My Night in Solitary

Tasked with reforming Colorado’s solitary confinement policies, Rick Raemisch, executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections, recently spent 20 hours in solitary confinement in a Colorado state penitentiary to better understand the issue. Mr. Raemisch hopes to use what he learned to reform Colorado’s use of solitary confinement in three ways: by limiting the use of solitary for mentally ill inmates, addressing the needs of those who have been in solitary for long periods, and by reducing the number of offenders released directly from solitary back into their communities.

Tasked with reforming Colorado’s solitary confinement policies, Rick Raemisch, executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections, recently spent 20 hours in solitary confinement in a Colorado state penitentiary to better understand the issue. Mr. Raemisch hopes to use what he learned to reform Colorado’s use of solitary confinement in three ways: by limiting the use of solitary for mentally ill inmates, addressing the needs of those who have been in solitary for long periods, and by reducing the number of offenders released directly from solitary back into their communities. In this New York Times Op-Ed, Rameisch reports on the experience.