December 16, 2015

New York Announces Plan to Overhaul Solitary Confinement System

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On Wednesday, New York state officials announced a plan to overhaul policies to reduce the number of inmates in solitary confinement. The changes are part of a settlement deal that puts an end to a five-year New York Civil Liberties Union lawsuit that charged the state with abusive treatment of inmates.

The New York Times reports the state currently houses 4,000 inmates in solitary confinement—a practice that places inmates alone in small cells for 23 hours a day. The agreement reached on Wednesday will seek to transfer 1,100 inmates to more rehabilitative housing units.

Changes to New York’s policies come amid increasing concerns over the inhumane effects of extreme isolation on inmates locked away for months, or years.

For more on solitary confinement, check out MoJo’s deep-dive investigations here.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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