There is little dispute that solitary confinement in California’s prisons is in need of reform.
We should not tolerate inhumane conditions for inmates anywhere. Nobody should be thrown into a cell and forgotten.
There are a number of legitimate reasons for placing some inmates in segregated housing. Some are isolated to protect them from active threats. Others commit significant violence and represent ongoing threats to correctional officers, staff or inmates.
Abuses in our state prisons were well documented in a successful lawsuit against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The most eye-opening of the findings was the overly lengthy terms that inmates were held in isolation. Another was that inmates were held for their affiliation with gangs though they hadn’t committed violence.
The CDCR has even acknowledged a need for change, instituting new emergency regulations that narrow the grounds for sending an inmate to solitary confinement, as well as reducing the length of time inmates would serve in solitary confinement and limiting the reasons for confinement to violent actions.
But the CDCR changes are vague and opaque when it comes to measuring the results of their changes. And, the CDCR has historically been miserly with information such as who is being locked up, for how long and for what.
One reform, Assembly Bill 280, by Assembly Member Chris Holden, proposes changes such as an arbitrary 15-day maximum on solitary confinement (or no more than 45 days total for every 180 days), regardless of the threat the offending inmate poses. Gov. Gavin Newsom had little choice but to veto a similar bill in 2022, saying the bill “establishes standards that are overly broad and exclusions that could risk the safety of both the staff and incarcerated population within these facilities.”
Related: Solitary confinement should be abolished
I agree with the intent of the author, but what is needed is a thoughtful and data driven approach to this issue. The only way to meet the rehabilitative needs of inmates is through accountability measures contained in my bill, SB 733. This bill collects and shares real time data on the solitary confinement actions that are occurring in our prisons. The data points in my bill are key to informing decisions we make regarding prisons’ segregated housing policies.
My bill would require the CDCR to annually report back to the Legislature on such areas as specific descriptions of the types of offenses for which inmates are held in solitary confinement; the number of times inmates were kept in solitary confinement for that year; and the total amount of time they were kept in solitary for that year.
My bill would also require reporting on staffing ratios for solitary confinement units, existing mental health diagnoses of those placed in solitary confinement, and whether individuals developed mental health diagnoses or required mental health treatment during or after placement in solitary confinement.
The types of rehabilitative programs made available to inmates in each unit would also be made public, as well as the number of inmates who received reductions in their restrictive housing terms based on successful completion of rehabilitative programs.
Neither the Holden bill nor the CDCR’s new regulations would require the same level of scrutiny.
The main purpose for reforming solitary confinement should be to create an environment to help incarcerated persons rehabilitate themselves. That starts with a more humane approach to inmates who are deemed too dangerous to live among other inmates.
A law to arbitrarily limit solitary confinement is shallow and probably dangerous to inmates and staff. But, unless we have a thorough accounting of how inmates are treated, a dark shadow of doubt and suspicion will continue to linger over the state’s treatment of inmates confined in solitary conditions.
We have to do better.
Steve Glazer represents California’s 7th Senate District.
