Receiving Body
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Report Type
Request for thematic hearing
Tags
Solitary confinement causes devastating mental, physical, and emotional harm. An overwhelming body of evidence now shows that extended use of solitary confinement produces profound and often permanent psychological, neurological, and physical damage to segregated people. Despite incremental progress on the state level to ban or restrict solitary confinement, no U.S. state has fully ended solitary confinement for all people, and limits on solitary confinement remain unenforced in most jurisdictions, leaving people to anguish under tortuous conditions.
In April 2023, RFK Human Rights and nine partners requested a thematic hearing at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights concerning the United States’ tortuous use of solitary confinement. The request exposes how the United States’ persistent use of solitary confinement violates international human rights law, threatening the rights to life, health and safety, liberty, due process, equality and non-discrimination, respect for family life, and the fundamental right to have one’s dignity recognized and respected. It contains specific examples of the use of solitary confinement in jails, prisons, and immigration detention in California, North Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana.
What solutions exist?
The request for a thematic hearing recommends that the Commission urge enactment of federal and state bans on all uses of solitary confinement and legislation mandating public data reporting for all local, state, and federal prisons, jails, youth treatment centers, and immigration detention centers.
The request also urges the Commission to initiate site visits to immigration detention centers and to meet with formerly detained people who were subjected to solitary confinement, attorneys who represented those people, and advocates from civil society.
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April 2023
Request for thematic hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights addressing solitary confinement in the United States
Human rights attorneys urge UN to review the solitary confinement of Black Americans
Investigative Post: ICE’s extensive use of solitary confinement in Batavia
Complaint exposes torture and cruel and degrading treatment at Louisiana immigration detention center
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Atlas of Blackness
Atlas of Blackness (AOB) is a grassroots multimedia artistic research-based organization that mentors Black foster youth by providing them with resources to document their untold stories to produce authentic narratives rooted in their truth. Their work includes mutual aid support, Documenting MN community journalism program, child welfare & prison research, and resource sharing, including legal support.
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California Mandela Campaign
Solitary confinement is one of the most severe and destructive practices used in detention facilities. The World Health Organization, United Nations, and other international bodies have recognized solitary confinement as greatly harmful and potentially fatal. People with disabilities, pregnant people, youth, and the elderly are all at heightened risk from the harm caused by solitary…
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Cameroon Advocacy Network
The Cameroon Advocacy Network is dedicated to providing comprehensive support and advocacy for Cameroonian and other Black Immigrants immigrants and asylum seekers in the United States. The network’s mission is to ensure that every individual receives the assistance and resources they need to navigate the complex immigration system in the U.S. and build a secure…
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Haitian Bridge Alliance
The Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) also known as “The BRIDGE” is a 501(c)(3) grassroots nonprofit community organization that advocates for fair and humane immigration policies and provides migrants and immigrants with humanitarian, legal, and social services, with a particular focus on Black people, the Haitian community, women and girls, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and survivors of torture…
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Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy (ISLA)
Our investigation of a Louisiana immigrant detention center highlights the egregious human rights violations found across all of ICE’s 200 jails.
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Innovation Law Lab
Innovation Law Lab leverages the work of coders, lawyers, and activists in order to end isolation and exploitation of immigrants and refugees, build permanent pathways to immigrant inclusion, and advance justice. Since its founding, Innovation Law Lab’s work has advanced the cause of justice.
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National Immigrant Justice Center
The National Immigrant Justice Center’s (NIJC) mission is to establish and defend the legal rights of immigrants, regardless of background, and to transform the immigration system to one that affords equal opportunity for all.
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The Unlock the Box Campaign
Unlock the Box is a national advocacy campaign aimed at ending solitary confinement in all U.S. prisons, jails, detention facilities, and juvenile facilities, and bringing the United States into full compliance with the UN’s Mandela Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners within 10 years.
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Disability Rights North Carolina
Disability Rights North Carolina is a legal advocacy agency that fights for the rights of people with disabilities in North Carolina. We handle cases involving discrimination, abuse and other rights violations. All of our services are at no cost to North Carolinians with disabilities.