Solitary Confinement Reform Project
Prison Law Office has joined forces with Disability Rights California (DRC) to compel counties to reduce the use of solitary confinement by reforming their policies and practices. This project is pursuant to DRC’s federal and statutory authority, as California’s Protection and Advocacy System, to monitor the rights and treatment of people living with mental health disabilities in locked facilities. The project institutes a series of reforms intended to restrict the use of solitary confinement to serious and recent acts of violence within the jail and impose strict time limits on any placement in solitary confinement. The reforms also prohibit the placement of people with serious mental illness in solitary confinement and instead require that they receive mental health treatment. To date, the Solitary Confinement Reform Project has been enormously successful, resulting in the virtual elimination of prolonged solitary confinement in some jails and reducing the population in these units by up to 90% in others.
Kern County
Prior to October 2022, nearly one-fifth of the jail population—approximately 300 people—were housed in conditions of solitary confinement. PLO and DRC have worked with Kern County to revise its policies and practices, impose strict time limits and criteria for placement in segregation units, and substantially expand its behavioral health program. As a result, the population of people in solitary confinement has dramatically fallen. Since then, the population of people in restrictive housing has generally remained at less than ten people (less than one percent of the jail population).
Learn more:
Letter re Inadequate Behavioral Health Program and Excessive Use of Isolation (April 3, 2024)
San Mateo County
PLO and DRC first visited the San Mateo County jails in November 2022 to investigate solitary confinement units. At the time of the visit, 115 people were in conditions of solitary confinement, the majority of whom appeared to have serious mental illness. People lived in extreme conditions of isolation. In most solitary units, people were only getting out of their cells for 30 minutes per day. In one unit, people were allowed out for only ten minutes every other day. Immediately following our visit, San Mateo began overhauling its system with technical assistance from PLO and DRC.
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Napa County
PLO and DRC started investigating the use of solitary confinement in Napa County in fall of 2023. After a site visit, interviews with incarcerated people, and extensive document review, PLO and DRC began a series of negotiations with the County to eliminate excessive discretion in the use of restrictive housing and implement exclusions for people with serious mental illness and other disabilities and risk factors. Through these negotiations, Napa County has restructured its restrictive housing program and increased privileges and out-of-cell time in restrictive housing units.
Learn more:
Letter re Harmful Solitary Confinement and Classification Practices (September 5, 2023)
San Joaquin County
In December 2022, PLO and DRC visited the San Joaquin County jails to investigate the use of solitary confinement through physical inspections, interviews with incarcerated people, discussions with custody and mental health leadership and detailed document review. After issuing our written findings, PLO and DRC worked with San Joaquin to draft and revise new policies, ensure strict time limits and clear criteria for placement in segregated units, identify and treat people with serious mental illness in less restrictive conditions, and clarify and reform classification protocols. These reforms have substantially reduced the number of people in solitary confinement.
Learn more:
Solitary Advocacy Toolbox
Motion for Partial Summary Judgment re Mental Health Care and Solitary Confinement (Mays v. Sacramento, 2019)
Amicus brief re Impact of Solitary Confinement and Necessary Procedural Safeguards (Ashker v. Newsom, 2023)
Practices and Principles for Remedial Measures Regarding the Use of Segregation in County Jails
San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department Administrative Housing Policies
Excerpt of Mays v. Sacramento Consent Decree Governing the Use of Restrictive Housing