skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

A Call for Changes to Solitary Confinement in Nevada Prisons

play audio
Play

Wednesday, February 15, 2017   

CARSON CITY, Nev. – A new report calls for major changes to solitary confinement in Nevada state prisons. Researchers surveyed 291 people incarcerated in isolation who made complaints to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Nevada Disability Advocacy and Law Center, or the national nonprofit Solitary Watch. They found 40 percent spent more than a month in isolation without any kind of intervention, and 29 percent said they have a disability.

Lynne Bigley, supervising attorney with the Nevada Disability Advocacy and Law Center, says the practice of keeping a person away from the general prison population, without adequate physical or mental stimulation, is unacceptable, particularly for some types of people.

"As Nevada's protection and advocacy agency for Nevadans with disabilities, we consider the practice of solitary confinement of inmates with severe mental illness, intellectual disabilities and traumatic brain injuries to be cruel and unusual punishment and a violation of the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution," she explained.

The report calls for limiting solitary confinement to less than 15 days, and forbidding it for people with serious mental or developmental disabilities.

James Dzurenda, the new Department of Corrections director, says he welcomes the report and uses segregation only as long as is necessary to guarantee people's safety in prison. He adds the department is stepping up mental-health treatment to get at the underlying reasons that led to each person's time in solitary.

Dzurenda took over last April. He says he's bringing in consultants from the Vera Institute of Justice "Safe Alternatives to Segregation" project, and plans to align Nevada's program with the Justice Department's list of 53 guiding principles.

"You have to refocus on what we're really segregating them for, and what are you doing about it once they're there," he said. "And not leaving them in long term, because it could add more damage to the offender's anger issues or it's not correcting them."

The report calls for more staff and programs at Ely Prison, where people on death row are housed. Dzurenda says he is transitioning prisoners with the highest needs to a facility in Carson City with access to more mental-health specialists.

Several bills have been introduced in Congress to reform segregation practices in federal prisons.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021