Via ShutterstockAB 280 sets clear limits on the use of solitary confinement and provides alternatives to isolation that ensure safety and dignity for incarcerated individuals. The bill sets clear limits on the use of solitary confinement and ends the practices entirely for pregnant people, as well as those in certain age groups and with certain disabilities.
(Photo: Solitary confinement cells along a corridor in San Quentin Prison.)The Mandela Act, or AB 2632, would have reformed the practice of solitary confinement, which places people, convicted and awaiting trial, in isolation for up to 24 hours a day in jails, prisons and detention facilities.
An artist's rendering of an inmate in solitary confinement. (Photo: LaHellen, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Prolonged solitary confinement is torture. Whether it is referred to as administrative segregation, secure housing, or protective custody, the effect on an individual is the same. Significant psychological harm, and mental and physical damage that can be permanent.
Image of an inmate behind bars. Illustration: PhoelixDE, via Shutterstock)Mental illness cases in California jails have significantly increased since 2009, health policy experts reported Thursday. California Health Policy Strategies, a Sacramento-based consulting group, gathered administrative data from the Board of State and Community Corrections and discovered a 42 % increase in mental health cases reported and an 80 % increase in inmate medication prescriptions over the last 10 years.