[Pnews] Report Examines Devastating Impact of Solitary Confinement on Women

[Prisoner News]

  New ACLU Report Examines Devastating Impact of Solitary Confinement on
  Women

April 24, 2014 By Victoria Law 
<http://solitarywatch.com/author/victoria-law/>
*http://solitarywatch.com/2014/04/24/new-aclu-report-examines-devastating-impact-solitary-confinement-women/*

Today, the ACLU released /Worse than Second Class: Solitary Confinement 
of Women in the United States/ 
<https://www.aclu.org/worse-second-class>. Recognizing that women in 
solitary are often ignored, the report examines the gendered impact of 
solitary and issues a series of recommendations. These recommendations 
assume that vulnerable populations will continue to be incarcerated and 
focus on ameliorating the harmful effects of solitary.

/Further Harming Those with Mental Illness/

Nearly seventy-five percent of incarcerated women 
<http://bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/mhppji.pdf> have been diagnosed with 
mental illness, a rate much higher than that of their male counterparts. 
The report notes that a disturbing number of women with mental illness 
are held in solitary, sometimes for behavior that is beyond their 
control. Mental health experts recognize that long-term isolation is 
harmful for anyone, but particularly for those with pre-existing mental 
illness.

Recommendation: People (of all genders) with mental illness should never 
be held in isolation. Furthermore, women should be evaluated by 
competent and qualified practitioners to assess their medical and mental 
health conditions before being placed in solitary.

/Re-Traumatizing Survivors of Past Abuse and Increasing Likelihood of 
Future Abuse/

The majority of incarcerated women have reported past physical or sexual 
abuse <http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/parip.pdf>. The lack of 
contact, human interaction and mental stimulation contribute to 
psychological deterioration for people who have experienced abuse. In 
addition, across the country, women in solitary are regularly supervised 
by male guards 
<http://www.justdetention.org/pdf/Watching%20You,%20Watching%20Me.pdf> 
even when showering, changing clothes and using the toilet.

Solitary confinement also places a woman at greater risk for physical 
and/or sexual abuse by prison staff. Isolated from the general 
population, these abuses are easier for staff to hide.

Recommendation: Women's histories of mental illness, trauma, abuse and 
sexual assault should be taken into account before placing them in solitary.

/Punishing Women Who Report Abuse or Neglect/

Prison staff utilize solitary to punish women for reporting abuse or 
neglect. Women who have complained about sexual abuse by prison staff 
<http://solitarywatch.com/2013/12/12/women-solitary-confinement-sent-solitary-reporting-sexual-assault/> 
are frequently placed in solitary confinement while their complaints are 
investigated. The threat of solitary often discourages other women from 
reporting abuse or neglect.

Women who report neglect have also been placed in isolation. The report 
highlights the case of Carol Lester 
<http://bitchmagazine.org/post/73-year-old-grandma-thrown-in-solitary-confinement-for-wanting-decent-medical-care>, 
a 73-year-old grandmother who was placed in solitary confinement in a 
CCA-run prison for almost five weeks after complaining about inadequate 
medical care. She filed suit against the prison, arguing that placing 
her in solitary was retaliation for her complaints. She was released on 
probation/parole shortly after her story hit the media.

Recommendation: Solitary should never be used as a retaliatory measure. 
Qualified auditors should be specifically tasked with ensuring that 
people who report abuse are not placed in solitary confinement.

/Punishing Children/

Noting that the majority of incarcerated women are mothers 
<http://ri.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0LEVjnmm1ZTZFQAOidjmolQ;_ylu=X3oDMTBybnV2cXQwBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMgRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkAw--/RV=2/RE=1398213735/RO=10/RU=http%3a%2f%2fwww.bjs.gov%2fcontent%2fpub%2fpdf%2fpptmc.pdf/RK=0/RS=lCGhdHBsTYuwEcn97lfVtlGGmy4->, 
the report found that placing women in solitary negatively affects their 
children. Many women's prisons are far from the areas in which mothers 
and children lived before incarceration. The distance, travel time and 
expense make visitation difficult and sometimes infrequent.

Placement in solitary makes these visits even more difficult. Visitation 
for people in solitary is often limited. Visits are often conducted 
through a glass partition or, as some states move towards video 
conferencing for visits, through a video monitor. Neither option allows 
a child the opportunity to hug her mother or hold hands. At other times, 
people in solitary are not allowed visits at all. Both undermine a 
mother's efforts to remain connected to her children.

Recommendation: Contact visits with children should be allowed for all 
people. Family visitation should be encouraged.

/Harming Pregnant Women/

In addition to being inhumane, placing pregnant women in solitary 
confinement often jeopardizes their access to prenatal care 
<http://correctionalassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/testimony-solitary-confinement-june-2012.pdf>.

Although the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners 
and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders (known as the Bangkok 
Rules <http://www.ihra.net/contents/811>) prohibit the placement of 
pregnant or nursing women in solitary confinement, jails and prisons 
across the U.S. continue to place pregnant and postpartum women in solitary.

Recommendation: Pregnant and nursing women should never be held in 
solitary confinement.

/Isolating Trans Women /

Solitary confinement is also utilized for trans women sent to male 
prisons <http://srlp.org/its-war-in-here/>. Justifying this placement as 
"protective custody" rather than punitive segregation, prisons place 
trans women in solitary units where they have little to no access to 
human contact, educational programs, exercise or recreation. Trans women 
in protective custody are subject to the same rules as people in 
punitive segregation---they are allowed out of their cell only one hour 
each day and allowed to shower only a few times a week. In addition, 
placing trans women in solitary increases their vulnerability to 
harassment and assault by prison staff.

Recommendation: Prison officials should not utilize isolation to protect 
vulnerable people. Those who may require extra protection should have 
access to the same programs, privileges and services as people in the 
general population.

The report also recommends:

    * That solitary be used only as a last resort and for as short a
      duration as possible;
    * That all jails and prisons have uniform written policies about
      solitary confinement practices and procedures. Policies should
      include written notification informing people about the reason for
      and duration of their placement; processes by which a person can
      earn privileges, such as access to commissary and visitation; and
      ways in which a person can earn release from solitary;
    * That all jails and prisons be required to regularly and publicly
      report details on people held in solitary, including the number,
      gender, duration, available alternatives and the reason why these
      alternatives were not utilized. There are currently no uniform
      state or federal data available about solitary confinement.

Although the ACLU recognizes that a high percentage of women are 
incarcerated for non-violent offenses, none of the recommendations focus 
on reducing the potential impact of solitary confinement by reducing the 
number of people sent to jails and prisons. All of the above 
recommendations assume that people with mental illnesses, histories of 
trauma and abuse, pregnancies or primary caregiving responsibilities 
will continue to be incarcerated. Their recommendations are important 
steps for ensuring the safety of people currently behind bars. But more 
ambitious goals would call for building alternatives not just to 
solitary confinement but to the default policy of locking people up in 
the first place.

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/ppnews_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20140424/1de518aa/attachment.htm>