The STOPMAX Campaign, sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), works to eliminate the use of isolation and segregation in U.S. prisons.
Our strategies include research, grassroots organizing, public education and policy advocacy to abolish solitary confinement or reduce its use.
To lay the groundwork for the campaign, we researched the use of isolation in a cross-section of correctional facilities: state Departments of Corrections, Departments of Juvenile Corrections, and immigration detention centers.
In several states, we surveyed the number of people in isolation, the conditions they are living in, how they came to be placed there, and whether and how it is possible to exit those units. The results of this research have been published two regional reports outlining our findings in Arizona and California.
Following our founding conference in 2008, we have continued working with partner organizations to raise awareness about solitary confinement and to collaborate in efforts to eradicate it.
