But a recent report from the American Civil Liberties Union suggests that the state is still far from meeting that standard. Conditions in solitary confinement can differ from state to state, but generally prisoners are near-totally isolated, locked in small cells for 22 to 24 hours a day. Like many other states, Virginia used to warehouse its problem inmates in isolation in facilities such as Red Onion State Prison, a “supermax” penitentiary on the state’s southwestern fringe. Yet in 2016, 242 inmates were still in isolation at Red Onion and another facility, Wallens Ridge State Prison. Even in Virginia, a state that has made great strides, fewer people should be in solitary, and they should be treated like human beings once they are there.

Source: Washington Post June 03, 2018 23:48 UTC