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OTHER COMMUNITY-BASED CAMPAIGNS

Several organizers have successfully helped reform or eliminate solitary confinement practices in the U.S.

 

Other organizers draw attention to the injustices of solitary confinement.

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Below are a few campaigns we learned about. Please share any other campaigns you know of with us.

TAMMS YEAR TEN

Tamms Year Ten (TYT) was a grassroots coalition that successfully advocated for the closure of the Tamms Closed Maximum Security Unit, (CMAX) a supermaximum prison part of the Illinois Department of Corrections. TYT was comprised of current and former prisoners at Tamms, their family members, lawyers, artists, and other allies. In February 2012, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn proposed closing Tamms CMAX, citing the fiscal issues and that the prison was operating at 50 percent capacity. In December 2012, the last inmates in CMAX were transferred to another facility in Illinois.

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ADD COSTS FROM BUDGET PROPOSAL

SOLITARY GARDENS

Solitary Gardens was inspired by Jackie Sumell’s collaboration with Herman Wallace, who spent 41 years in solitary confinement. Sumell created Solitary Gardens, a project in which prisoners in solitary confinement tell pen pals what they would like in a garden. The pen pals then build a garden with the same dimensions as a solitary confinement cell with the plants that the prisoner, called a Solitary Gardener, specified. This project draws attention to the harm of solitary confinement and claims to use “the tools of prison abolition, permaculture, contemplative practices, and transformative justice.”

STOP SOLITARY CT

"The Stop Solitary CT campaign, a program of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), aims to end the use of solitary confinement statewide and replace isolation with humane, safe, and effective alternatives. Following a 2017 public education and legislative campaign by our predecessor organization, Inside the Box, Stop Solitary CT has focused on developing a coalition of key stakeholders in and around Connecticut who are opposed to solitary confinement in order to pass legislation, educate the public, and monitor changes in the state’s use of Solitary Confinement. In 2020, we are continuing our public education efforts and advocating the passage of the PROTECT Act." (stopsolitaryct.org)

NY Halt solitary

"The #HALTsolitary Campaign brings together advocates, formerly incarcerated persons, family members of currently incarcerated people, concerned community members, lawyers, and individuals in the human rights, health, and faith communities throughout the state to #HALTsolitary confinement in New York's prisons and jails." (nycaic.org)

"NJ-CAIC is a coalition of survivors and advocates committed to educating, legislating, and organizing to call for an end to all forms of prolonged or unnecessary prisoner isolation. We urge all stakeholders--prisoners, families, correctional personnel, health professionals, community and faith leaders, and legislators--to join this movement for humane and restorative correctional practices."

UNLOCK THE BOX

"The Unlock the Box Campaign is a coalition of organizations and movement leaders who partner with state and local campaigns across the United States working to end the use of solitary confinement for all people." Unlock the Box provides resources, funding, and technical assistance to anti-solitary campaigns across the U.S.

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