Solitary Watch
@solitarywatch.bsky.social
Shining light into the darkest corners of the U.S. punishment system. http://solitarywatch.org | Subscribe: http://bit.ly/swdispatch | Support: http://bit.ly/givesw
BLM Protester Transferred Thousands of Miles Away After They Organized Against Their Solitary Confinement theintercept.com/2026/08/04/m...
BLM Protester Transferred Thousands of Miles Away After They Organized Against Their Solitary Confinement
A misconduct report before the transfer noted that Malik Muhammad, a Black Lives Matter protester, was critical of Israel in communications from prison.
theintercept.com
Having been incarcerated for more than a decade, Whitaker has seen how #solitaryconfinement has worsen over time. In the following piece, he writes extensively about how isolation creates a cycle of harm for everyone, those with and without severe mental illnesses. Read here: tinyurl.com/2n92j26j
Everyone suffers under solitary confinement, but especially children. Being isolated for prolonged periods of time has extreme consequences on their developing brains. Read here: tinyurl.com/6u23kt96
🏆 NRCAT is proud to announce the winners of the #VoicesBeyondTheWall writing contest: 🥇 Sherren Moore 🥈 Cinquan Uman Muhammad 🥉 Wallace "Shubaka" Kirby 📖 Discover their essays as they're published by @solitarywatch.bsky.social . Read the first-place essay here: tinyurl.com/firstplacepi...
Judge orders major changes at California ICE detention center after attorneys allege ‘inhumane’ conditions there www.mercurynews.com/2026/07/17/j...
Judge orders major changes at California ICE detention center after attorneys allege ‘inhumane’ conditions there
Federal authorities must provide access to clean drinking water, nutritious and sanitary meals and address hygiene issues
mercurynews.com
As Trump Targets Trans Women in WA Prisons, Amber Kim Awaits a Court’s Verdict truthout.org/articles/as-...
As Trump Targets Trans Women in WA Prisons, Amber Kim Awaits a Court’s Verdict
The Washington State Supreme Court will rule on whether Amber Kim, who is trans, can return to a women’s prison.
truthout.org
Breaking News: As temperatures rise, so does Texas prisons' death tolls. Two years after the loss of their son, a pair of parents in Michigan continues to advocate for the end of solitary confinement. Read more: tinyurl.com/mxjhknjx
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back for Solitary Reforms in California boltsmag.org/california-d...
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back for Solitary Reforms in California - Bolts
California officials dial back the minor reforms they've made to isolation in prison, four years after Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation to rein in solitary confinement.
boltsmag.org
Investigation into possible tuberculosis spread at Aurora ICE facility blocked by private company, health officials say coloradosun.com/2026/07/15/g...
Investigation into possible tuberculosis spread at Aurora ICE facility blocked by private company, health officials say
GEO Group, which operates the Aurora immigration detention facility, is blocking a tuberculosis investigation, county health officials say.
coloradosun.com
Lawsuit alleges IDOC inmates denied exercise in 'dungeon-like' solitary cells www.chicagotribune.com/2026/07/13/i...
Lawsuit alleges IDOC inmates denied exercise in ‘dungeon-like’ solitary cells
The Illinois Department of Corrections confined inmates in “dungeon-like conditions” in solitary confinement and refused to allow them to exercise, causing chronic physical and psychological pain, a l...
chicagotribune.com
New York’s Prisons Are Stuck in Their Brutal Past, Independent Review Finds @nysfocus.com nysfocus.com/2026/07/13/n...
New York’s Prison System Can’t Keep Track of Its Own Violence
An independent review found violence, weak oversight, outdated training, and dysfunction across New York’s prison system.
nysfocus.com
ICE Held a Minor in Adult Detention for Nearly Two Months, Attorneys Allege www.thecityreporter.nyc/2026/07/13/i... For much of the time, the child was in solitary confinement.
ICE Held a Minor in Adult Detention for Nearly Two Months, Attorneys Allege
A federal judge Thursday ordered the individual, known only as A.D. in legal filings, to be turned over to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which runs shelters for children.
thecityreporter.nyc
ATTN JOURNALISTS: We are accepting grant applications about stories that have yet to be told about all aspects of solitary confinement, with a national, state, local, or thematic focus, in all media. The next application deadline is July 31. More details here: tinyurl.com/4w453tdb
Solitary Confinement Reporting Grants - Solitary Watch
Grants for journalists covering the use and impact of solitary confinement in the U.S. carceral system.
