June, 19 2012, 12:48pm EDT
End Prisons' Brutalizing Use of Isolation for Unconscionable Periods of Time, Lawyers Say
Human Rights Group Submits Testimony to Congressional Hearing on the Consequences of Solitary Confinement
WASHINGTON
Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) submitted written testimony to the first-ever Congressional hearing on solitary confinement, "Reassessing Solitary Confinement: The Human Rights, Fiscal, and Public Safety Consequences." CCR's testimony describes the deplorable conditions of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons, its destructive effects and its disproportionate use against prisoners of color and vulnerable and unpopular prisoners. CCR argues that prolonged solitary confinement violates Eight Amendment prohibitions on cruel and unusual punishment, and that it constitutes torture in violation of international human rights law.
CCR's testimony reads, in part:
"Today, tens of thousands of prisoners across the country are warehoused in cramped, concrete, windowless cells in a state of near-total solitude for between 22 and 24 hours a day. ...The devastating psychological and physical effects of these harsh conditions have been well-documented by psychological experts. Prisoners [in long-term solitary confinement] report that they experience unrelenting and crushing mental anguish [and] have described their confinement as 'a living nightmare that does not end and will not end.' ...[R]ace, political affiliation, religion, association, vulnerability to sexual abuse, and challenging violations of one's rights all too frequently play a role in which prisoners are sent to solitary confinement. ...Solitary confinement strips human beings of their basic dignity and humanity..."
CCR has a long history of challenging the use of isolation in U.S. prisons. Most recently, in May 2012, CCR raised a constitutional challenge to prolonged solitary confinement in a federal class action case on behalf of prisoners at California's notorious Pelican Bay State Prison. At Pelican Bay, hundreds of prisoners have been held in solitary confinement for over 10 years; 78 have been held under these conditions for over 20 years.
Today's hearing was chaired by Senate Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL), and was held before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights. The hearing comes amidst increased human rights concerns about, and a growing movement against, solitary confinement, including hunger strikes last year by thousands of California prisoners to protest isolation units in the state's prisons.
The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. CCR is committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.
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United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Thursday that he is "deeply concerned" by Israel's "recent and extensive violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity," including a ground invasion and airstrikes carried out by the Israel Defense Forces in the war-torn Mideastern nation.
Guterres "is particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Syria" and has stressed the "urgent need to de-escalate violence on all fronts throughout the country," said U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
Israel claims its invasion and bombardment of Syria—which come as the United States and Turkey have also violated Syrian sovereignty with air and ground attacks—are meant to create a security buffer along the countries' shared border in the wake of last week's fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and amid the IDF's ongoing assault on Gaza, which has killed or wounded more than 162,000 Palestinians and is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case.
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Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and conversations it has sparked about the country's for-profit system, longtime Medicare for All advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday condemned the murder and stressed that getting to universal coverage will require a movement challenging corporate money in politics.
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The 83-year-old Vermonter, who was just reelected to what he says is likely his last six-year term, is an Independent but caucuses with Democrats and sought their presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020. He has urged the Democratic Party to recognize why some working-class voters have abandoned it since Republicans won the White House and both chambers of Congress last month. A refusal to take on insurance and drug companies and overhaul the healthcare system, he argues, is one reason.
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In addition to highlighting Sanders' interview on social media, Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) pointed out to Business Insider on Wednesday that "you've got thousands of people that are sharing their stories of frustration" in the wake of Thompson's death.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—a co-sponsor of Sanders' Medicare for All Act—similarly toldHuffPost in a Tuesday interview, "The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system."
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Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) 2024 roundup, which was published Thursday, found that at least 54 journalists were killed on the job or in connection with their work this year, and 18 of them were killed by Israeli armed forces (16 in Palestine, and two in Lebanon).
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