Solitary Confinement and Isolation in Federal Prisons: Cruel and Inhuman or Necessary?

Date 

Add to My Calendar Wednesday, March 30, 2011 12:00am

Location 

Solitary Confinement and Isolation in Federal Prisons:
Cruel and Inhuman or Necessary?
 
Albany Law School
80 New Scotland Avenue, Albany, NY 12208
Rochester Moot Court Room
Room 209 in the Main Building
 
Time of the event:  7:00 PM
 
Featured speakers:
 
·         Rachel Meeropol Esq., Center for Constitutional Rights Staff Attorney
·         Aysha Ghani, Muslims For Justice, PhD Candidate, Stanford University
·         Jeanne Finley, Muslim Solidarity Committee
·         Marlene Jenkins, Mother of Tarik Shah - 33 Months in Solitary
 
Moderator - Stephen Gottlieb, Esq, Constitutional Law Professor, Albany Law School
 
Federal Prosecutors can hold defendants before trial in solitary confinement under a legal device called Special Administrative Measures (SAMs). Pre-trial solitary confinement can last for years and impair the defendants’ mental ability to cooperate in their own defense or testify coherently.
 
Defendants may also be sentenced to isolation units called Communication Management Units (CMUs), in retaliation for expressing their constitutionally protected religious beliefs, unpopular political views, or for challenging rights violations in the federal prison system.
 

Last modified 

March 10, 2011