Black people spend a lot of time in solitary confinement, and lawyers want the UN to review why
A 2019 study found that Black women comprise 42 percent of women in solitary detention yet only 21.5 percent of all female prisoners.
A group of human rights lawyers wants the United Nations to examine why Black people spend an unusually long time in solitary confinement.
According to The Hill, Delia Addo-Yobo is a staff attorney for the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights U.S. Advocacy and Litigation program, which is one of the groups participating in the request to the U.N. to look into the abusive solitary confinement practices used by the U.S. against African Americans.
Addo-Yobo said one of the reasons the organizations’ detailed U.N. submission concentrated on Black individuals is that they are more likely to be imprisoned and held in solitary confinement than white Americans.
“The United States also has a very long and unfortunately active history of weaponizing solitary confinement against Black people,” Addo-Yobo said, The Hill reported, “[including] Black political prisoners and people exercising their constitutional rights.”
A study in 2019 by the Liman Center at Yale Law School and the Correctional Leaders Association found that Black men accounted for more than 43 percent of men in solitary confinement and 40.5 percent of the overall male prison population. Black women comprise 42 percent of women in solitary detention yet only 21.5 percent of all female prisoners.
The groups’ submission claims that within the first 15 days of being kept in solitary, more than a third of prisoners experience psychosis or suicidal thoughts. People who have experienced solitary confinement are reportedly 78 percent more prone to commit suicide within a year of their prison release.
There have also been accounts of developing hypertension, persistent headaches, trembling, sweaty palms, acute dizziness and heart palpitations from those isolated behind bars. It can worsen pre-existing conditions, increase light sensitivity and harm one’s vision — all of which reportedly make the practice illegal under international law.
“We want the United States to join the rest of the world in banning and strictly limiting the use of solitary confinement,” Addo-Yobo said, according to The Hill. “It’s torture, and I believe the [country] is better than torture.”
Studies have shown that those released from solitary detention had recidivism rates that were 35 percent higher than those who had not been confined in that way.
Addo-Yobo said she hopes the submission — which calls for an immediate ban on confinement for young people and those with disabilities — draws attention to the efforts of organizations trying to change the laws governing such actions. Measures include passing legislation resembling the International Mandela Rules, which would forbid prisoners from spending more than 15 days in solitary confinement.
Addo-Yobo also requests that statistics on the number of people and the length of time they spend in solitary confinement in municipal, state and federal prisons and jails, juvenile detention facilities and immigration detention facilities be made mandatory for public disclosure.
The lawyers’ submission comes ahead of a visit by U.N. representatives to the U.S. in April to review issues relating to racial justice and equity in law enforcement.
“There’s little evidence to show that solitary confinement improves safety in the jails and prisons,” Addo-Yobo said, noting that research shows the opposite.
“It doesn’t keep people safer while they’re in jail,” she added, The Hill reported. “It doesn’t keep prison guards or correctional officers safe from jail. And it doesn’t keep people who are incarcerated safe while they’re there, either.”
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