Solitary confinement

=== United States ===
{{main|Solitary confinement in the United States}}

Solitary confinement first arose in the United States in the late 1700s among religious groups like the [[Quakers]], who thought isolation would promote [[repentance]] and [[Rehabilitation (penology)|rehabilitation]].<ref name = history /> Though the practice fell out of use in the early 1900s, it experienced a resurgence during the [[Law and order (politics)|tough on crime]] era in the 1980s and 1990s.<ref name = history>{{Cite web|last=Wykstra|first=Stephanie|date=17 April 2019|title=The case against solitary confinement|url=https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/4/17/18305109/solitary-confinement-prison-criminal-justice-reform|website=[[Vox (website)|Vox]]|access-date=20 February 2021|archive-date=12 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212153857/https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/4/17/18305109/solitary-confinement-prison-criminal-justice-reform|url-status=live}}</ref> This period also saw the construction of [[supermax prison|supermax]] prisons, which typically house individuals in indefinite solitary confinement consisting of upwards of 22 hours a day of isolation.<ref name="KurkiMorris">{{Cite journal |last1=Kurki |first1=Leena |last2=Morris |first2=Norval |author-link2=Norval Morris |date=2001 |title=The Purposes, Practices, and Problems of Supermax Prisons |url= |journal=[[Crime and Justice]] |volume=28 |pages=385–424 |doi=10.1086/652214 |issn=0192-3234 |jstor=1147678|s2cid=147129265}}</ref>

In the [[Incarceration in the United States|United States penal system]] today, more than 20 percent of individuals in state and federal prisons and 18 percent of individuals in local jails are placed in solitary confinement or another form of restrictive housing at some point during their incarceration.<ref>{{Cite web|date=23 October 2015|title=Nearly 20 Percent of Prison and Jail Inmates Spent Time in Segregation or Solitary Confinement in 2011–12|url=https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/press/urhuspj1112pr.cfm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019102536/https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/press/urhuspj1112pr.cfm|archive-date=19 October 2020|website=[[Bureau of Justice Statistics]]|publisher=[[United States Department of Justice]]}}</ref> According to a 2023 report from [[Solitary Watch]] and Unlock the Box, it is estimated that more than 122,000 people are held in solitary confinement in state and federal prisons and local jails in the United States on any given day.<ref>{{cite web |title=Calculating Torture: Analysis of Federal, State, and Local Data Showing More Than 122,000 People in Solitary Confinement in U.S. Prisons and Jails |url=https://solitarywatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Calculating-Torture-Report-May-2023-R2.pdf |publisher=Solitary Watch and Unlock the Box |access-date=28 June 2023 |date=June 2023}}</ref> A report from the Liman Center at [[Yale Law School]] found that between 41,000 and 48,000 individuals were held daily in solitary confinement in state and federal prisons for 15 days or more in 2021, with over 6,000 individuals found to have been held in solitary for over a year.<ref>The Guardian, 24 Aug. 2022 [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/24/us-solitary-confinement-prisons?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other "Nearly 50,000 People Held in Solitary Confinement in US, Report Says"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221126182146/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/24/us-solitary-confinement-prisons?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other |date=26 November 2022 }}</ref> 

Since 2009, there have been [[Solitary confinement in the United States#Legislation_and_reform|legislative efforts in numerous states]] to ban the use of solitary confinement for vulnerable populations, including children, pregnant women, and [[LGBT|LGBTQ+]] people, as well as to end the use of long-term solitary confinement.<ref name = legislation>{{cite web |title=Banning Torture: Legislative Trends and Policy Solutions for Restricting and Ending Solitary Confinement throughout the United States |url=https://unlocktheboxcampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/UTB-BanningTorture-TrendReport-January2023.pdf |publisher=Unlock the Box |access-date=28 June 2023 |date=January 2023}}</ref> In 2020, New Jersey passed the Isolated Confinement Restriction Act, which bans the use of solitary beyond 20 consecutive days.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gov. Murphy Signs Isolated Confinement Restriction Act Into Law |url=https://www.aclu-nj.org/en/press-releases/gov-murphy-signs-isolated-confinement-restriction-act-law |publisher=ACLU New Jersey |access-date=28 June 2023 |date=11 July 2019}}</ref> As of June 2023, New York,<ref>{{cite web |title=Senate Passes the 'HALT' Solitary Confinement Act |url=https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senate-passes-halt-solitary-confinement-act |publisher=New York State Senate |access-date=28 June 2023 |date=18 March 2021}}</ref> Connecticut,<ref>{{cite web |title=Governor Lamont Signs Legislation Limiting the Use of Isolated Confinement |url=https://portal.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/News/Press-Releases/2022/05-2022/Governor-Lamont-Signs-Legislation-Limiting-the-Use-of-Isolated-Confinement |publisher=ct.gov |access-date=28 June 2023 |date=10 May 2022}}</ref> and Nevada<ref>{{cite web |title=Lombardo Signs Bill to Limit Use of Solitary Confinement in Nevada Prisons |url=https://www.aclunv.org/en/news/lombardo-signs-bill-limit-use-solitary-confinement-nevada-prisons |publisher=ACLU Nevada |access-date=28 June 2023 |date=16 June 2023}}</ref> have passed legislation banning the use of solitary beyond 15 consecutive days, bringing their use of isolation in line with the United Nations' [[Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners|Mandela Rules]].

