Solitary confinement
“Overwhelmingly, scientific research concludes that solitary confinement inflicts severe physical and mental pain. Punishment for the mere purpose of inflicting pain and suffering is torture. On its own authority and at any time, ODOC can choose to stop using solitary confinement.”
What is solitary confinement?
Solitary confinement is the separation of a person in custody from other incarcerated people and staff with minimal or no meaningful contact with others and typically features a lack of activity and stimulation. People may spend all but about one hour a day in their cells with little to do. Solitary can be used as a punishment; as a means of keeping people deemed to be a threat to themselves or others away from other people; or as a way of protecting people who are considered to be at risk from others in a prison or jail.
How solitary confinement is used in Oregon
Solitary confinement is used in Oregon prisons for a variety of purposes and goes by many names. It is sometimes called “DSU” (the disciplinary segregation unit), “Ad-Seg” (administrative segregation), “IMU” (intensive management unit), “BHU” (behavioral health unit), or colloquially known as “the hole”. In the Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC), solitary confinement means someone is kept in a six-by-nine-foot cell for 23 or 24 hours per day. The exact rules governing the imposition of solitary confinement in Oregon vary somewhat depending on why a person is being put there.
Disciplinary Segregation
The maximum limit on the time someone can spend in solitary confinement as a punishment in ODOC custody is 90 days consecutively served, reduced from the previous limit of 180 days in 2023. However, people are sometimes moved between different categories of solitary confinement housing leading to them spending more than the limit there. They may only leave their cells for very short periods of time, for certain activities such as taking a shower, receiving medical care, for exercise, to meet with their attorney, or to attend a court hearing. Typically, a person will be allowed only 40 minutes, five days a week for exercise which includes time to shower and, if relevant, shave. Phone calls are limited to emergencies only such as when an immediate family member has died.
OJRC Paralegal/Legal Assistant Anthony Pickens who is formerly incarcerated describes what life was like for him in solitary confinement in Oregon’s prisons.
How solitary confinement harms incarcerated Oregonians
Extensive research over several decades has clearly and consistently shown that solitary confinement is profoundly harmful. Data show that time in solitary causes serious physical and mental health problems. Solitary confinement keeps people strictly isolated with very little to do and very little stimulation to a degree that harms them. These effects can include many mental, emotional, and behavioral changes or worsening of existing symptoms such as anger, paranoia, anxiety, depression, hallucinations, loss of impulse control, PTSD, self-harm, and suicide. The changes in brain function and activity that have been observed in people in solitary can be permanent and can make it more difficult for people to successfully transition back into the general prison population or into the community outside prison afterward.
Is solitary confinement an effective punishment?
Disciplinary solitary confinement does not achieve any of its aims. It does not lead to behavioral reform, rehabilitation, or deter future rule breaking. If anything, the psychological and physical harms of solitary and the struggle that many people face to readjust after a period in solitary confinement are more likely to lead to further problems. Disciplinary solitary confinement also does not promote taking personal responsibility for one’s actions or holding oneself accountable for misbehavior. There is little opportunity for growth or developing healthy relationships while subjected to the harms of extended isolation from one’s community.
Psychiatrist Dr. Terry Kupers describes how people in solitary confinement in Oregon are harmed psychologically by their time there.
Global perspectives on solitary confinement
In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted the “Nelson Mandela Rules” on the treatment of people in prison. The Rules reflect international standards on the protection of human rights and provide guidance to states on how to treat incarcerated people. Regarding solitary confinement, the Rules consider it to be a measure of last resort which should only be used in rare circumstances. The Rules prohibit indefinite or prolonged use of solitary confinement, where prolonged use means no more than 15 consecutive days. This is far shorter than the maximums allowed by the Oregon Department of Corrections. The Rules also state that people who have mental or physical disabilities should not be subject to solitary confinement if it would exacerbate their conditions.
“Solitary confinement shall be used only in exceptional cases as a last resort, for as short a time as possible.”
