A federal judge has cleared the way for hundreds of prisoners in Virginia to join a suit against the state over a practice that international guidelines consider torture – holding inmates in solitary confinement for more than 15 days. Attorney Katie Ali joins two other D.C. law firms and the ACLU of Virginia in fighting the practice that has been shown to cause symptoms of mental illness.
“These are lasting harms that people suffer – depression, anxiety, committing self-harm or committing suicide,” Ali explains.
Clearly, she says, solitary makes inmates’ mental health worse.
“Humans are social beings and locking them away from one another, making it difficult for them to have any meaningful contact with the outside world is not a recipe for success for when people move out of these extreme conditions.”
She’s encouraged by the addition of so many people as plaintiffs and notes other court rulings have found solitary to be unconstitutional.
“Courts are now finally catching up to the science, as most of the world has decided a long time ago.”
Inmates refer to solitary as “the hole,” but the Department of Corrections has given it other names over the years. Attorney Ali was pleased by a footnote in the latest decision from the judge hearing this case.
“The court sort of calls out the department on this and says, “They began calling the housing Restorative Housing. Before the suit was filed they called in Restrictive Housing,” and he says, “I will refer to this housing arrangement as solitary confinement.”
The suit seeks to end solitary and other methods used to punish prisoners for what the Department of Corrections views as unacceptable behavior — restrictions on visits, restricted time outside of the cell, bans on a meal with somebody else.
The case is scheduled to be heard in March of next year with plaintiffs seeking payments for physical or mental harm suffered during months or years of solitary confinement.
