Report Criticizes Number Of Texas Prisoners Held In Solitary
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A study by the Texas Civil Rights Project and American Civil Liberties Union is critical of what the organizations contend is overuse of solitary confinement in Texas prisons.
The report released Thursday shows 4.4 percent of the more than 150,000 Texas inmates are in solitary, known in the Texas prison system as administrative segregation. The report calls for prisoners with serious mental illness to be excluded from the solitary confinement and that only prisoners who pose serious security risk be given solitary.
Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials say the number of administrative segregation inmates, about 6,100 as of December, is down 35 percent from 2006, and the classification is limited to the most dangerous prisoners.
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