Proposed Legislation Would Eliminate Solitary Confinement In PA

PENNSYLVANIA — As various aspects of the criminal justice system face a reckoning nationwide, legislators in Pennsylvania have made a move to eliminate one of the more controversial corrections policies: solitary confinement.

A new piece of proposed legislation, Senate Bill 686, would ban the practice. Lawmakers say it is "inhumane and counterproductive."

"Solitary confinement runs counter to the goals of rehabilitation," State Sens. Katie Muth and John Kane wrote in a memorandum. "Instead, state resources should be spent on evidence-based, common sense programs that help people rehabilitate and treat the mental health, addiction, physical, social, or emotional issues that caused them to commit crimes."

Citing a 2011 United Nations report on torture, the state lawmakers said that solitary confinement can amount to torture. Roughly a third of inmates interviewed in one study were found to be "actively psychotic and/or acutely suicidal" due to the impacts of solitary. In many cases, it fostered a unique syndrome, they said. A wide range of effects were observed, including hallucinations, panic attacks, paranoia, and difficulties with thinking, concentration, and memory.

Other studies show that the impacts can be long lasting, Muth and Kane argued. A 2019 evaluation of 225,000 inmates in North Carolina found that those who had spent time in solitary were 24 percent more likely to die the year after they were released, 78 percent more likely to commit suicide, and 127 percent more likely to die of an opioid overdose.

Similar legislation has been passed in other states. Just in April, New York passed a bill stating that prisons are not allowed to hold inmates in solitary confinement for more than 15 consecutive days. A total of 18 states limit or ban the practice in some way, according to the National Conference of State Legislators.

In Pennsylvania, a bill nearly identical to the New York law — limiting solitary to 15 days, not eliminating it — was introduced in the state House of Representatives in March. It remains in the Judiciary Committee.

Such bills have faced backlash from law enforcement and corrections officers unions, who argue that solitary is a tool that keeps prison safe.

It remains unclear what level of support the bill will receive in the Republican-backed Pennsylvania legislature. In addition to Muth and Kane, seven other Democratic state senators co-sponsored its introduction.

The senate bill is currently in the Judiciary Committee, where it was referred to on Wednesday.

The full text of the bill can be read online here.