Bill would aim to eliminate ‘solitary’ in state prisons

Posted at 10:10 a.m. on August 29, 2017

The Brillion News

MADISON – State Senator Fred Risser, D-Madison, is proposing legislation that would require the Department of Corrections to prepare, within one year, a report for the legislature on the alternatives to the solitary confinement of inmates, with the goal of eliminating the practice.

“We are learning more and more about the psychological impacts of solitary confinement on inmates,” Risser said. “The time is well overdue for the state to look seriously into alternatives to the practice.”

The bill is currently being circulated for co-sponsorship.

The use of solitary confinement in Wisconsin correctional institutions has been heavily criticized, and in July, a federal court ordered that its use in juvenile prison be curtailed along with cuts in the use of pepper spraying and shackling juvenile inmates.

The painting accompanying this post was created by Emily Shullaw for the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.