By Katie King
The Virginian-Pilot
RICHMOND, Va. — A House of Delegates subcommittee on Thursday gutted a state Senate bill that would have prohibited the use of long-term stays in solitary confinement, disappointing human rights advocates who hoped for reform.
Instead of banning extended stays in solitary, the legislation now directs the state’s Department of Corrections to study the use of solitary housing within state and juvenile correctional facilities. To do so, according to the bill, the department would convene a work group, including at least one licensed clinical psychologist, to examine the length of time — and the reasons why — inmates are kept in solitary confinement.
“This means there is going to continue to be torture in Virginia prisons for the next year,” Kim Bobo, executive director of Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy (VICPP), told The Virginian-Pilot.
At Thursday’s subcommittee meeting, Del. Glenn Davis, R-Virginia Beach, said legislators need to address the state’s overuse of solitary confinement. He acknowledged the practice took a mental health toll on prisoners but said more information was needed.
“We need to make sure that we get this right,” Davis said.
Del. Candi Mundon King, D-Prince William, accused those who supported gutting the bill of cowardice.
“We create studies when we don’t have the courage and the bravery to do the right thing, to really address the underlying issue, when we don’t have the political and personal courage to say ‘this is wrong,’” she said.
Some advocates of the original bill told the subcommittee the study was unnecessary because such reviews about the effects of solitary confinement already exist.
“We know what the effects of solitary confinement are; they are devastating mental health effects and they leave prisoners unprepared to reenter society when they are released,” said Vicki Fishman, director of Virginia government and community relations with the Jewish Community Relations Council.
Bobo told The Pilot her organization also has concerns about whether the study will be impartial, given that it would be conducted by the Department of Corrections.
However, Bobo said she appreciated that legislators on both sides of the aisle recognized that long-term stays in solitary can have damaging effects on prisoners.
“We plan to use this time period to really continue working with legislators and the new head of public security to try to move forward with a new humane policy,” she said.
The original bill, introduced by Sen. Joe Morrissey, D-Richmond, would have prohibited the use of isolated confinement in state and juvenile correctional facilities for longer than 15 days per each 60-day cycle. It defined isolated confinement as putting an inmate in a cell alone for 20 hours or more per day.
The bill would have allowed for a variety of exceptions, including situations where the prisoner volunteered to stay in solitary, or where they were deemed a threat to themselves or others.
If the revised bill becomes law, the DOC would be required to submit their study’s findings to a House committee by Oct. 1.
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