Durbin: First-Of-Its-Kind Report On Solitary Confinement Shows Need For More Improvement

Press Release

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today said that the first-ever assessment of federal segregation policies, which he requested in 2013, has prompted the Bureau of Prisons to review and improve some of its standards, but there is considerably more work to be done. Durbin asked for the independent assessment of solitary confinement in federal prisons following a 2012 hearing he chaired on the human rights, fiscal and public safety consequences of solitary confinement. A copy of the report is available here.

"In a meeting with Director Samuels yesterday, we discussed an important development in the Bureau of Prisons' ongoing efforts to evaluate its treatment of prisoners held in segregation," Durbin said. "Though improvements have been made -- most importantly in the declining number of inmates in solitary confinement -- there is still much more work to be done. The independent report released by the BOP today will inform our next steps as we move towards meaningful reform of solitary confinement practices in our prisons. I commend Director Samuels for agreeing to undergo this assessment, and for his commitment to continuing to reform BOP's solitary confinement policies and practices. The fact remains that the United States holds more prisoners in solitary confinement than any other democratic nation in the world. The findings and recommendations of this report provide further evidence that we must fundamentally reform our approach to solitary confinement."

The report found that overall, the Bureau of Prisons' (BOP) segregation policies were largely used in a manner consistent with appropriate regulations and standards. The report also found that the number of individuals held in solitary confinement -- both in actual terms and as a percentage of the total prison population -- has steadily declined in recent years.

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