A story of success: public service litigation and solitary confinement

By Irem Girmen, Northeastern University Co-Op Student at the Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project

On September 4th, the Prison Legal Assistance Project and the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs hosted a lunch talk by Jules Lobel, Professor of Law at the University of Pittsburg School of Law and President of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR).

Professor Lobel gave a brief history of Ashker v. Governor of California, a federal class action lawsuit filed in May 2012, challenging the practice of solitary confinement at California’s Pelican Bay State Prison based on the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of prisoners held in solitary confinement at the prison’s Security Housing Unit for over a decade. The case was part of CCR’s effort to challenge mass incarceration and abusive prison policies.

Harvard Law School students who attended the talk were particularly curious about the conditions prisoners are subjected to. Lobel explained that the Pelican Bay State Prison has one of the largest solitary confinement units of its kind. Prisoners spend 23 hours a day in an 8-by-10 foot cell, without access to sunlight. The only way they can talk to other inmates is through a hole in the ground in the recreation area they can use for only one hour per day. Research has shown that, as a result, social deprivation and deteriorating health conditions characterize this particulate inmate population.

On September 1st, 2015, a landmark settlement was reached to end indeterminate, long-term solitary confinement in all California state prisons. The victory will not only reduce the number of people in solitary confinement but also improve the situation for those who are in solitary confinement.

“Do not think something is impossible in litigation,” Lobel said. “You never know.”