Dear Donors, Readers, and Friends: We founded Solitary Watch more than a decade ago with the belief that accurate information and authentic storytelling could serve as powerful antidotes to ignorance and injustice, and help bring change even to a powerful and secretive institution like prisons. We started out as a small, shoestring operation—which to a […]
Author: Jean Casella and James Ridgeway
Santa Was in Solitary and Jesus Got the Death Penalty
This is one of the first posts we ever published on Solitary Watch, more than ten years ago, and we now share it with our readers every year. Once a year, we also ask you to consider supporting the work we do: shining a light on the darkest corners of our criminal justice system and bringing a glimmer of […]
Social Distancing Is Difficult. Self-Quarantine Can Be Painful. Solitary Confinement Is Torture.
Dear Readers, Supporters, and Friends: In the past nine months, those of us on the outside have been given just a glimpse of the isolation, idleness, and deprivation faced by the thousands of incarcerated men, women, and children held in solitary confinement. Unlike them, most of us have been confined along with loved ones, and […]
For Thousands of People Trapped in Solitary Confinement Under COVID, Silence = Death. Please Help Us Break the Silence.
Dear Friends: Torture is not health care. Torture is not protection. Torture is not the way to survive a pandemic. Solitary confinement has been globally recognized as torture. Yet in response to COVID-19, 300,000 incarcerated individuals—a five-fold increase from the pre-pandemic population—have been forced to endure solitary confinement, and suffer the deep and lasting damage […]
Three Ways to Reach Out to People in Actual Solitary Confinement
As they shelter in place to impede the spread of COVID-19, millions of Americans across the country have been given just a glimpse of the isolation, idleness, and deprivation faced by tens of thousands of incarcerated men, women, and children held in solitary confinement in U.S. prisons, jails, and detention centers. Unlike those held in […]
Santa Was in Solitary and Jesus Got the Death Penalty
This is one of the first posts we ever published on Solitary Watch, and we now share it with our readers every year. Once a year, we also ask you to consider supporting the work we do: shining a light on the darkest corners of our criminal justice system and bringing a glimmer of hope and human companionship to […]
Help Us Show People in Solitary That They Are Not Forgotten
Dear Readers, Supporters, and Friends: For tens of thousands of people locked away in U.S. prisons and jails, the extreme deprivation and isolation of solitary confinement causes unimaginable suffering. One person living in solitary described his existence to us as “a soul-destroying loneliness that never ends.” In this context, even the smallest human connection can […]
The “Soul-Crushing Loneliness” of Solitary Confinement
In our overly busy, hyper-connected world, the idea of “alone time” holds a powerful appeal. Solitude and silence are seen as things that create space for relaxation and self-awareness—things to be sought out and savored. But in the ten years since we started Solitary Watch, we’ve learned about another kind of “alone” that, when you […]
Support Solitary Watch on #GivingNewsDay and Your Donation Will Be Doubled
Dear Readers, Supporters, and Friends: Today, #GivingTuesday, has become an important day for all nonprofit organizations, especially small, lean ones like Solitary Watch. It’s the day when we count on the people who read and value our work all year long—and who care about the issue of solitary confinement—to give back, at whatever level they can, […]
Deadline Extended to FEBRUARY 7: Grants Available to Journalists for Reporting on Solitary Confinement
Through the generosity of the Vital Projects Fund, Solitary Watch is accepting proposals for small grants to journalists working in all media, with the goal of expanding public awareness and understanding of solitary confinement in U.S. federal and state prisons, local and tribal jails, immigration detention centers, and juvenile justice facilities. Grants amounts will range from $1,000 […]
Santa Was in Solitary and Jesus Got the Death Penalty
This is one of the first posts we ever published on Solitary Watch, and we now share it with our readers every year. Once a year—and only once—we also ask you to consider supporting the work we do: shining a light on the darkest corners of our criminal justice system and bringing a glimmer of […]