Penn Capital-Star
December 1, 2019
By Emily Schmid
It could just as easily have been me. That’s all I can think listening to formerly incarcerated individuals tell me stories about their time in solitary confinement.
Had I been born in slightly different circumstances, I could have been imprisoned. I could have been placed in segregated housing. I could have been denied access to a trash can and forced to leave sanitary napkins piled up in a corner of my cell where I eat and sleep.
It could just as easily have been me.
Working as the advocacy programs associate with the Pennsylvania Council of Churches, it has been far too easy for me to identify individuals who have been affected by solitary confinement in the Keystone State.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, nearly 5 percent of the 46,374 people in county, state, and federal prisons and jails in Pennsylvania were reported as being held in segregation as of February 2019.
Furthermore, Pennsylvania ranks 8th in the country for the number of prisoners who have spent three or more years in solitary.
This is in direct conflict with the inmate handbook of the Corrections Department, which restricts solitary sentences to 90 days per infraction.
This guideline falls short of the 2015 United Nations Guidelines for the Treatment of Prisoners, which states that solitary confinement should not be used in excess of fifteen consecutive days and should only be used as a last resort.
Bills now before the House and Senate Judiciary committees would address this injustice. The House version of the bill (HB497) is sponsored by Rep. Tina Davis, D-Bucks. Its Senate companion (SB832) is sponsored by Sen. Larry Farnese, D-Philadelphia.
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