CO Prison Chief Ready For Reform After A Night In Solitary Confinement

[Tx4obama]

CO Prison Chief Ready For Reform After A Night In Solitary Confinement

Colorado's new executive director for the state's Department of Corrections detailed his time in solitary confinement in an op-ed this week and said it has prompted him to re-think aspects of the prison system.

The executive director, Rick Raemisch, described spending 20 hours in solitary confinement to get a "better sense of what solitary confinement was like, and what it did to the prisoners who were housed there, sometimes for years."

Raemisch recounted his time in solitary confinement, which is nicknamed Ad Seg in Colorado, in an op-ed piece for The New York Times on Thursday. Raemisch wrote that he quickly lost track of time and described in vivid detail the toll the random checks by guards took on a prisoner in Ad Seg: ...

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Full TPM article here: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/colorado-corrections-solitary-confinement

Full New York Times original OP-ED here: My Night in Solitary http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/21/opinion/my-night-in-solitary.html

[RC]

1. We are social animals. Solitary confinement is cruel and unusual punishment.