This week’s pick of news and commentary about solitary confinement:
Sonya Reed was placed in solitary confinement after her daughter raised $11,000 on GoFundMe for a sick stray cat who lived on Reed’s unit and provided emotional support. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice claims that she was placed in solitary confinement due to an ongoing solicitation investigation and not as a punishment. Reed’s daughter finds the charge “bizarre” given that her mother did not create the GoFundMe nor can she access any of the funds. She remains highly concerned about her mother’s health, noting Reed suffers from “heart problems, anxiety, depression, and spinal conditions that require prescribed bedding.” It remains unclear how long Reed will be held in solitary confinement while under investigation. The Barbed Wire
New York State Senator Julia Salazar released a report detailing the inhumane conditions inside New York’s prisons. In addition to the beating deaths of two incarcerated people, the report describes a wider epidemic of violence, racism, and torture. “I’ve personally experienced this,” affirmed HALT Solitary Campaign Co-director Jerome Wright. “People are being lynched, beaten, sexually assaulted, waterboarded, suffocated with plastic bags, thrown in solitary confinement as cover-up, and killed.” The report calls for an emergency overhaul of the system and measures to protect incarcerated people beyond those outlined in the recent Prison Reform Omnibus Bill. Adirondack Explorer…