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End Solitary NC Listening Session

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Event graphic with a barbed wire fence background, and text that reads: End Solitary NC, Virtual Listening Session, February 28th, 7:00pm to 8:00pm

End Solitary NC Virtual Listening Session

End Solitary NC Coalition will co-host a virtual listening session at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 28, to raise understanding about the serious harm caused by exposure to solitary confinement (e.g., restrictive housing) in NC’s state prisons. The hour-long Zoom event is free and open to the public.

This unique opportunity will allow people with lived experience, family members, and service providers to share how their lives have been affected by solitary confinement in NC’s prisons.

We will also discuss alternative solutions to make restrictive housing infrequent, less traumatic, and a more therapeutic/rehabilitative process for people subjected to it.

Details

Date

Tue, Feb 28 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Location

Virtual - Register Below

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Learn more about DRNC’s work

People spend 22-24 hours a day in an 8′ x 6′ box for days, weeks, months, and years while in solitary confinement. The psychological and physical harms of solitary confinement have been well-documented for decades.

Prolonged isolation is traumatic and incredibly harmful to one’s mental health, leading to memory deficits, anxiety, depression, and psychosis. For people with pre-existing mental health disabilities, the consequences are worse. Some resort to self-harm as a coping mechanism or a desperate attempt to escape solitary’s harsh conditions — banging their heads or bodies on the concrete floors, cutting themselves, or swallowing foreign objects.

These behaviors are not the actions of mentally stable people successfully undergoing rehabilitative treatment.

On Dec. 15, 2020, Governor Cooper’s Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice (TREC) produced a set of recommendations to move North Carolina’s justice system toward racial equity and fairness. Unfortunately, Governor Cooper has not taken meaningful action on the recommendations urging reform regarding solitary confinement abuse in NC prisons. These common-sense recommendations include ending solitary confinement for:

  • People under 21
  • Pregnant people
  • People with diagnosed serious mental health and other disabilities
  • Indefinite period of times
  • Periods of more than 15 consecutive days

The End Solidarity NC Campaign is a coalition of a broad array of community stakeholders from across the state whose mission is to end solitary confinement in North Carolina prisons. For more information, visit, https://disabilityrightsnc.org/current-campaigns/help-stop-torture/

Each year, DRNC creates a plan to address the greatest threats to the independence of people with disabilities and the most prevalent violations of disability rights laws. The plan includes a set of advocacy goals that we call Targets.

Target 8) Advocate for a safe, equitable and just criminal justice system for people with disabilities

There are many people with disabilities in NC prisons and jails. Most have not been identified as having a disability. They do not receive accommodations or treatments. We will advocate to make sure people with disabilities in prisons and jails are identified and get treatment. We will also work for reforms to make sure that contact with law enforcement and the criminal process is safe and fair.

DRNC is one of the only organizations watching the conditions in NC prisons and jails. We are working to prevent suicides in NC prisons and jails.

Read the Full Details about DRNC’s Advocacy Targets

CONTACT:

Dr. Craig Waleed
Project Manager, Disability Rights NC’s Unlock the Box Campaign Against Solitary Confinement
craig.waleed@disabilityrightsnc.org

 

Coalition Members:

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Disability Rights North Carolina

Deborah Weissman, UNC School of Law

Emancipate Logo

Emancipate NC

Michael Hall, Exec. Director City Works USA, CEO Generation2Generation

Human Kindness Foundation Logo

Human Kindness Foundation

NCCADP Logo

NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty

North Carolina Council of Churches Logo

NC Council of Churches

North Carolina Justice Center Logo

North Carolina Justice Center

Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham Logo

Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham

CDPL Logo

The Center for Death Penalty Litigation

The United Methodist Church

UNC Law Human Rights Policy Lab Logo

UNC Human Rights Policy Lab

UNC School of Law Human Rights Law Program Logo

UNC School of Law Human Rights Law Program