US reforms in the use of solitary confinement
Several states have ended the use of prolonged solitary confinement as a disciplinary sanction in favor of more humane and effective alternatives. In 2017, the Colorado Department of Corrections announced that it would stop using solitary confinement for more than 15 days. Similarly, the Washington state Department of Corrections announced in September 2021 that it has ended the use of solitary confinement as a discipline sanction because it is not an effective way to address negative behavior and because the science is clear that the practice creates unnecessary harm. Instead, the agency will use sanctions from existing discipline rules including loss of privileges, extra work duty, and loss of earned time. Other state corrections departments that have stopped using solitary confinement to punish discipline infractions include Nebraska and Texas.
Meanwhile, other states neighboring Oregon have established maximum sanctions for disciplinary segregation far shorter than the 90 days permitted by ODOC rules: Idaho has a 15-day cap, and California a 10-day cap. The only state bordering Oregon that allows sanctions longer than 15 days is Nevada, and even there, the sanction for most rule violations is capped at 60 days, two-thirds of the length permitted by Oregon rules.
New York state passed legislation, taking effect in 2022, that prohibits confinement in a cell for more than 17 hours per day for longer than 15 consecutive days. Solitary confinement as a discipline sanction is to be used as a last resort only, in favor of alternatives including de-escalation and withdrawal of incentives. This law is particularly noteworthy because it limits solitary confinement throughout all forms of prison housing, not only in the discipline process.
Why Oregon should end the use of disciplinary solitary confinement
We believe that the prolonged use (more than 15 consecutive days) of solitary confinement in Oregon’s prisons is cruel, inhumane, and unnecessary. Oregon is lagging far behind not only the global standards set out in the Mandela Rules but also reforms influenced by the Rules in other US states by allowing solitary to be used for up to 90 days consecutively. A wide range of organizations such as the National Commission on Correctional Healthcare and the American Bar Association have endorsed the Rules standards. The Oregon Department of Corrections’ use of solitary confinement has never been officially sanctioned by the Legislature. We believe ODOC’s use of solitary confinement violates not only statutory authority but also the Oregon and US Constitutions.
ODOC has the power to stop using solitary which is ineffective, harmful, and counterproductive. In 2016, the Vera Institute of Justice studied ODOC and proposed several alternatives to disciplinary segregation. The recommendations included expanding supports and programming to encourage positive behavior; increasing contact with counselors; and expanding the use of de-escalation spaces to alleviate stress in the general population.
We believe solitary confinement is a form of torture because it is punishment without purpose that is applied despite all of the science showing that it is harmful. ODOC is choosing to torture people in custody and that must change.
Resources
legal briefs
Oregon Justice Resource Center v. Oregon Department of Corrections - Motion to stay enforcement of a rule pending judicial review
Oregon Justice Resource Center v. Oregon Department of Corrections - Petition for judicial review of rules adopted by ODOC
MEDIA
Portland Law Firm Challenges Constitutionality of Solitary Confinement in Oregon Prisons (12.21.21)
Reports
The Safe Alternatives to Segregation Initiative: Findings and Recommendations for the Oregon Department of Corrections - Vera Institute of Justice (2016)
The research is clear: Solitary confinement causes long-lasting harm - Prison Policy Initiative (2020)
Solitary Confinement of Mentally Ill Inmates in Oregon's Prisons - Disability Rights Oregon (2020)
scholarship and books
Mass Solitary and Mass Incarceration: Explaining the Dramatic Rise in Prolonged Solitary in America's Prisons - Jules Lobel
Solitary: The Inside Story of Supermax Isolation and How We Can Abolish It - Terry Kupers
Solitary - Albert Woodfox
Life in solitary
6x9: A virtual experience of solitary confinement
The SHU - Ear Hustle (podcast) (2017)
Interview with Albert Woodfox, one of the Angola Three, who was wrongfully convicted of murder and spent almost 44 years in prison, nearly all in solitary - The Guardian (2021)
Interview with Shearod McFarland who spent 11 years in solitary confinement - The Appeal
Opinion | Solitary confinement chips away at the spirit, Enrique Bautista describes enduring the hole - Street Roots
Opinion | Solitary confinement ‘was like being in a zoo’ - Street Roots
Other organizations
https://unlocktheboxcampaign.org/
https://solitarywatch.org/
https://www.aclu.org/issues/prisoners-rights/solitary-confinement