Solitary Confinement

FOR DECADES, the Massachusetts prison system used solitary confinement to control violent and self-destructive prisoners who suffered from serious mental illness. It was a disastrous policy that contributed to inmate suicide rates four times the national average. Thanks, in large part, to a 2007 lawsuit by the Disability Law Center, state prisoners are no longer held for up to 23 hours a day in conditions akin to an 18th-century lunatic asylum. To its credit, the state Department of Correction didn't wait until the recent inking of a formal legal agreement with the Disability Law Center before creating...

Troy Anderson is a mentally ill inmate in isolation at the Colorado State Penitentiary, deemed for more than a decade too dangerous to be among other offenders. His lawyers argue, however, that prolonged solitary confinement is contributing to a vicious cycle, making his psychiatric conditions worse and resulting in misbehavior that warrants further punishment. Prison officials defend the practice, saying administrative segregation, which can include up to 23 hours a day alone in a concrete cell, is a fundamental part of security.

RICHMOND - At Red Onion State Prison, built on a mountaintop in a remote pocket of southwest Virginia, more than two-thirds of the inmates live in solitary confinement. In a state where about 1 in 20 prisoners are held in solitary, Red Onion, a supermax prison, isolates more inmates than any other facility, keeping more than 500 of its nearly 750 charges alone for 23 hours a day in cells the size of a doctor's exam room. Virginia, one of 44 states that use solitary confinement, has 1,800 people in isolation, a sizable share of the estimated 25,000 people in solitary in the...

Ten Palestinian prisoners participating in a mass hunger strike in Israeli jails were placed under medical supervision as their conditions worsened, officials said Saturday. The ten men are among 1,500 to 2,500 Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike to demand better conditions and an end to detention without trial. Although Israeli officials and Palestinians give different numbers of hunger strikers, it is still one of the largest prison protests in years. It involves a quarter to a half of all Palestinians held in Israeli jails, estimated at some 4,600 people.

RE "INMATE feared ‘losing my mind': Before his suicide, murder suspect long held isolated" (Metro, March 13): Like the death penalty, solitary confinement is an inhumane relic that remains only because public opinion demands that we punish wrongdoers and never "coddle. " Advocates' calls for reforms to address criminal and civil detained populations are scorned by conservative policy makers who know that Americans demand retribution when crimes are committed. Eric Snow's alleged crimes are horrific, but we degrade ourselves when we punish him only to make...

Troy Anderson is a mentally ill inmate in isolation at the Colorado State Penitentiary, deemed for more than a decade too dangerous to be among other offenders. His lawyers argue, however, that prolonged solitary confinement is contributing to a vicious cycle, making his psychiatric conditions worse and resulting in misbehavior that warrants further punishment. Prison officials defend the practice, saying administrative segregation, which can include up to 23 hours a day alone in a concrete cell, is a fundamental part of security.

California prison officials are threatening to discipline thousands of inmates who are participating in a statewide hunger strike. Officials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Thursday that strike leaders could be placed in solitary confinement and followers could lose personal items from their cells. Strikers have been protesting conditions in solitary confinement cells and gang security measures, which they have alleged puts them in danger.

NEW YORK -- A federal judge has rejected former attorney general John Ashcroft's attempt to block a lawsuit by claiming that the threat of terrorism exempts the government from following peacetime regulations. The decision allows a lawsuit by two Muslim men who were detained after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to go forward against Ashcroft and other high-ranking federal officials. The two, who were later deported, are seeking to hold the officials responsible for their confinement and alleged abuse at a federal jail in Brooklyn where Arab and Muslim men were held after the terror attacks.

OSLO - Self-confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik was ordered to remain in pretrial detention for eight weeks yesterday during a closed court hearing in which he was cut off from making statements irrelevant to the case, a judge said. The 32-year-old right-wing extremist has confessed to setting off a bomb in downtown Oslo and massacring dozens at an island youth camp outside the city, killing 77 people on July 22. The Oslo District Court approved a police request to keep Breivik in custody on terror charges for another eight weeks - four of them in solitary...

NEW YORK -- A Middle Eastern immigrant alleges he was violated during a body-cavity search at a federal jail following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The lawsuit filed yesterday by the man and another former detainee contends they were put in solitary confinement, beaten, and verbally abused by guards. They were later cleared of allegations that they had terrorist ties, but they were deported. Unlike a pending civil complaint by other Sept. 11 detainees, also in Brooklyn federal court, the new lawsuit identifies guards at the Metropolitan Detention Center by their last names and...

