USA - 122,840 people in solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and jails

USA - Calculating Torture

17 June 2023 :

(June 14, 2023) - 122,840 people in solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and jails
Why Counting Everyone in Solitary Confinement Matters
On May 26 the watchdog group Solitary Watch and the advocacy coalition Unlock the Box released a groundbreaking joint report showing that at least 122,840 people are locked daily in solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and jails for 22 or more hours a day.
Calculating Torture is the first report to combine the use of solitary in local and federal jails in addition to state and federal prisons. It is based on analysis of data recently released by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) as well as by state prison systems that did not report to BJS, and data from a survey of local jails conducted by the Vera Institute of Justice.
These report numbers come closer than have any previously published figures in accounting for the total number of people in solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and jails.
Previous counts have largely focused on prisons, failing to include jails. In some cases, earlier data also omitted some states, and/or counted only those individuals held in solitary confinement for more than two weeks. For these reasons, previous reports have offered an incomplete picture of how extensively the discredited practice is used and the number of people it affects.
“The widespread use of solitary confinement in our prisons and jails is a humanitarian crisis. As the United Nations has confirmed, it’s torture taking place on U.S. soil. Yet until now, we haven’t even had a comprehensive count of how many people are in solitary,” said Jean Casella, Director of Solitary Watch.
“This kind of full and accurate information is critical to creating accountability and bringing about change,” Casella said. “It should also shock the conscience of all Americans concerned about criminal justice and human rights.”
Calculating Torture shows that on a given day in 2019, 80,758 people were in some form of solitary confinement (also known as “restrictive housing”) in federal and state prisons, making up 6.28 percent of the total prison population.
At the same time, based on an analysis by the Vera Institute of Justice, an estimated 5.64 percent of individuals in local and federal jails were in solitary confinement. In 2019, this comprised 42,072 people.
While the total figure of 122,840—constituting 6.08 percent of the total prison and jail population—far exceeds previous numbers, the report authors caution that it still undoubtedly undercounts the number of individuals who experience solitary confinement.
To begin with, it is based on self-reported data from correctional departments. It reflects only those held in solitary for 22 hours a day or more and omits shorter numbers of hours in solitary, units that amount to solitary by another name, and informal or transient forms of solitary such as lockdowns or quarantines. It also does not include individuals held in isolation in immigrant or juvenile facilities. In addition, the number represents a snapshot of the number of people in solitary at a given time, while many times that number are locked in solitary during the course of a year.
“Solitary confinement causes devastating harm and death, and worsens safety for everyone,” said Jessica Sandoval, Director of Unlock the Box, referring to a growing body of evidence showing that solitary confinement causes lasting psychological, neurological, and physical damage, dramatically increases suicide rates, and fails to reduce prison violence. “Locking over 122,000 people in solitary is a stain on our nation.”
The authors of Calculating Torture note that the 2019 numbers used in the report (the most recent that are available from the BJS) do not account for a spike in solitary confinement use in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and may not account for some incremental reductions in the overall use of solitary confinement due to implementation of some new legislative and policy changes. Advocates believe the recent changes would likely reduce the total by a few thousand.
“Thanks to campaigns led by people directly impacted by solitary, there is growing momentum and widespread public support for policies to limit or end solitary confinement and utilize proven alternatives,” said Sandoval. “But our work has just begun, and this report should add further urgency to that struggle. Now is the time for political leaders at the local, state, and federal levels—from New York to Georgia to Nevada to California to the White House and Congress—to act to stop this state-sanctioned torture.”
Why Counting Everyone in Solitary Confinement Matters
Ours is the first report to provide a snapshot of all individuals in solitary confinement for 22 hours or more a day in all U.S. state and federal prisons and local jails, based on the best available data.
Previous counts of people in solitary have been significantly lower largely because they have been less complete, counting only people in prisons (not jails), and in some cases, only those held in solitary for 15 days or more.
Clearly, such calculations provided only a partial picture—but in the absence of any better or more complete data, they were widely cited by journalists, scholars, and policymakers.
Given this, we realize that it could be months or years before our more accurate number becomes the new standard (and even longer until we have a figure that includes the unknown number of people in solitary in juvenile or immigration facilities).
The fact that governments on all levels permit this form of torture to take place without even requiring that its victims be counted is just one of the travesties inherent in the way solitary confinement is practiced in this country.
At the same time, we’re plagued by the uncertainty that the new number alone will make much of a difference. Will it matter to know that over 122,000 people are being tortured in solitary confinement, rather than 80,000, or 50,000? Will the pure shock value provided by the enormity of the number—which, as our colleagues at Unlock the Box have pointed out, is more than the total population of Berkeley or Ann Arbor—jolt more people into action?
We have to believe that accuracy matters—that the truth matters. And even more, we believe that every person in solitary confinement is a suffering human soul who, at the very least, deserves to be counted.
One of those people was Kalief Browder, who endured more than two years of solitary confinement on Rikers Island while he was still a child and legally innocent, and who died by suicide after being (in his own words) “mentally scarred” by his experience. Because he was held in solitary in a local jail rather than a state or federal prison, Kalief would not have been counted.
Another was Benjamin Van Zandt, who had endured time in solitary confinement as well as abuse and threats from guards, and who died by suicide at the age of 21 on the first night after he was sentenced to another 30 days in solitary. Because he had not been in solitary for 15 days or more, Ben might not have been counted.
Their stories are reminders of what our number means in human terms.
It means that more than 122,000 people—one of every 17 incarcerated Americans—are being held in conditions that constitute torture. It means that as I write—and as you read—each of these individuals is suffering alone, being put at serious risk of psychological, neurological, and physical damage, as well as self-harm and suicide.
Making sure that all the Kaliefs and Bens and others are counted is just one way to acknowledge and bear witness to their experience. Telling their individual human stories—and encouraging people in solitary to tell their own stories—is another way.
But the most important thing we can do for all of them is to fight to reduce the number of people in solitary confinement—and to keep on fighting until solitary is a thing of the past, and there is no one left to count.