solitary confinement

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Norway Mass Killer Loses Suit Over Prison Conditions

Anders Behring Breivik, who murdered 77 people, asked for more human contact

(Newser) - Anders Behring Breivik has lost his bid to end his years of isolation in a Norwegian prison. The 45-year-old, who killed 77 people in 2011 in Norway's largest mass killing, sued the country's authorities, arguing that the conditions of his imprisonment had made him suicidal and that restrictions...

Solitary Confinement Is No More in NYC

NYC Mayor Eric Adams vows to veto City Council's ban on practice some call akin to torture

(Newser) - Lawmakers on Wednesday banned most instances of solitary confinement in New York City, over the protests of the city's mayor. The City Council's 39-7 vote greenlit the ban, which allows for inmates to be placed in isolation for "deescalation" purposes for no more than four hours at...

Texas Prisoners Are on Hunger Strike

Some inmates have been in solitary confinement for more than 20 years

(Newser) - Prisoners in Texas are in the second week of a hunger strike to demand an end to the practice of keeping inmates in solitary confinement for much, much longer than the 15 days that the United Nations considers torture. One of their main demands is that "under no circumstances...

Biden's Push to End Solitary Confinement Not Going Well

Number of federal prisoners subjected to the punishment has actually gone up

(Newser) - On May 25, the anniversary of George Floyd’s death, President Biden issued an executive order “advancing effective, accountable policing and criminal justice practices.” Included in that order, per NBC News, was the promise that conditions in federal prisons would be “safe and humane” and “free...

US Keeps Over 40K in Solitary: Report

States pass or take up legislation to limit the practice

(Newser) - American prisons are holding tens of thousands of inmates in solitary confinement—a practice much of the world calls a human rights violation and the United Nations considers torture. Between 41,000 and 48,000 men and women were being kept for an average of 22 hours a day, for...

He May Have Served More Time in Solitary Than Anyone

Albert Woodfox, 75, released from prison in 2016, spent 43 years in solitary confinement

(Newser) - Albert Woodfox, a member of the "Angola Three" who was thought to have spent more time in solitary confinement than any other person in US history, has died at the age of 75, reports the Guardian . Woodfox's brother and legal team said he died of complications from COVID....

He Spent 16 Months in Solitary, Was Acquitted in 2 Hours

The 'Washington Post' shares Andrew Johnson's story

(Newser) - The heart of Andrew Johnson's story is this: "It would take three years—almost half of it in solitary—before Johnson got the chance to testify in his own defense. It would take just two hours for a jury to acquit him." Writing for the Washington Post ...

NY Puts Kibosh on 'Inhumane' Prison Policy

New law will bar solitary confinement for more than 15 days in a row

(Newser) - A prison policy labeled by many as "torture," "inhumane," and "counterproductive" is ending in New York state. On Wednesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law the HALT Act , a measure that bars the use of solitary confinement for more than 15 days in a row...

He Survived 18 Years in Solitary Confinement
He Survived
18 Years in 
Solitary 
Confinement
OPINION
Mar 25, 2021 12:30 PM CDT

He Survived 18 Years in Solitary Confinement

Ian Manuel pleads for end to juvenile solitary confinement

(Newser) - Ian Manuel had just finished seventh grade when he shot a woman in the face during a robbery. It was "the act of a 13-year-old in crisis," Manuel writes in a New York Times op-ed, adding that the "cruel and unusual punishment" that followed did not fit...

Inmate in Solitary for Years: 'I Know Nothing' of Bulger Murder

Inmate Sean McKinnon, 35, says he still hasn't been told why he's been in the 'hole' since 2018

(Newser) - More than two years after crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger was found murdered in West Virginia's Hazelton federal prison, no charges have been filed in his slaying. For that same period, Sean McKinnon has been asking why he was thrown into the "hole"—aka solitary confinement—...

