A closer look
Inside America’s Most Secretive Supermax Prison
Colorado’s ADX is designed to hold people under conditions of the most extreme deprivation. Despite this, the men imprisoned there continue to fight for their rights and freedom.
solitary confinement
10 posts in ‘solitary confinement’
advocacy
The Oscars in Solitary Confinement
‘The Alabama Solution’ was nominated for an Academy Award. Meanwhile, its incarcerated filmmakers are in lockdown because there’s no legal protections for imprisoned whistleblowers.
Defending Prison Journalism
“We have journalists every place in the world except in prisons.”
Incarcerated journalist Christopher Blackwell discusses his recent book on solitary confinement, and what it would take to level the playing field for incarcerated writers.
Decarceral Pathways
The Endless Punishment
A recent book contributes firsthand testimony on the violence of solitary confinement and helps frame the question of why it has proven so central to mass incarceration.
first person
Never Forget Attica Day
Decades of policy failures, including a culture of impunity for correctional officers, have eroded many of the gains that the Attica uprising’s incarcerated leaders fought and died to secure.
Beginnings
A Torture Among Tortures
Even in ancient societies not known for their delicacy about violence, solitary confinement stood out as a horror. In our own time we are far less clear-eyed about its violent…
Life Inside
Unsettled People
Prison transfers are routinely used to punish, disorient, and isolate incarcerated people, disconnecting them from family, friends, community, and all sense of place.
campaigns
A Breakthrough on Solitary
Connecting it to the fight for disability rights has helped activists in California to make exciting progress in their effort to end solitary confinement.
interventions
Seeing the Light
We can't end mass incarceration without first ending solitary confinement once and for all.
Institutions
Maxed Out
Long a reflection of the American carceral system’s worst excesses, the supermax prison serves no just purpose and must cease to exist.