Advocates Call For Transition For Ga. Inmates Released Directly From Solitary
Some advocates in Georgia are working to establish a mandatory transitional period for inmates between solitary confinement and their release.
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Legal advocates are calling on Georgia’s prison system to stop releasing inmates from solitary confinement directly back into society. The Southern Center for Human Rights says the practice endangers both the former prisoner and the public.
The center laid out its concerns in a recent letter to the Georgia Department of Corrections. The group has been looking into solitary confinement practices as part of a lawsuit over inmate treatment at a “special management unit” near Jackson, Georgia.
“What we found was that between 2010 and 2016, more than a quarter of the people who were released from the department’s most extreme form of solitary confinement were released because of sentence completion,” said Southern Center attorney Sarah Geraghty.
In other words, their time is up, and they’re let out.
“We’re talking about people who have been confined to isolation cells, some of them, for years, for up to 24 hours a day,” Geraghty said.
She says there’s growing evidence that direct release from solitary units is linked to increased recidivism and serious mental instability. In both Nebraska and Colorado, men have committed murders shortly after being released in this way.
One of the killings led Colorado to ban solitary confinement lasting more than 15 days.
Geraghty says for now, in Georgia, her group is just recommending a transitional period.
“Put people into a step-down unit, so that they are able to get used to being around people again,” she said, adding that the supervised change should begin at least two years before release, she says.
The Georgia Department of Corrections says it can’t comment due to pending litigation.
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