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Abstract Solitary confinement is a widespread practice in US correctional facilities. Long-standing concerns about the physical and mental health effects of solitary confinement have led to litigation, legislation, and community activism resulting in many prison systems introducing policies or implementing legal mandates to reduce or eliminate its use. Yet little is known about the nature and effectiveness of policies that states have adopted to reduce their use of solitary confinement and exactly how various reforms have actually impacted the lives of people living and working in the prisons where these reforms have taken place. Methods We conducted an embedded case study, analyzing changes in policies and procedures, administrative data, and focus groups and interviews with incarcerated persons and staff, to describe the circumstances that led to changes in solitary confinement policies and practices in the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (ND DOCR) and the perceived impact of these changes on incarcerated persons and prison staff. Results North Dakota’s correctional officials and staff members attributed the impetus to change their solitary confinement policies to their participation in a program that directly exposed them to the Norwegian Correctional Service’s philosophy, policies, and practices in 2015. The ensuing policy changes made by North Dakota officials were swift and resulted in a 74.28% reduction in the use of solitary confinement between 2016 and 2020. Additionally, placements in any form of restrictive housing decreased markedly for incarcerated persons with serious mental illness. In the two prisons that had solitary confinement units, rule infractions involving violence decreased at one prison overall and it decreased within the units at both prisons that were previously used for solitary confinement. Although fights and assaults between incarcerated people increased in one of the prison’s general population units, during the initial months of reforms, these events continued to decline compared to years before reform. Moreover, incarcerated people and staff attributed the rise to a concomitant worsening of conditions in the general population due to overcrowding, idleness, and double bunking. Both incarcerated persons and staff members reported improvements in their health and well-being, enhanced interactions with one another, and less exposure to violence following the reforms. Conclusions Immersing correctional leaders in the Norwegian Correctional Service’s public health and human rights principles motivated and guided the ND DOCR to pursue policy changes to decrease the use of solitary confinement in their prisons. Ensuing reductions in solitary confinement were experienced as beneficial to the health and wellness of incarcerated persons and staff alike. This case-study describes these policy changes and the perspectives of staff and incarcerated persons about the reforms that were undertaken. Findings have implications for stakeholders seeking to reduce their use of solitary confinement and limit its harmful consequences and underscore the need for research to describe and assess the impact of solitary confinement reforms.

Despite concerns and debates about the policy of using extended solitary confinement for managing individuals deemed to be too violent or disruptive to be controlled any other way—for the broader g...

This paper explores the role of judges in authorising the extension of placements in solitary confinement in Israeli prisons for lengthy periods of time. It qualitatively examines, through content analysis of 354 Israeli court decisions, how judges negotiate and rationalise the harmful effects of solitary confinement when balanced against the prison authorities’ reasoning for subjecting prisoners to it. Finding an overall tendency to defer to the expertise of prison authorities, we examine what Sykes & Matza termed ‘techniques of neutralisation’ used by judges to distance themselves from the responsibility for solitary confinement placements and the hardship they inflict. The paper further discusses the socio-legal and organisational structures and contexts which incentivise the prioritisation of prison security/discipline over the protection of prisoners from the ‘pains of solitary confinement’.

This article describes disciplinary sanctions applied to imates in Danish prisons. The aricle begins with an explanation of the purpose of disciplinarypunishment and of the legal basis for its use. The article then provides an analysis of administrative practices illustrated by descriptions of a few representative disciplinary cases decided by the prisons and appelate cases decided by the courts and the Department of Prisons and Probation. In relation to legal bases, the analysis reveals significant shortcomings regarding both the provision and the assessment of evidence as well as the choice of sanction. The article concludes with a series of recommendations to the authorities.

Purpose Young offenders are disproportionately represented in the Irish Prison Service (IPS) and are a population with complex needs and highest risk of re-offending. Subsets of young offenders in IPS are placed on Protection for their own and/or other’s safety. There is limited research regarding the experiences of young offenders, and there is none on the subjective experiences of young offenders on Protection that could be identified. This study aims to address a limitation of a previous study on the experiences of young offenders in an Irish prison (Hughes et al., 2017) by providing insight into experiences of young offenders on Protection in Mountjoy Prison. Design/methodology/approach Using a non-experimental, qualitative, semi-structured interview design, a purposive sampling method was used, and six young offenders participated. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim with potentially identifiable information removed to ensure anonymity. An interpretative phenomenological analysis was applied to interpret the data. Findings Two superordinate themes provided an overview of the young offender’s experiences of Protection in an Irish prison: ‘Social Order on Protection’ and ‘Adjustment on Protection’. Research limitations/implications Even though it is a relatively small sample size, this study contributes to existing literature and considers sentence management and clinical implications. Originality/value This study helps to address a gap in literature by providing insight into the overall experiences of young male offenders (aged 18–21) on Protection in an Irish prison. The findings are in line with most researches, which highlight additional negative consequences of “restrictive prisons regimes” such as Protection. This study provides information to prisons for the development of best practice guidelines and better sentence management and delivery of services to young offenders on Protection.

