I’m going to freewrite as I listen to the hearing today on Solitary Confinement, chaired by Dick Durbin at the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee. It’s a great moment when the national agenda has at least turned an ear to this incredibly barbaric practice. But you’ll get my unadulterated comments too.

Durbin: “The overuse of solitary can present a serious public safety issue,” he says. Why? They will be released. A bit of pandering to the correction officers –maybe because he doesn’t want to be perceived as too liberal?  35% of juveniles report being held in solitary at one time. YIKES. Gives a few positives such as New York’s newest ban on solitary for some prisoners. Calling for all federal and state facilities to END the use of solitary for pregnant women, children and those with mental illness.
Charles Samuels: Director of Bureau of Federal Prisons. Gee what a surprise–he first mentions the officers who lost their lives in the line of duty saying things like “we house the worst of the worst.” 32% over capacity in federal prisons which he says leads to violence. Talks it up how the staff influences prisoners to take part in programming — oh but he doesn’t mention it is only 2% of what is offered at a prison. “Implemented numerous innovations” so we can reduce “restrictive housing.” Note by me: Prisons love euphemisms. A “reintegration unit” to help them come back to general population blah blah blah. “We protect the public and reduce crime.”
Durbin: What policies do you have — to not place kids in solitary confinement?
Samuels: We have 62 juveniles and we have to provide 50 hours of programming. Out of 62, we currently have 1 in restrictive housing.
Durbin: Any limits on time?
Samuels: After 5 days, we have to reassess. We do not support long-term placement of juveniles.
Durbin: Do you anticipate assessment will help with those having mental health treatment and that they lead not just to lockdown?
Samuels: Said yes, assessment will help. Now they have 5 psychologists devoted to those mentally ill. What- FIVE for how many??? Says some are released from “restrictive housing” into general population but now have a “stepdown unit.” Out of 14,008 women they have 197 in restrictive housing. Did not say anything about pregnancy although he was asked. Defines “temporary” as opposed to “longterm.”
***15% prisoners in BOP in there for periods longer than 90 days YIKES. Justifies by saying 47% have killed people. Assures safety of other prisoners and his staff. 1500 out of 215,000.
Ted Cruz- Manages to elicit remarks to make Samuels look good. All his questions are aimed that way.
Samuels – Tries to scare people by saying gang members are watching the testimony here today. Putting staff at risk blah blah blah. Justifies solitary over and over. 94% of prisoners have no mental illness he says. The best horrifier is on man who supposedly said, “If you take me out of solitary I will kill.”
Al Franken -Troubling morally, economically and what concerns him in particular, is mental health. Told 1/3 of prisoners belong somewhere else not behind bars. Plugs his bill for mental health. Pushes Crisis intervention training. Doesn’t buy Samuels stuff. “How big is a solitary cell,” he asks? Family can visit?
Samuels- The average size 10 by 7 (although he first said 4 by 6 and had to correct himself.)  One phone call per month. And yes folks, this is what he calls adequate.
Sen.Mazie Hirono – Are you aware that women afraid of reporting abuse? Wants a directive of what they tell prisoners.
Samuels – Made it sound like it’s all fine. They can report. They know they can. HA.

PANEL
Rick Raemisch, Executive Director,Colorado Department of Corrections, talked about how he spent a day in solitary (maybe not exactly “solitary Mr. Raemisch but good for you). He says, “Administrative segregation is overused, misused and abused.” Working on not releasing people directly into the street from Admin Seg. which is a policy for disaster.
Piper Kerman – Courageous testimony. Very minor infractions can send you to the SHU and you can be kept there for whatever. Quotes one woman who was mentally ill and spent time in solitary and says “I felt sorry there wasn’t a rope to kill myself.” Used as a threat to silence women who have been sexually abused by guards. Terrible threat of isolation makes women afraid to report abuse. Pregnant women should never be placed in solitary but it is allowed. Devastating affect on families. She urges that BOP limit use of solitary on women. Piper told the truth.

Recess for a few minutes while a vote was taken.

