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August 25, 2022

Nearly 50,000 U.S. Prisoners Face Prolonged Solitary Confinement 
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A new report finds nearly 50,000 prisoners across the United States are
being held in prolonged solitary confinement - conditions the United
Nations considers tantamount to torture. Researchers at Yale Law School
found some 6,000 of the prisoners have been held in isolation for over a
year. The U.N. special rapporteur on torture says such practices are
prohibited under international law and can lead to severe and
irreparable psychological and physical consequences.

In related news, Brown University says it has acquired personal papers
of longtime political prisoner and author Mumia Abu-Jamal, including his
prison records, correspondence and artwork. The materials will anchor
Brown's new Voices of Mass Incarceration collection at the John Hay
Library focused on first-person accounts of incarceration.


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