s claims that prison officials cannot confine inmates in long-term solitary confinement in a super maximum prison without first giving them the opportunity to challenge their placement. CCR has engaged in solidarity efforts alongside hunger striking prisoners, as well as engaged in advocacy and education efforts around the impact of the use of isolation in prisons. CCR will also submit written testimony for the hearing on June 19.

The hearing will explore the psychological and psychiatric impact on inmates during and after their imprisonment, the higher costs of running solitary housing units, the human rights issues surrounding the use of isolation, and successful state reforms in this area.
 

This hearing is open to the public.

 

Learn more about CCR's work on solitary confinement:




 

Last modified 

June 12, 2012