Seven Days in Solitary [12/21/2014]
by Aviva Stahl
The
following roundup features noteworthy news, reports and opinions on
solitary confinement from the past week that have not been covered in
other Solitary Watch posts.
• The Marshall Project
published an article about prisoners dying of hypothermia. Those in
solitary confinement are often uniquely at risk because they are
“provided with limited clothing and blankets as a precaution against
suicide.”
•
In July 2013, Nikko Jenkins killed four Omaha residents within 10 days
of his release from prison - directly from solitary confinement. According to a recently released report. Jenkins
wrote to psychologists, psychiatrists, the director of prisons, and
even Governor Dave Heinemann before his release, pleading to be
committed to the state psychiatric hospital or Lincoln Correctional
Center. The Department of Correctional Services Special Investigation
Committee was established after the murders; the 62-page report also calls for reforms and the firing of several correctional officials.
• New Jersey’s Star Ledger published an opinion piece entitled, “Research shows no good comes of prolonged solitary confinement.”
•
Federal prosecutors announced plans to join an ongoing lawsuit against
New York City over the abusive treatment of adolescents on Rikers
Island, including the overuse of solitary confinement. Preet Bharara,
the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York said,
"While the United States had hoped to reach a speedy resolution with the
city on these critical issues,”
• Mayor Bill DeBlasio announced that Rikers Island will no longer hold juveniles in solitary confinement.
• Just days before DeBlasio’s announcement, The New York Times
published an Op-ed calling for an end to solitary confinement for
juveniles. And the New York Advisory Committee on the U.S. Commission on
Civil Rights published a report entitled, “The Solitary Confinement of Youth in New York: A Civil Rights Violation.”
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