<html>
<body>
<h1><font size=4><b>New Study: Solitary Confinement Overused in
Colorado</b></font></h1><font size=3>November 18, 2011<br>
<a href="http://solitarywatch.com/2011/11/18/new-study-solitary-confinement-overused-in-colorado/" eudora="autourl">
http://solitarywatch.com/2011/11/18/new-study-solitary-confinement-overused-in-colorado/<br>
</a>by
<a href="http://solitarywatch.com/author/jeancasellaandjamesridgeway/">
Jean Casella and James Ridgeway</a> <br><br>
A
<a href="http://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights/colorado-department-corrections-administrative-segregation-and-classification">
new report on solitary confinement</a> in Colorado’s state prisons
concluded that there are far too many inmates in round-the-clock
lockdown. A series of relatively modest changes in its classification,
review, and mental health treatment practices would “significantly
reduce” the number of prisoners in administrative segregation, the report
found. The report was funded by the National Institute of Corrections,
and its authors, James Austin and Emmitt Sparkman, were involved in the
<a href="http://www.aclu.org/images/asset_upload_file359_41136.pdf">
dramatic reduction of solitary confinement </a>in Mississippi’s
prisons.<br><br>
Alan Prendergast, who has spent more than a decade reporting on Colorado
prisons for Denver’s weekly <i>Westword</i>, reviewed the report and
provided<a href="http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2011/11/solitary_confinement_overused_colorado.php">
the following summary</a>:<br><br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd>A study by researchers at the National Institute of Corrections has
found that Colorado’s approach to locking down its most unruly prisoners
in 23-hour-a-day isolation is “basically sound” but could be used a lot
less. Instead, even as the state’s prison population is declining
slightly, the use of “administrative segregation,” or solitary
confinement, continues to increase.<br><br>
<dd>The Colorado Department of Corrections houses close to 1,500
prisoners in “ad-seg,” about 7 percent of the entire state prison
population. That’s significantly above the national average of 2 percent
or less and if you factor in the additional 670 prisoners who are in
“punitive segregation” as a result of disciplinary actions, the CDOC
figure is closer to 10 percent. And four out of ten of the
<a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCQQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.westword.com%2F2006-09-21%2Fnews%2Fhead-games%2F&ei=r1fFTt7fLoqQsQLhl83CCw&usg=AFQjCNGhjG9Z-ujX_nq6YslTgWRwKjBY-A">
prisoners in solitary have a diagnosed mental illness</a>, roughly double
the proportion in 1999. The state’s heavy reliance on ad-seg, including
<a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBsQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.westword.com%2Flatestword%2F2010%2F03%2Fshowdown_over_new_supermax_don.php&ei=WVjFTs2iDMaqsQLtzqTpCg&usg=AFQjCNEy429OegGamlVg9JHC6nVrAxvXkQ">
building a second supermax prison</a> to house the overload, has put
Colorado in the center of a growing national controversy over whether
isolating prisoners creates more problems in the long run.<br><br>
<dd>NIC researchers James Austin and Emmitt Sparkman were invited by DOC
to prepare an external review of its ad-seg policies and classification
system. Among other points, the pair found that the decision to send
prisoners to lockdown has little review by headquarters; that “there is
considerable confusion in the operational memorandums and regulations on
how the administrative segregation units are to function;” that the
average length of stay in isolation is about two years; and that 40
percent of the ad-seg prisoners are released directly to the community
from lockdown, with no time spent in general population first.<br><br>
<dd>Austin and Sparkman urge the DOC to require a mental health review
before a prisoner is placed in ad-seg and to simplify the programs and
phases inmates are required to complete before returning to a less
restrictive prison. Even modest administrative changes would
“significantly reduce” the state’s lockdown population, they claim,
freeing up cells for other uses and saving the state money, since
supermax prisons are more costly to operate than lower-security
facilities.<br><br>
</dl>For more on solitary confinement in Colorado, read our article
<a href="http://solitarywatch.com/2011/03/01/fortresses-of-solitude-part-2/">
Fortresses of Solitude</a>.<br><br>
<br><br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#008000">415 863-9977<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#0000FF">
<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.Freedomarchives.org</a></font><font size=3> </font></body>
</html>