The Honorable Craig DeRoche, Justice Fellowship – Says not really true that solitary is for the “worst of the worst,” and shared a story of Kevin. Bipolar, In adult prison in “an ongoing panic attack.” Prison guards increased punishment for him and Deroche sort of excuses this “They didn’t know what else to do.” Jails have become mental health institutions. Note from me: true. Suggests alternative responses, increase training of staff and promote other kinds of housing.
Marc Levin, Director Center for Effective Justice,Texas Public Policy Foundation. They feel strongly about NOT releasing people directing from solitary confinement since then they are more likely to commit offenses. Cites violence dropping 70% in Mississippi prisons because of changes in solitary policies. Reducing duration for example. Recommends eliminating rules that disallow reading materials for example —OMG, imagine being locked up without books.
Damon Thibodeaux, 141st death row exoneree, was subjected to 15 years of solitary. Said solitary is inhumane and suggests that no one should live in a hole. Suggests they live in a room by themselves but solitary is “torture.”He had 5 visits from his family in 15 years. I want to read his written testimony which I am sure is heartbreaking.
Piper Kerman – When asked about how women feel in terms of abuse, by Ted Cruz,
“your best bet if you feel threatened is if you have contact with the outside world.”
Ted Cruz – Apologizes to Damon Thibodeaux. What? WHAT? Then he asks if solitary is used for minor infractions to Ramaesch.
Rick Raemisch, Yes, it’s overused, “makes a facility run more efficiently” some say. “We are sending them out in worse condition than when they came in.”
Ted Cruz– Continues to act as if he has something important to say. Then asks if there is an appropriate role for solitary?  They all vacillate…except Piper.
Raemisch -says yes, but many alternatives.
Marc Levin – Average time in Texas solitary is four years. Need to create more positive sanctions. Short term.
DeRoche – Temporary, always with opportunity to work your way back. They will get out. Use the power differently.
Piper Kerman –There is no rehabilitative value and should not be used except for serious disciplinary reasons.
Damon Thibodeaux -Don’t lock someone up in a cell and forget about them. In my 15 years in Angola, eventually rec one person at a time. Use it in the most limited capacity possible.
Piper Kerman– Asked again about abuse, and says that in every jail and prison for women there is sexual abuse. Said that fear of solitary confinement is a disincentive to report abuse. Investigations do not happen quickly. You can lose housing, prison job and all these things conspire. The best case scenario is to have increased access to the outside world. Access to counsel. 80% too poor to afford a lawyer.
Sen. Durbin – 130 statements were submitted. Said consensus: we don’t want to release people directly from solitarywe don’t want to see children in solitary; we know the vulnerability of women and the impact on the mentally ill; Thibodeaux goes through things that should not be allowed UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

If you want to see the whole hearing, it’s here. Now we’ll have to see if anything comes from this.

If you haven’t seen my newest piece on Boston Magazine where I lay out why bail jails are not the way to go, please check it out here. The basic idea is this: Other states have jumped into the lead with bail reform, but Massachusetts is still lagging behind.

“If you could save $125 a day per person, increase public safety, reduce overcrowding without building new prisons and jails, and only lock up those awaiting trial who have been deemed truly dangerous, would you take that deal?”

Some months ago on twitter, I came across Shane Bauer, whose amazing article “Solitary in Iran Nearly Broke Me. Then I Went Inside America’s Prisons,” I had read in Mother Jones Magazine. Like me, Shane did not intend to become a prison activist. It happened because of his experience inside prison. Unlike me he was a hostage and suffered as a prisoner. His work is always informed by insight and knowledge and he doesn’t pretend to know all.

So, when I saw a tweet by Shane that he was in “Tampa for the American Correctional Association’s annual convention–the big meet-up of prison industries, guards, and wardens,” I had a strange reaction. Why on earth go to a convention where everyone is making money off prisoners? I have been to these conventions, seen the products and talked to the practitioners. Even Alan Mills, a fellow follower and prison activist, told him to have fun in “the belly of the beast.” But Shane’s tweets assured us he would eventually us his insights for another piece. I asked him if I could share them, so here are some of his tweets from today, February 1st. They speak for themselves.

• “Learn prison Spanish! A guide at the American Correctional Association convention. pic.twitter.com/eREywvVmR1.”
• “CCA private prison warden in Tennessee says to me: ‘No one says, “I want to be a warden when I grow up.'”
• “A corrections consultant who worked in Afghanistan says to me, ‘Afghans are easy to lock up. A lot easier than Americans.'”
• “Sitting in a workshop at the American Correctional Assoc. Convention on how to save money on prisons–telemedicine!”
• “If your doing mental health, you don’t need anything more sophisticated than a camera and a screen,” says x-warden re telehealth in prison.”
• He also tweets that “ER and Trauma visits” are a “new frontier,” — over a TV.
• “Nurse giving class on seizures…says threatening to take someone’s temp anally (then doing it) is a way to tell if they are faking it.”
• “Sitting in a workshop “Avoid Falling in Love With an Inmate,”… (The teacher is a man).”

• My favorite tweet: “‘Stand if you’ve worked in a jail or prison.’ About 50 stood. ‘Sit if you’ve never heard of staff having sec with an inmate.’ No one sat.”
• Some prisons have had staffing problems, so they reduced the age limit for guards from 21 to 18. In Tennessee the limit is 18 statewide.
• “How do you know if an inmate is trying to manipulate you? They try to make friends with you. Once you go down to their level, you’re toast.”
• CCA private prison warden to colleague: “You know what you need to do? You need to start a nursing home company for geriatric inmates.”
• Next workshop at the American Correctional Association convention: suicide resistant cell design. (Taught by a former ER cast member.)
• A company that designs suicide proof vent grills offered a Harley to anyone who could hang himself successfully. Many tried. None succeeded.
• “‘Loss of life has a very demoralizing effect on staff and the threat of liability is significant.’ That’s the most emotion we’ve got so far.”
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Thanks Shane–I look forward to whatever you write from this. I have written about some of these issues on Boston Magazine, (suicide smocks as a disastrous fix, for example) but it is profound to hear them in 140 words or less, so shockingly straight up. The business of Corrections was written about well by Marc Mauer and Meda Chesney-Lind in their report at The Sentencing Project in 2002, and CNBC featured an expose on the billions made on Corrections which is available online

The beat goes on as long as under 2% goes to programming and 98% goes to Corrections, as in my state of Massachusetts..