Progressive California Woefully Behind on Solitary Confinement

For the second year in a row, there’s an effort underway to reform and significantly reduce the use of solitary confinement in California.

Last year, a version of the California Mandela Act gained bipartisan support and passed through both chambers of the state Legislature. The measure would have defined solitary confinement, limited it to 15 days and banned it altogether for people who are young, old, pregnant or disabled. However, the bill was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who acknowledged that, although the practice of solitary confinement was “ripe for reform,” the bill was too sweeping. He said he would direct the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to make a more limited set of changes, but left out a timeline or any reference to modifications at county jails and immigration detention centers. 

This year, the bill returned to the California Legislature as AB 280, reintroduced by Assemblymember Chris Holden (D41) along with a coalition of advocacy groups. “A comprehensive legislative solution is needed and oversight is needed; independent oversight,” said Hamid Yazdan Panah, Advocacy Director for Immigrant Defense Advocates, a project funded by a Bay Area nonprofit, which supports the bill. “You can't send the fox to guard the henhouse.”

Solitary confinement has been found to have serious and long-term effects on the minds and bodies of incarcerated people. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, people held in solitary confinement are more likely to die younger from suicide or other factors and Black and Hispanic men are often over-represented in segregated populations.

AB280 passed the California Assembly 56-14 in late May and is currently progressing through the California Senate.