Jun 28, 2019 · This current report provides facts and data about women in solitary confinement in general, as well as specific populations of women who are especially vulnerable to the harms of solitary confinement, including girls, older women, transgender women, and …

Aug 26, 2024 · More and more women are experiencing solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and jails, and suffering unique harms from the practice.

While segregation as a disciplinary measure or a precaution that protects other inmates is allegedly reserved for offenders who have committed violent acts while in prison, women in particular are often put into solitary confinement for much smaller offenses, such as throwing things or talking back to guards. [1]

Despite the popular misconception that solitary confinement is used to house only “the worst of the worst,” this is not true.30 In fact, solitary is often used on the most vulnerable: prisoners who are pregnant,31 individuals with mental illness,32 transgender women and other LGBTQ people,33 and—in a particularly disturbing trend ...

But, some women in solitary confinement were not so lucky. These women, for a variety of reasons, were barred from joining the general prison population for months, years, and even decades.

Mar 11, 2025 · The justifications for placing women in solitary have remained remarkably consistent: “protection,” “safety,” and “maintaining order,” euphemisms that mask deeply rooted sexism. Women are often placed in solitary for minor infractions that would rarely result in such severe punishment for men.

Aug 26, 2024 · A growing number of individuals in solitary confinement are women. While there are far more men behind bars than women, the incarcerated female population has grown twice as fast, skyrocketing 475% from 1980 to 2020.3 About 20.4% of women in prison report spending time in solitary, compared to 17.9% of men.4

Jan 18, 2015 · On November 11, 2014, six weeks before her 36th birthday, she tied a sock around her neck; she tied the other end to the top of her bed structure. By the time staff found …

May 5, 2016 · The report concluded that while solitary was an extreme punishment that should not be used on anyone unless lesser measures have failed and the prisoner is a current serious threat to institutional safety, women have unique issues that make them more vulnerable to being harmed by solitary than men.

Oct 2, 2020 · Vera’s research and other empirical sources show that very few women are placed in solitary confinement for serious violence against staff or other women. Instead, they are there for things like disobeying orders, insubordination, and other forms of noncompliance.