Michael Cohen Is Moved Out of Minimum Security
Michael Cohen
Gets Moved
to Solitary
Apr 11, 2020 12:00 PM CDT

Michael Cohen Gets Moved to Solitary

President Trump's former lawyer is removed from a minimum-security facility

(Newser) - Looks like Michael Cohen is going to have some alone time. President Trump's former lawyer was moved Wednesday to solitary confinement amid his three-year sentence for breaking campaign finance laws, Reuters reports. Officials relocated him from a minimum-security camp in Otisville, about 70 miles from New York City, to...

Assange: I'm 'Slowly Dying'
Assange: I'm 'Slowly Dying'
Jan 1, 2020 5:15 PM CST

Assange: I'm 'Slowly Dying'

Vaughan Smith describes his call with the Wikileaks founder

(Newser) - Julian Assange says he's "slowly dying" behind bars, where he might be stuck in solitary confinement. British journalist and ex-Army officer Vaughan Smith, a friend of Assange, said as much after talking to the Wikileaks founder: "He said to me, 'I'm slowly dying here,'...

After 23 Years, Man Freed From Sentence for Joyriding

He got life under Calif.'s old '3 strikes' law

(Newser) - A California man was freed from prison after serving 23 years of his life sentence on a joyriding conviction, including eight years in solitary confinement for possessing a banned book. His attorneys say it's unconscionable that he was set to die in prison for nonviolent crimes. Kenneth Oliver, now...

Murderer Dies After 35 Years of Solitary Confinement

Court had ruled isolation didn't violate inmate's constitutional rights

(Newser) - A murderer who spent more than 35 years in solitary confinement—thought to be the longest period in federal prison history—has died. Thomas Silverstein, 67, died May 11, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said. He was put in solitary in 1983 after killing a prison guard, and had little...

Supporters: Chelsea Manning Is in Solitary Confinement

But officials say that's not a fair assessment

(Newser) - Supporters of Chelsea Manning have called for her release from prolonged solitary confinement at a Virginia jail, but an official disputes that she's being held in those conditions, the AP reports. Former Army intelligence analyst Manning was sent to jail March 8 for refusing to testify before a grand...

Killer Breivik 'Shocked' by Own Prison Writings

Neo-Nazi says he's become 'more radical' as state appeals ruling that isolation is 'inhuman'

(Newser) - Anders Behring Breivik says even he is "shocked by many of the things I have written" over the nearly six years he's spent in Skien prison for his 2011 massacre of 77 people. The Norwegian neo-Nazi says he's become "stranger" and "a lot more radical"...

40+ Years in Solitary: 'Ask Me in 20 Years' How Freedom Feels

Albert Woodfox of 'Angola 3' was in isolation more than any other inmate in US history

(Newser) - Albert Woodfox, the last of the famous "Angola Three," was released from prison last February after pleading no contest to manslaughter in the 1972 killing of prison guard Brent Miller. In a piece for the New Yorker , Rachel Aviv offers some insight into the "reserved" and "...

Inmate Let Out of Solitary Confinement After 37 Years

Arthur Johnson sued the state alleging cruel and unusual punishment

(Newser) - A Philadelphia murderer is out of solitary confinement for the first time in 37 years, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Arthur Johnson, 64, was sentenced to life in prison for a 1970 gang killing. He was placed in solitary confinement in 1979 after multiple escape attempts. In September, Johnson sued the...

Manning Could Be Punished in Wake of Suicide Attempt

'It is unconscionable,' says ACLU rep

(Newser) - Once punished over old toothpaste , Chelsea Manning could spend the next three decades in solitary confinement following her suicide attempt earlier this month. According to the American Civil Liberties Union , Manning has been informed she is under investigation for allegedly "resisting the force cell move team," "prohibited...

2 Inmates Were Put in Solitary Together. One Came Out

The practice of 'double celling' is shockingly common

(Newser) - It seems like some sort of oxymoron: two inmates together in solitary confinement. But as a joint investigation by NPR and the Marshall Project found, "double celling" is anything but an anomaly: They cite a 2014 Federal Bureau of Prisons report in asserting that "over 80% of the...

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