California has greatly reduced solitary confinement in its prisons and has nearly eliminated its long-term use under a year-old legal settlement, lawyers for the prisoners reported Monday

The state had 9,870 prisoners in isolation cells in December 2012, shortly after inmates filed a class-action lawsuit against the prison system’s use of solitary confinement. That total was down to 3,471 as of August 2016, a 65 percent reduction, said the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represented the inmates. ...

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