- The use of solitary grew by as much as 42% between 1995 and 2005.
- The estimated number of individuals in solitary range from 25,000 in supermax facilities to 80,000, which includes those in segregated housing in all state and federal prisons.
- The harmful outcomes of solitary include deterioration of mental and physical health of inmates, public safety of the communities to which they return, and the increase in corrections budgets.
- In 2014 10 states implemented policy changes to reduce the number of adults or juveniles in solitary, improve conditions, or facilitate return of segregated people to the prisons’ general population.
- A nonpartisan study of solitary confinement in California found that it did not reduce violence and had a considerable cost per inmate per year (well over a $100,000).
- The UN has issued rules against using solitary for more than 15 days at a time, and particularly bans its use on children, pregnant women, and nursing mothers.
