AFSC’s STOPMAX Campaign works to eliminate the use of isolation and segregation
in U.S. prisons. Our strategies include research, grassroots organizing, public
education and policy advocacy to abolish solitary confinement or reduce its use.
What Is Solitary Confinement?
Solitary confinement of prisoners exists under a range of names; isolation,
control units, supermax prisons, the hole, etc. Prisoners can be placed in these
units for many reasons; as punishment, while they are under investigation, as a
mechanism for behavior modification, when suspected of gang involvement, as
retribution for political activism or to fill expensive, empty beds, to name but
a few.