Louisiana Limits Solitary Confinement for Youth
ProPublicaNov 24, 2022
The Facts
Prison inmates across Texas have entered their second week of a hunger strike in protest of the use of solitary confinement. These inmates, men from at least 14 prisons, reportedly spend as much as 22 hours per day alone in their cells for months or even years.
The Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice says that 72 inmates are currently on strike, though prisoner advocates say it's at least 138, mostly from the Aryan Brotherhood and Mexican Mafia. Out of the roughly 3k inmates currently in this "restrictive housing," over 500 have been isolated for ten years and 138 for at least 20.
The Spin
Narrative A
Solitary confinement is psychological and physical torture. Men who haven't even violated any prison rules are forced to live alone — to the point of hallucinating and suffering post-traumatic stress syndrome — simply because they have gang tattoos. The inmates on strike aren't even asking for much, only that they be given access to human connection and fresh air so long as they don't break any rules.
Narrative B
Solitary confinement for known gang members isn't an arbitrary prejudicial practice, it's a preventative one. Prison authorities know exactly what happens when you put adversarial gang members in the same general population, and it's dangerous. While solitary confinement is sometimes characterized as "torture," it's actually safer for both the inmate and the facility staff.