How would you change the use of solitary confinement?

In 2016, a special report from the United Nations found that 80,000 to 100,000 people are held in solitary confinement in the U.S. on any given day, and that about 20 percent of prisoners and 18 percent of jail inmates spend time in solitary over the course of a year. In recent years, the psychiatric research community has reached a virtual consensus on the profound harm that long-term social isolation can cause for incarcerated people.

The president has a great deal of power over the use of solitary confinement in the federal system via the attorney general, who can direct the Bureau of Prisons to implement broad administrative reforms. The Obama administration did as much when it ordered a ban on juvenile solitary confinement in 2016.

Several experts said the most important thing a president can do, beyond policy, is to be a “moral leader” on the issue. Obama not only ordered a justice department review of the practice in 2015, but also spoke about the issue passionately in op-eds and speeches. A president could also encourage reforms at the state and local level by using federal funding as a lever. Experts said the federal government could pressure states to follow the example of Colorado, which is the only one to adopt the United Nations’ Nelson Mandela rule, which defines the holding of a prisoner in solitary confinement for over 15 days as torture.

One key distinction to look for among the candidates is phrasing that limits changes only to solitary confinement “as punishment”, rather than across the board. As early as 1974 (Wolff v. McDonald), the courts have generally held that if solitary confinement is being used as a punishment, it requires some form of due process, like a disciplinary hearing where the inmate can present evidence. As a result, prison officials frequently place inmates in segregation as an administrative matter instead. In Texas for example, solitary confinement as punishment was banned in 2017—affecting less than 2 percent of prisoners in isolation. The other 98 percent, held “administratively” were not covered by the legislation.