Charles E. Samuels Jr., far right, director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, at a Senate subcommittee hearing on Tuesday that included a replica of a solitary confinement cell, rear.
Use of Solitary Confinement Scrutinized by Prison Watchdogs
by Anita Kumar
RICHMOND — At Red Onion State Prison, built on a mountaintop in a remote pocket of southwest Virginia, more than two-thirds of the inmates live in solitary confinement.
Long abandoned by many states, the practice is a last resort for California authorities struggling to thwart gang activity and extract information from the most hardened members. Critics say it amounts to torture. U.S. prisons typically reserve solitary confinement for inmates who commit serious offenses behind bars. In California, however, suspected gang members, even those with clean prison records.
