In 2022 a bill to eliminate solitary confinement in D.C. failed to pass. Stakeholders are attempting to pass the bill again in the current council period. It aims to severely restrict solitary confinement in D.C correctional facilities.
The D.C Department of Corrections claims not to use solitary confinement due to the controversy surrounding the practice. But they practice isolation under different names such as administrative segregation, disciplinary segregation, protective custody, safe cells (for people undergoing mental crisis) and room confinement (for juveniles). The Eliminating Restrictive and Segregated Enclosures (ERASE) Solitary Confinement Act was introduced in 2022 by then councilwoman Mary Cheh.
Cheh proposed measures to further prohibit solitary confinement twice prior to the 2022 introduction of the ERASE bill but none succeeded. Measures included the Inmate Segregation Reduction Act of 2017. Because the DOC denies its use of solitary confinement, there are concerns that the isolated confinement is not monitored or recorded.
“One of the really shocking things was that the DOC had almost no information that they either had or were willing to share with us,” Emily Cassometus, the Director of Government and External Affairs at the D.C Justice Labs, said.
Cassometus has requested records from the DOC on confinement use since 2015. She said they always responded. But in response to a 2022 request, she said DOC claimed they didn’t have any information.
“If that’s true, and they don’t keep that information anymore, then that means that they’re not tracking the use of solitary which is, you know, pretty bad practice,” Cassometus added.
The Des contacted the D.C Department of Corrections about whether or not records are available regarding the use of administrative segregation. They responded that data points on restrictive housing can be found in the 2023 Performance Oversight Hearing materials. But there is no specific data included. In February 2023 written answer to D.C. council, the DOC said it reduced restrictive housing placements by over 50% in fiscal year 2022 by placing “residents in restrictive housing only when they pose an immediate and ongoing threat.”
The DOC reported overall restrictive housing decreased from 12% of DOC’s population to under 5%. “The DOC’s objective is to reform its disciplinary and restrictive housing practices to achieve safer facilities with significantly reduced use of restrictive housing by September 30, 2023,” according to their 2023 report.
The United Nations defines prolonged solitary confinement as confinement for 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact for more than 15 consecutive days. Those who experience solitary are likely to develop anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and psychosis. The Nelson Mandela rules created by the UN assert that solitary confinement should be used sparingly and as a last resort. It categorizes the practice as torture and highlights poor conditions a prisoner likely faces such as lack of access to sunlight, a reduction of food and water and being trapped in a constantly lit or constantly dark cell.
In 2022, a bill was created with the purpose of severely restricting solitary confinement in D.C prisons and youth detention centers, the Eliminating Restrictive and Segregated Enclosures (ERASE) Solitary Confinement Act of 2022. The bill was sponsored by Councilmembers Mary Cheh, Janeese Lewis George, Brianne Nadeau, Kenyan McDuffie, Elissa Silverman, and Robert White. It failed to pass but it will be reintroduced in 2024.
“Solitary confinement is greatly abused. And it’s more for the convenience of the jailers than it is for the inmate, and it’s cruel. So, for me, it was a matter of being humane, and that’s why I wanted to do it” the lead sponsor of the 2020 Erase bill, former Councilwoman Mary Cheh, said.
The Erase bill was never heard by the full council because it got absorbed by Allen’s bill. The Omnibus bill required reports to be made on the use of safe cells, segregation and disciplinary housing: alternate forms of solitary which are still in practice. Cheh thinks the ERASE bill would have had a chance standing on its own. “I was on the council for 16 years and I know my colleagues pretty well, I have no doubt that it would have passed as I submitted it,” Cheh said.
Several advocacy groups and organizations in D.C. are coming together to gather support for the bill and campaign for eliminating the practice of solitary confinement. Some of the members of the D.C coalition of Unlock the Box (a national campaign to end solitary confinement) are the ACLU-DC, Free Minds Book Club, National Reentry Network for Returning Citizens, Interfaith Action for Human Rights, DC Justice Lab and Harriet’s Wildest Dreams.
“[The] vast majority of our members, youth members, have experienced solitary and it is incredibly damaging and harmful,” Tara Libert, the executive director of Free Minds, said. Free Minds, an organization which hosts book clubs and writing workshops for inmates in D.C., is a member of Unlock the Box.
People kept in solitary can be left without necessary stimuli and comforts. Free Minds provides care packages for youth in solitary that include books, activities and brain teasers.
For now, individuals in D.C. still face solitary confinement or administrative segregation without the protection of the ERASE bill. But that could change in the next two years: “The Coalition is back together and meeting and working to revise the bill to make it even stronger,” Cassometus said. The new ERASE bill was reintroduced Sept. 6 by councilmember Brianne Nadeau.
Despite implementing violence interrupter programs similar to Baltimore’s, D.C. saw a concerning 35% rise in homicides in 2023, contrasting the national trend of a 12.7% decrease. While Baltimore’s program is credited with contributing to a 23% drop in homicides there, D.C.’s programs haven’t yielded the same success.
The Des interviewed Pam Bailey, co-founder of More Than Our Crimes. Along with Robert Barton, Bailey seeks to amplify the voices of America’s incarcerated through storytelling to advocate for humane and fair reform.
According to a release of a DC Green study on food insecurity in D.C. jails, study found that a vast majority of respondents reported being
Former Councilmember Mary Cheh proposed measures to further prohibit solitary confinement twice prior to the 2022 introduction of the ERASE bill, but none succeeded. Measures including the Inmate Segregation Reduction Act of 2017. Because the DOC denies its use of solitary confinement, there are concerns that the isolated confinement is not monitored or recorded.
An interview with The T.R.I.G.G.E.R. Project founder, Tia Bell, a gun violence prevention organization in Washington, D.C. that provides support to young people. The organization’s mission is to “denormalize and destigmatize gun violence in communities of color across the nation.”
Rita Ighekpe is a current Junior attending Towson University, where she is double majoring in sociology and political science. She is the fundraising chair of the Towson Naturalistas and a member of the Student Environmental Organization. Her interest in criminal justice began in highschool, where she was an International Baccalaureate student and a member of the Model United Nations as well as Speech and Debate. Her involvement in these organizations broadened her knowledge on law and policy and resulted in her aspirations to work with the law.
Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.