In July 2023, United States Representative [[Cori Bush]] (D-Mo.) introduced the End Solitary Confinement Act, which would prohibit solitary confinement except for up to a four-hour maximum in all federal prisons, jails, and immigration detention centers if passed. The bill would also incentivize similar legislation to be enacted at the state and local levels.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ortiz |first1=Erik |title=Bill to ban solitary confinement in federal prisons introduced in House |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/bill-ban-solitary-confinement-federal-prisons-introduced-house-lawmake-rcna96016 |publisher=NBC News |access-date=28 July 2023 |date=27 July 2023}}</ref>

====Racial and other disparities====

Statistics indicate that members of marginalized groups are disproportionately likely to end up in solitary confinement. A 2019 Correctional Leaders Association/Yale Law School study found that Black women make up 21.5 percent of the United States female prison population, but 42.1 percent of the U.S. female prison population held in solitary.<ref>{{cite web |title=Time-in-Cell 2019: A Snapshot of Restrictive Housing |url=https://law.yale.edu/sites/default/files/area/center/liman/document/time-in-cell_2019.pdf |publisher=Association of State Correctional Administrators and the Arthur Liman Public Interest Program |access-date=9 July 2023 |date=September 2020}}</ref> Another study found that 11 percent of all Black men born in Pennsylvania between 1986 and 1989 had been held in solitary by the age of 32.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pullen-Blasnik |first1=Hannah |last2=Simes |first2=Jessica T. |last3=Western |first3=Bruce |title=The Population Prevalence of Solitary Confinement |journal=Science Advances |date=26 November 2021 |volume=7 |issue=48 |pages=eabj1928 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.abj1928 |pmid=34826243 |pmc=8626064 |bibcode=2021SciA....7.1928P }}</ref> Disparities in the use of solitary have also been found to exist for [[LGBTQ|LGBTQ+]] people, Latinos, and Native Americans.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Beck |first1=Allen J. |title=Use of Restrictive Housing in U.S. Prisons and Jails, 2011-12 |url=https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/urhuspj1112.pdf |publisher=Bureau of Justice Statistics |access-date=9 July 2023 |date=October 2015}}</ref><ref name = race/>

The disproportionate use of solitary on marginalized groups has been attributed to [[racism]] and other forms of [[discrimination]] which are exacerbated by the correctional environment. People of color may be more likely to be perceived as threatening and consequently receive more disciplinary tickets that land them in solitary;<ref name = race>{{cite web |last1=Eskender |first1=Melat |title=Racism and Solitary Confinement |url=https://solitarywatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/SW-Fact-Sheet-1-Racism-v230228.pdf |publisher=Solitary Watch |access-date=10 July 2023 |date=2022}}</ref> LGBTQ+ individuals may be placed in solitary as [[protective custody]] (either voluntarily or involuntarily) to prevent them from being assaulted or otherwise victimized.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Truman |first1=Jennifer L. |last2=Morgan |first2=Rachel E. |title=Violent Victimization by Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, 2017-2022 |url=https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/vvsogi1720.pdf |publisher=Bureau of Justice Statistics |access-date=9 July 2023 |date=June 2022}}</ref> Notably, some [[transgender]] individuals have stated that they would rather risk their safety in the general prison population than being held in the isolation of protective custody.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Law |first1=Victoria |title=Maryland Solitary Confinement Reform Bill Stalls in Democratic State Legislature, Despite Rare Support From Corrections Union |url=https://solitarywatch.org/2023/05/25/maryland-solitary-confinement-reform-bill-stalls-in-democratic-state-legislature-despite-rare-support-from-corrections-union/ |publisher=Solitary Watch/The Nation |access-date=9 July 2023 |date=25 May 2023 |quote=One month after [Scheibe] was placed in segregation, staff offered her a choice. She could sign a body waiver, in which she would accept the purported risk of returning to general population, or she could remain in isolation. 'Had I not signed the body waiver, I very well might have killed myself,' Scheibe told Solitary Watch and The Nation. 'I would rather take my chances in general population than be locked in a six-foot cell.'}}</ref>

As Angela J. Hattery and Earl Smith have written, "Solitary confinement is a place where [the] racial history [of the United States] is on full display... Not only are the majority of the staff white and the majority of the prisoners Black and brown, but the very premise of solitary confinement relies on the foundation of [[white supremacy]] on which this country was built."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hattery |first1=Angela J. |last2=Smith |first2=Earl |title=Way Down in the Hole: Race, Intimacy, and the Reproduction of Racial Ideologies in Solitary Confinement |date=2022 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |location=New Brunswick, New Jersey |isbn=978-1978823785}}</ref>