Thousands of California prison inmates who have been in solitary confinement – some for more than 30 years – will be released into the general prison population under a legal settlement announced Tuesday.

The agreement follows several hunger strikes over the past decade to protest the use of indefinite solitary confinement to control prison gangs.

“Today is a historic day,” said Jules Lobel, lead counsel in the case and president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. “When we started this lawsuit, California was housing thousands of prisoners in solitary confinement often for no more than possessing art work or literature believed to be gang related.” ...

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