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 ...
Millions of incarcerated people remain trapped by the 13th Amendment’s exception clause. But recent wins in California and Colorado show how states can lead the way to ending prison slavery.
This year marks the fifth anniversary of Juneteenth becoming a federal holiday, and the 161st anniversary of the event it commemorates: General Order No. 3, which Union General Gordon Granger delivered to Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, bearing the belated news that “all slaves are free” following the January 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. By ...
As the Vera Institute of Justice celebrates its 65th anniversary, we recall the dinner party conversation about money bail that shocked philanthropist Louis Schweitzer and set him on the path to founding this organization. Dismayed to learn how many people languished in New York City’s notorious Tombs jail simply because they were too poor to buy t ...