The family of a woman accused of moonlighting for 15 years as a multimillion-dollar Manhattan madam has launched a website to help pay her $2 million bail. Anna Gristina's family says it cannot afford to pay what they call her "cruel and unusual" bail. The site says they need donations to help "bring her back to us. " It features family photos and information on her pot-bellied pig rescue farm. The site claims Gristina is being kept in solitary confinement. It says authorities also attempted to humiliate her by making "her wear only a T-shirt and diaper.

NEW YORK - Claude Miller, a French director whose spare and sometimes disturbing films focused on the interior lives of tormented characters, especially women, while never losing sight of their exterior beauty, died April 4 in Paris. He was 70. His production company, which announced his death, said he had been ill for several years but gave no other details. Mr. Miller's films won many awards, including the jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival and the French version of the Oscar, the Cesar.

A Russian arms dealer convicted of conspiring to sell weapons to South American terrorists is a "businessman of the most dangerous order" and should be sentenced to life in prison, federal prosecutors argued Friday. Viktor Bout, a global arms trafficker who eluded authorities for decades and was sanctioned by the United Nations, was "ready, willing and able to provide a breathtaking arsenal of weapons" to a terrorist organization that planned to target Americans, the U.S. attorney's office said in court papers.

RE "INMATE feared ‘losing my mind': Before his suicide, murder suspect long held isolated" (Metro, March 13): Like the death penalty, solitary confinement is an inhumane relic that remains only because public opinion demands that we punish wrongdoers and never "coddle. " Advocates' calls for reforms to address criminal and civil detained populations are scorned by conservative policy makers who know that Americans demand retribution when crimes are committed. Eric Snow's alleged crimes are horrific, but we degrade ourselves when we punish him only to make...

FOR DECADES, the Massachusetts prison system used solitary confinement to control violent and self-destructive prisoners who suffered from serious mental illness. It was a disastrous policy that contributed to inmate suicide rates four times the national average. Thanks, in large part, to a 2007 lawsuit by the Disability Law Center, state prisoners are no longer held for up to 23 hours a day in conditions akin to an 18th-century lunatic asylum. To its credit, the state Department of Correction didn't wait until the recent inking of a formal legal agreement with the Disability Law Center before creating...

A lawyer for a British man held in Kenya over alleged links to Somalia's Islamist insurgency and possession of explosives says his client was beaten in prison to extract a confession. Chacha Mwita says his client Jermaine Grant and another suspect were beaten after their arrest in December. Mwita also says Grant, who was born in London, is being held in solitary confinement. Grant was jailed for three years for immigration offenses and lying to a government official about his identity.

A Russian arms dealer convicted of conspiring to sell weapons to South American terrorists is a "businessman of the most dangerous order" and should be sentenced to life in prison, federal prosecutors argued Friday. Viktor Bout, a global arms trafficker who eluded authorities for decades and was sanctioned by the United Nations, was "ready, willing and able to provide a breathtaking arsenal of weapons" to a terrorist organization that planned to target Americans, the U.S. attorney's office said in court papers.

Norwegian police say they will no longer insist that confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik be held in isolation as he awaits trial on terror charges for July 22 attacks that killed 77 people. Police attorney Christian Hatlo says investigators are increasingly confident that Breivik had no accomplices when he set off a bomb in Oslo's government district and opened fire at a political youth camp outside the capital. Hatlo told reporters Thursday that investigators now consider it "safe" to end Breivik's solitary confinement.

The doctor convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's death asked a judge Friday to release him from jail pending his appeal. Dr. Conrad Murray, who is serving a four-year jail sentence, said in a declaration that he should be released either on his own recognizance or on bail with electronic monitoring. He said he is not a danger to society, will not flee the area, and wants to work to help support his seven children. His lawyer, J. Michael Flanagan, said in the motion that Murray knows he cannot work as a doctor but would find other employment.

RICHMOND - At Red Onion State Prison, built on a mountaintop in a remote pocket of southwest Virginia, more than two-thirds of the inmates live in solitary confinement. In a state where about 1 in 20 prisoners are held in solitary, Red Onion, a supermax prison, isolates more inmates than any other facility, keeping more than 500 of its nearly 750 charges alone for 23 hours a day in cells the size of a doctor's exam room. Virginia, one of 44 states that use solitary confinement, has 1,800 people in isolation, a sizable share of the...