A longtime prison reform advocate has agreed to a settlement with Tennessee prison officials over their use of solitary confinement for pretrial detainees.
Alex Friedmann sued the Tennessee Department of Correction last year, complaining that he was being housed in one of the most restrictive cells in the most restrictive unit of the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, despite the fact that he had not yet been convicted of a crime. The walls of the “hardened” cell where Friedmann was housed for almost two years are covered in steel plates. It has no shelves, mirror, stool or electrical outlets, and the window is a vertical slit less than 2 inches wide. Friedmann claimed he was being punished for his years of advocacy on behalf of prisoners prior to his arrest.
