Texas prisoners living in solitary confinement are leading a hunger strike and risking starvation to highlight the cruelty they face on a daily basis — and that is only the most recent high-profile reminder of the horrors of long-term solitary confinement. Prolonged isolation is a devastating practice and a moral outrage. As a prisoners’ rights lawyer for much of my career, I have witnessed too many minds destroyed by isolation.
Long-term solitary confinement needs to be abolished. Illinois has the chance to do so right now by passing the Nelson Mandela Act, which would limit isolation to 10 consecutive days.
Seclusion practices that amount to torture plague prisons in many states — Illinois included. Solitary confinement drives people to madness, self-mutilation and suicide. No wonder hunger-striking prisoners are willing to give up food and risk death to stand up against solitary confinement. Right here in Illinois, prisoners went on hunger strikes in 2014 and again in 2016 to protest extreme isolation.
