Listen here:

Survivors of Solitary Confinement, clockwise from top left: Robert Dellelo, Tommy Escarcega, Laura Whitehorn, Robert King Wilkerson. Source: American Friends Service Committee www.afsc.org/stopmax

President Obama recently declared that “we have banned torture without exception.” However, some would take exception to this claim. The practice of isolating a person in solitary confinement for extended periods of time causes severe sensory deprivation and has been denounced as torture by the United Nations. But tens of thousands are locked up in solitary confinement in American prisons. Producer Claire Schoen met nine formerly incarcerated people, who described what it’s like not to talk to or touch another person, for years at a time

Featuring:

Hakeem Shaheed, Laura Whitehorn, Robert Dellalo, Bilal Sunni Ali, Munirah El Bumani, Ray Luc Levasseur, Tommy Escarciga, Diano King ArchAngel Rodriguez, and Robert King Wilkerson, solitary confinement survivors; Teresa Vaughn, mother of son who died in solitary confinement.

For more information:

Claire Schoen

Quijerema

Scott Koué

Additional Information:

All of Us or None

American Friends Service Committee (National Office)

Critical Resistance – National Office

Human Rights Watch

Justice Now

Justice Policy Institute

Legal Services for Prisoners with Children

The Sentencing Project

Tags: prisons

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Prison Desk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.