У статті розглянуто питання права засудженого на ізольоване тримання під час відбування покарання у виправних колоніях закритого типу задля забезпечення їх безпеки. Зазначено, що у нормативно-правових актах України неврегульовані деякі питання щодо поняття «безпечного місця» та щодо питання передбачення процедури, пов’язаної із забезпеченням особистої безпеки засуджених. Запропоновано поняття «безпечного місця в установах виконання покарань». Обґрунтовано пропозицію доповнення законодавства обов’язком персоналу органів та установ виконання покарання щодо виявлення джерел небезпеки, що загрожують життю і здоров’ю засудженого, а також порядком переводу засудженого у безпечне місце. The article considers the issue of the convict's right to solitary confinement while serving his sentence in closed penal colonies for the sake of their safety. The study has revealed that the normative-legal acts of Ukraine do not regulate properly some issues related to the concept of «safe place», including the issue of providing a legal procedure concerning the personal safety of convicts. The author substantiates the concept of «safe place in penitentiary institutions», which should be understood as any specially equipped room, including a separate cell in a disciplinary prison, a cell-type room or solitary confinement, to which access of the parties to the conflict, other convicts or prison staff is restricted or prohibited without special permission, and which maximizes the personal safety of the convicted, who in accordance with the law sought help. The article substantiates the proposal to supplement Article 10 of the Criminal-Executive Code with the provision about the duty of the staff of penitentiary bodies and institutions to identify sources of danger to the life and health of the convict while serving the sentence and supplementing the Rules of Procedure of the penitentiary institutions with a separate section on transferring the convict to a safe place and the provisions clarifying the content of «safe place», «danger to life and health of the convict».

There is mixed evidence on whether incarcerated persons with mental illnesses have increased odds of being placed in solitary confinement. This study answered this question using a large system-wid...

In this article, we consider the use of restrictive practices in Australian prisons in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on solitary confinement. We explore the health and human rights im...

Despite being the second Australian jurisdiction to introduce legislative human rights protections in 2006 (Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic)), Victoria has failed to brin...

In recent decades, long-term solitary confinement has become a mainstay of prison systems. Critiques and research of this confinement typically have focused on its potential harms. Few studies have examined the range of harms to those placed in it; fewer still have examined solitary confinement’s potential benefits or sought insight from those who work with them. Guided by Sykes’ deprivation theory, we draw on focus groups and interviews with 144 correctional personnel to examine their perceptions of incarcerated individuals’ experiences with, and responses to, deprivations of solitary confinement. We show that staff view the pains of imprisonment as potentially increasing or decreasing in solitary confinement and that they view incarcerated persons as adapting to such confinement in different ways.

In 2018, the Corrective Services Administrators’ Council updated the Standard Guidelines for Corrections in Australia (2012), renaming them the Guiding Principles for Corrections in Australia. This was an opportunity to ensure alignment with the 2015 United Nations Mandela Rules. However, the Guiding Principles are less aligned with the Mandela Rules than the 2012 Guidelines were. That is, they represent a step backwards. This article examines this missed opportunity to improve prison practice in three areas of frequent human rights violations of imprisoned people: (1) solitary confinement, (2) bodily searches and (3) use of restraints. It argues that the ACT Standards for Adult Correctional Services provide an excellent model for national guidance that should replace the Guiding Principles.

Drawing on qualitative data from focus groups with correctional personnel in one of the nation’s largest women’s prisons, this study examines staff perceptions of how incarcerated women cope with long-term solitary confinement. We find that women’s strong ties to other women and their prison pseudofamilies may influence the behaviors that explain their placement and stays in solitary confinement. We find, too, that women are perceived to go to extreme lengths to build and maintain relationships with other women. The findings showcase unintended consequences of solitary confinement, raise questions about its effectiveness, and highlight the limits of institutional control.

This randomized control experiment investigates whether providing educational information about solitary confinement (SC) cause respondents to update their beliefs about the practice. It also exami...

