PRESENTATION CENTER
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT EXECUTIVE ACTIONS
Obama Reforms Solitary Confinement in Federal
Prisons Through Executive Orders
Executive Actions: Main Goals and Measures
Ban on solitary confinement for juveniles and low-level
offenders
• The reforms will only affect federal prisons, where
10,000 inmates are serving time in isolation, only about
26 of whom are under 18
• Obama says that he hopes the measure will serve as a
model for more local prisons, which hold as many as
100,000 inmates in isolation
• The Justice Department released a report with “50
guiding principles” that all federal correctional facilities
must now follow
Mental health concerns
• Treatments for mentally ill will also be expanded under
the reforms; Obama ordered the Bureau of Prisons to
develop alternatives to solitary confinement for
prisoners who are mentally ill or in solitary confinement
for protection
• The reforms came after a review of solitary confinement
Obama ordered last summer, which lead Obama to
believe that solitary confinement can “worsen existing
mental illnesses and even trigger new ones“
• In an op-ed to the Washington Post, Obama cited the
case of Kalief Browder, who was arrested at 16 on
suspicion of stealing a backpack, jailed for three years
without a trial, at times in solitary, and who committed
suicide after his release
Statewide Reforms
• In New York, prison officials have agreed to reform the use of solitary confinement after a $62 million settlement
• In California, officials agreed to stop putting gang leaders in indefinite isolation after legal pressure
• Illinois and Oregon will exclude seriously mentally ill inmates from solitary confinement in response to lawsuits
Sources: Juliet Eilperin, “Obama Bans Solitary Confinement for Juveniles in Federal Prisons,” The Washington Post, January 26, 2016; Barack Obama, “Barack Obama: Why We
Must Rethink Solitary Confinement,” The Washington Post, January 25, 2016; “Obama Bans Solitary Confinement for Juveniles and Low-level Offenders,” BBC, January 26,
2016; Sarah Wheaton and josh Gerstein, “Prison Reform: Obama Orders Changes in Solitary Confinement,” Politico, January 25, 2016.
January 26, 2016 | Owen Minott Jr.