"Solitary Confinement Should be a Last Resort"

That is the title of this excellent editorial in the Washington Post, which takes on the issue of solitary confinement recently brought into the national spotlight by the hunger striking prisoners in California's Pelican Bay State Prison and other facilities across the state.

As the Post argues:

[S]olitary confinement costs roughly twice as much as housing in less restrictive conditions — an expense that California and other fiscally challenged states can't afford. Subjecting the average prisoner to the trauma of prolonged solitary confinement is inhumane. It comes perilously close to the "lock 'em up and throw away the key" mentality that has been long discredited as a legitimate prison management tool.

Learn more about the ACLU's work to stop solitary here.

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