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Tag: Solitary confinement

European Governments Want To Combat Terrorism With Prison Segregation, Solitary Confinement
A captive is escorted by two guards in Guantanamo Bay detention camp on December 2007. (Navy / Petty Officer 1st Class Michael Billings / Wikimedia)
August 30, 2016
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European Governments Want To Combat Terrorism With Prison Segregation, Solitary Confinement

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

British and French prisons may soon employ controversial methods like solitary confinement and ‘terrorist-only’ units in an effort to curb radicalization efforts in prisons and to keep inmates from turning to terrorism.

Compared to their overall populations, England, Wales and France disproportionately imprison Muslims. A study conducted in March 2015 found that the number of Muslim prisoners in English and Welsh prisons increased 122 percent between 2002 and 2014, while the total number of prisoners only increased 20 percent over the same time period.

And although French laws prevent an exact count of Muslims in prison, it’s estimated that as many as 70 percent of the country’s 67,500 prisoners are Muslim.

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North Carolina Cuts Use Of Prison Torture In Half
File: A light shines through a tiny window in a historic prison cell. (Flickr / jmiller291)
June 2, 2016
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North Carolina Cuts Use Of Prison Torture In Half

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Half as many prisoners in North Carolina face solitary confinement, thanks to dedicated efforts to cut back on the controversial practice often equated with torture.

“Last spring, roughly 5,330 of the state’s 38,000 prisoners – 1 in 7 – were segregated from other inmates on any given day,” wrote Taylor Knopf on May 26 in the News & Observer. “By this month, that number had been reduced to 2,540.”

Contrary to the idea that solitary confinement helps control dangerous inmates, Knopf noted: “State prison officials say solitary confinement is not working and doesn’t lead to positive behavioral change.”

“We are changing the culture” in prisons, said David Guice, the state’s prison commissioner, in an interview with Knopf. Other states saw reductions in violence against guards after limiting “heavy” use of solitary confinement, Guice said, expressing his hope that North Carolina would see similar results.

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Did Prison Officials Single Out Political Prisoner Barrett Brown For Solitary Confinement?
Barrett Brown stands with his arms crossed. (Wikimedia / Free Barrett Brown)
June 23, 2015
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Did Prison Officials Single Out Political Prisoner Barrett Brown For Solitary Confinement?

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

According to reports from supporters on social media, Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials moved imprisoned journalist Barrett Brown into solitary confinement last week.

Brown is an outspoken and controversial journalist who worked closely with Anonymous during the peak of that movement in the early years of this decade. The government noticed this collaboration and targeted Brown for prosecution during their campaign against the hacktivist group Lulzsec, a high-profile subgroup of Anonymous, which also resulted in the imprisonment of political prisoner Jeremy Hammond.

Brown was sentenced to 63 months in prison in January. In addition, he must pay about $800,000 in restitution to Strategic Forecasting, the corporate intelligence agency based in Austin, Texas, that was a target of Lulzsec hacking.

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Activists Bring Solitary Confinement To College Campus For Alvaro Luna Hernandez
An activist in a prison jumpsuit sits in a simulated solitary confinement cell. June 11, 2016. (Kit O'Connell)
June 15, 2015
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Activists Bring Solitary Confinement To College Campus For Alvaro Luna Hernandez

Posted in Austin, Journalism, and MintPress News

Dressed in a real prisoner’s clothing, an activist sat in silence on a busy college campus, alone inside a simulated solitary confinement cell drawn in chalk, on Thursday. Thousands of Texas prisoners spend about 23 hours a day in tiny confines with real walls holding them inside.

“Will you sign a postcard for my friend Alvaro?” asked Azzurra Crispino, another activist standing nearby.

The “prisoner” and his friend are part of Prison Abolition and Prisoner Support (PAPS), an Austin-based group that raises awareness about prison conditions while supporting the incarcerated. They were honoring June 11, a national day of action for long-term anarchist political prisoners held in dozens of cities around the world. For the hour and a half activists and supporters gathered under a shady tree at a corner of the University of Texas at Austin campus, the “prisoner” in the cell represented Alvaro Luna Hernandez, who has spent the last 13 years in solitary confinement in Texas prisons.

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