“Today, even George Orwell would have been pressed to conceive the plight of the 86: cleared for release, but denied freedom, using a hunger strike as their last weapon, only to be kept alive by the very people who will not let them go.” —Rupert Cornwell, The Independent Over the weekend, US forces raided a part [...]

A prisoner, who has been held in detention for eleven years without charge or trial, has told an attorney that the prison authorities are trying to “break Muslims.” He is participating in a major hunger strike that has been ongoing since early February and shared details on his health as a result of his participation [...]

Journalists with the web-based project dedicated to bringing attention to the widespread use of solitary confinement, Solitary Watch, report the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is going to be expanding the Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois to hold federal prisoners in supermax conditions. This means cells will be holding prisoners in conditions of solitary confinement and [...]

An HBO documentary on the right that everyone has to a defense lawyer when they are charged with a crime, even if they cannot afford one, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The film “Gideon’s Army,” was featured on “Democracy Now!” this morning. The film’s release coincides with the fifty-year anniversary of the Supreme Court [...]

A federal judge ruled earlier this week the Indiana Department of Corrections (IDOC) has violated the Eighth Amendment rights of prisoners by not providing adequate mental health care. It had violated mentally ill prisoners by subjecting them to conditions that amounted to solitary confinement and only worsened their illness. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [...]

Ca’Linda was locked up in a Kentucky county jail on a drug charge when a captain on the corrections staff demanded to see her naked. That was the first abuse. It got worse, quickly. The captain knew Ca’Linda had an infant daughter, so he didn’t have to use physical force. He just had to threaten [...]

Correctional officers in Los Angeles County jails strike inmates in the head at an “alarming regularity,” according to a report released by the American Civil Liberties Union in Southern California. Deputies in the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD) stomp on inmates’ heads, even when inmates are shackled. They bash inmates’ faces into walls, causing fractures [...]

(update below) A “primer” from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seems to encourage the use of isolation to break down prisoners in overseas prisons. Published in 2011, it advocates the use of this coercive measure to break detainees ahead of interrogations, which violates or runs contrary to FBI policy. The American Civil Liberties Union [...]

A historic congressional hearing on solitary confinement in United States’ prisons happened on Tuesday. It was held by the Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights. Chaired by Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the hearing was the first-ever hearing on the use of isolation in prisons and the human rights, fiscal, and [...]

An historic congressional hearing on solitary confinement in United States prisons was held today by the Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights. Chaired by Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, it was the first-ever hearing on the use of isolation in prisons and the human rights, fiscal and public safety consequences created. [...]