tinyurl.com
Due to limited access to legal texts, strict procedural rules, and little to no formal training, jailhouse lawyering is often an uphill battle. Ty Evans shares how retaliation from prison staff limited his ability to counsel men held in #solitaryconfinement. Read here: tinyurl.com/vaf4pw9c
On the 45th Anniversary of the Attica prison uprising, tens of thousands of incarcerated people across the country abruptly stopped working under a call to end prison slavery. Isolation is used as a retaliation tactic to actions like this. Read here: tinyurl.com/4m7ehn67
Breaking News: Man who tore out his eyes in an isolation cell seeks justice from federal appeals court. Man in ICE detention placed in solitary for protesting harsh conditions. Colorado jails continue to isolate those with mental illnesses despite legislation. More news here: tinyurl.com/bdd96chs
ATTN JOURNALISTS: We are accepting grant applications about stories that have yet to be told about all aspects of solitary confinement, with a national, state, local, or thematic focus, in all media. The next application deadline is July 31. More details here: tinyurl.com/4w453tdb
Solitary Confinement Reporting Grants - Solitary Watch
Grants for journalists covering the use and impact of solitary confinement in the U.S. carceral system.
tinyurl.com
So the Sheriff's Department denied someone in solitary confinement their psych meds while allowing them to have access to materials to start a fire. Did I get that right ?
Solitary Watch@solitarywatch.bsky.social · last mo.After attempting suicide in a KY jail by setting his solitary confinement cell on fire, man faces decades in prison for arson www.kentucky.com/news/local/c...
In Texas, Protesting ICE Can Get You a Life Sentence www.thenation.com/article/soci... Most of the eight Prairieland defendents are still being held in solitary confinement after sentencing, 23 hours a day in 10 x 10' cells.
In Texas, Protesting ICE Can Get You a Life Sentence
Under Trump, eight Prairieland defendants were sentenced to a combined four and a half centuries in prison.
thenation.com
There's no telling how solitary confinement can change a person. As Daly recounts his time in long-term isolation, he tells the stories of men who lost themselves to self-mutilation, paranoia, and depression. Read more: tinyurl.com/4mnx4ysb
They won the right to sunlight in S.F. jail. Most still can’t go outside www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...
They won the right to sunlight in S.F. jail. Most still can’t go outside
The ruling for inmates languishing in San Francisco jail was celebrated as a landmark. Now some lawyers say it was “wrong.”
sfchronicle.com
Images of Wyoming children in a restraint chair and solitary confinement became public through a lawsuit. Now, politicians are mulling how to respond, though recent attempts at juvenile justice reform in the Equality State have sputtered out. wyofile.com/politicians-...
Politicians mull action as details of alleged abuse, falsified records at Wyoming Boys’ School become public - WyoFile
“In light of what’s coming out from this lawsuit, it is clear that we need to make changes,” Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, said.
wyofile.com
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights calls for ‘prompt investigations’ of deaths in US immigration custody www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026... He "also expressed alarm over the use of solitary confinement in ICE detention centers."
UN calls for ‘prompt investigations’ of deaths in US immigration custody
High commissioner for human rights calls for ‘those responsible for violations of the law’ to be held to account
theguardian.com
After attempting suicide in a KY jail by setting his solitary confinement cell on fire, man faces decades in prison for arson www.kentucky.com/news/local/c...
After attempted suicide in KY jail, man faces decades in prison. Family says he needs help
After he set fire to his isolation cell inside the Daviess County jail, he was charged with arson and 16 counts of wanton endangerment.
kentucky.com
"We’ve reached the point in the erosion of the First Amendment where the government considers possession of anarchist zines and membership in a terrorist cell to be more or less the same," @seth-stern.bsky.social and @joinjeremy.org's Jeremy Busby write in @theintercept.com.
30-Year Sentence for Transporting Zines Is a Five-Alarm Fire for Free Speech
Daniel Sanchez Estrada’s 30-year sentence for moving a box of pamphlets is likely just the start for criminalizing possession of information.
theintercept.com
Miss Opal is in her 80s. She's too physically weak to cause harm to anyone. She can't remember where she is, let alone what she did to get there. Where is the justice in a system that keeps her locked up?
Where Is Johnny?
In here, love is a verb.
kwanetaharris.substack.com
Incarcerated Americans on the Country's 250th Birthday prisonjournalismproject.org/2026/06/25/i...
Incarcerated Americans on the 250th Birthday of the United States — In Their Own Voices
The land of the free is also the land of mass incarceration. Hear from people inside on what this milestone means to them.
prisonjournalismproject.org
ATTN: We are accepting grant applications about stories that have yet to be told about all aspects of solitary confinement, with a national, state, local, or thematic focus, in all media. The next application deadline is July 31. More details here: tinyurl.com/4w453tdb
In 2020, @victorialaw.bsky.social reported on lawsuits alleging that detained immigrants were threatened with solitary confinement or denied basic necessities if they refused to work. Years later, the machinery of immigrant detention and corporate profit keeps grinding.
Investigation: Corporations Are Profiting From Immigrant Detainees’ Labor. Some Say It’s Slavery.
At privately run detention centers, immigrants say they're forced to work for $1 a day.
inthesetimes.com
BREAKING: Alligator Alcatraz has officially closed. A lot of outlets won’t report on this, but the Miccosukee Tribe played a key role in the fight.