Support justice-driven, accurate and transparent news — make a quick donation to Truthout today!
A class action lawsuit filed this week on behalf of former and current inmates is challenging the widespread use of solitary confinement by the Illinois Department of Corrections.
A total of about 2,300 state prison inmates — including about 15 percent of those housed in maximum security facilities — are kept in solitary confinement, often for relatively minor offenses, said Alan Mills, executive director of Uptown People’s Law Center, which filed the legal challenge with the law firm Winston & Strawn. Solitary confinement is generally defined as 22 to 24 hours of isolation a day and can last years, he said. The United Nations considers isolation lasting 15 days or longer to be torture.
“I don’t know anybody who spent more than a few months in solitary who doesn’t come out quite damaged,” Mills told the Reporter.
The suit is aimed at getting the state corrections department to implement the American Bar Association’s standards on segregation, which limit how long individuals are held in solitary confinement and recommend that people living with mental illness not be subjected to the punishment.
The Illinois Department of Corrections declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The Chicago Reporter is a non-profit investigative news organization that focuses on race, poverty and income inequality.
Important Message: Please Read
For 25 years, Truthout has survived by publishing impactful investigative journalism and analysis; distributing full editions 365 days a year; and building a community of readers who support us with small, hard-earned donations.
Eighty percent of our $3 million yearly budget comes from small donors alone. Of those, 8,000 readers support us with monthly donations. Back in 2018, when Facebook decided to suppress the circulation of posts made by organizations, thereby cutting readers off from seeing many articles shared by the news organizations they had intentionally decided to follow, Truthout’s total traffic declined by 40 percent, as nearly all of our traffic from that platform disappeared.
Now, Google has recently rolled out its AI search bar, providing AI summaries instead of directing readers to our site. Google Search is our single largest source of traffic; it’s the route by which nearly one third of our readers find us. Much like in 2018, a shocking 40 percent of our Google traffic has disappeared overnight.
It will not be easy for Truthout to shoulder this blow. Nor will it be easy for our peers and collaborators — news sites that depend on traffic and aren’t bankrolled by large corporations.
If you can support Truthout with a donation today, you can help us resist the AI onslaught. Please give today.