The article analyzes the English prison projects: the Hard Labour Bill 1778 and the Penitentiary Act 1779. The author identified the reasons for their creation, sources, key points and their impact on the formation of penitentiary systems. The American Revolutionary War made it impossible relocation of convicted criminals to the colony. His Majesty's Government had to rush to find a replacement for transportation. In the mid-70s of 18 century there were attempts to develop the foundations of new types of punishment that would replace transportation. Such an alternative would hard labor in special Houses of Hard Labor and Penitentiary Houses. The application of punishment by hard labour to criminals sentenced to transportation is developed in the Hulks Act 1776, the Hard Labour Bill 1778 and the Penitentiary Act 1779. The Hard Labour Bill and the Penitentiary Act were not about reforming prisons, but about developing a system of execution and serving a new type of punishment – imprisonment combined with hard labor. The Hard Labor Bill for the first time enshrined the norms that, in 30-40 years, became the basis of the Pennsylvania system, the Auburn system, the progressive system: solitary confinement, the division of convicts into classes, the correction of the offender with the active participation of chaplain, the system disciplinary offence and sanction, initiation of post-penitentiary care, requirements for prison staff, control and supervision of prison activity by the public and judges. The Hard Labor Bill has not been approved by Parliament. It has been slightly redesigned. The idea of a system of Houses of Hard Labor across the country had to be abandoned. Instead, William Blackstone proposed experimental Penitentiary Houses. It was approved in the Penitentiary Act 1779. An analysis of the main provisions of the Penitentiary Act shows that at least part of the regulation of the Penitentiary Houses and their conditions of detention were based on the Hard Labor Bill. Although the ambitious idea of creating a network of prisons throughout the country has been abandoned, Penitentiary Act 1779 has retained the general philosophy of imprisonment in combination with hard labor. Despite the lack of practical implementation, the 1779 Penitentiary Act was essential to further improve the operation of existing detention facilities and build new prisons throughout the country, but as a local initiative rather than a centralized reform.

Solitary confinement is a harsh form of custody involving isolation from the general prison population and highly restricted access to visitation and programs. Using detailed prison records covering three decades of confinement practices in Kansas, we find solitary confinement is a normal event during imprisonment. Long stays in solitary confinement were rare in the late 1980s with no detectable racial disparities, but a sharp increase in capacity after a new prison opening began an era of long-term isolation most heavily affecting Black young adults. A decomposition analysis indicates that increases in the length of stay in solitary confinement almost entirely explain growth in the proportion of people held in solitary confinement. Our results provide new evidence of increasingly harsh prison conditions and disparities that unfolded during the prison boom.

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link. The global COVID-19 pandemic has particularly affected justice-involved children. Youth justice policy changes and innovations have assisted communication and engagement with these vulnerable children during unprecedented times, whilst attempting to limit risks of contagion and criminalisation - all central tenets of the 'Child First' guiding principle for the Youth Justice System of England and Wales. Whilst some changes have enhanced the experiences of some justice-involved children (gains), others have disproportionately disadvantaged justice-involved children in court, community and custody contexts (pains), increasing criminalisation, disengagement and anxiety. These pains of COVID-19 have effectively eroded the rights of this already-vulnerable group of children.

The article (Cloud et al., 2021), Cloud, D. H., Augustine, D., Ahalt, C., et al. (2021). “We just needed to open the door”: a case study of the quest to end solitary confinement in North Dakota. Health & Justice, 9(1), 1–25, was published on October 18th, 2021, before authors had received or approved a finalized proof. As a result, the original version had multiple typographical and formatting errors throughout the paper that have since been corrected. The original article (Cloud et al., 2021) has been updated.

The present study explored the effects of solitary confinement on in-prison outcomes among inmates housed in disciplinary segregation in a northeast state ( N = 398). The deterrent effects of segregation and program participation on future in-prison behaviors were examined. Differences among samples of inmates housed in disciplinary segregation before and after the enactment of policy revisions were also assessed. Findings from bivariate and multivariate analyses indicate most inmates did not have a new infraction; however, certain inmates were more likely to receive a future discipline. Furthermore, completing programming while in disciplinary segregation did not have an effect on future infractions or programming participation. The implications of the research findings are discussed.

A number of studies find that solitary confinement is associated with mental impairment. Yet, confinement dosage and which individual and exogenous variables lead to mental impairment have received less attention. This study of 2 years of data on disciplinary segregation male inmates employs a repeated measures design to examine how isolation affects mental health and psychological needs. The findings indicate that the duration of disciplinary segregation and incarceration, incidence of homelessness, and other individual-level factors had deleterious effects on mental health and psychological needs. Vocational programming and a high school education were found to be protective factors for psychological needs.