The Vera Institute of Justice hosted this conversation between two people on the front lines of the movement to rethink solitary confinement in the U.S.—and the potential for reform.
Moderator
Bill Keller, The Marshall Project
Speakers
Commissioner W. David Guice
Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice, North Carolina Department of Public Safety
Danny Murillo
Soros Justice Advocacy Fellow, The Opportunity Institute
Common Misconceptions and Emerging Safe Alternatives
While the precise number of people held on any given day in what’s commonly called solitary confinement—though also known as segregated or restricted housing—is not known with any certainty, estimates run between 80,000 to 100,000 in state and federal prisons. However, evidence mounts that the practice produces many unwanted and harmful outcomes—fo ...
We need to expand parole. Many states are doing the opposite.
Bobbi Cobaugh wrote in Inquest that “the only way to atone for a murder was to become a better person.” While incarcerated in the New York State prison system, she earned a paralegal degree, associate and bachelor's degrees in sociology, and a master’s degree in criminal justice. She has completed—and taught—anger replacement programs. And she at ...
41 people have died in county jails so far this year, surpassing the rate of the deadliest year on record.
How are people dying? Los Angeles County has not yet publicly issued causes of death for everyone who has died in county jails in recent months. And even once even once autopsy reports are finalized, they don’t tell the whole story. When the coroner rules that a death is the result of “natural causes,” jail conditions can still be to blame. Researc ...