Federal Bureau of Prisons in the United States

Solitary Confinement

Since January 2012, the Bureau has reduced the total number of inmates in restrictive housing by nearly a quarter. The Department of Justice believes that the Bureau can build on existing programs and further reduce its restrictive housing population through a multi-prong strategy, as described below. The Justice Department estimates that the policy recommendations outlined in its Report on Housing Restrictions (Solitary Confinement), if fully adopted, will result in additional substantial reductions in the Bureau’s restrictive housing population. Although it is impossible to quantify the exact size of the future reductions, the Department notes that other state and local correctional systems implementing reforms, including those jurisdictions discussed in the Report, have reported reductions in their restrictive housing populations in recent years by nearly 50 percent or more, depending on the metrics used. [pp. 72-78, 104-05 of the Report]

The Report on Housing Restrictions (Solitary Confinement) recommends that the Bureau of Prisions:

• End the practice of placing juveniles in restrictive housing, pursuant to the standards proposed in the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015. [pp. 61-62 (b); 114 (p) of the Report]
• Expand the Bureau’s ability to divert inmates with serious mental illness to mental health treatment programs, by increasing the capacity of existing secure mental health units and requesting funding for substantial expansion in future years.[pp. 46-57 (b); 112-14 (p) of the Report]
• Expand the Bureau’s ability to divert “protective custody” inmates to less restrictive forms of housing, by building “Reintegration Housing Units” (RHU) at multiple Bureau locations.[pp. 23-25 (b); 110-11 (p) of the Report]
• Significantly limit the use of restrictive housing as a form of punishment.Recommended changes include: across-the-board reductions of maximum penalties for disciplinary segregation (as noted in the chart below); an outright ban on the use of restrictive housing for low-level offenses; and limitations on the use of pre-adjudication “investigative” segregation, including a new requirement that routine investigations be completed within 7 days and all other investigations be completed within 30 days, absent compelling circumstances.[pp. 18-23 (b); 107-110 (p) of the Report]