SPOKANE, Wash. – A new statewide report sheds light on the mental health impacts of solitary confinement in Washington.
In 2023, the Department of Corrections pledged last year to reduce the use of solitary confinement by 90% over the next five years. Also last year, the Washington State Legislature directed the Office of the Corrections Ombuds to produce three reports on solitary confinement.
According to the second report, released Thursday, at least 176 people attempted suicide while in solitary confinement, with 14 dying.
The Department of Corrections oversees nearly 14,000 inmates at a time. 3,000 people under their watch, were in solitary confinement either for 45 consecutive days in 2023 or for at least four months over the last decade.
The authors of the report, Angee Schrader and E.V. Webb, interviewed 13 inmates from five different prisons. The findings were shocking.
“I’ve watched people get ahold of a safety razor, slice their throats,” an anonymous interview used in the report said. “There’s no way you can go through eight months of solitary confinement, or longer for some people, some people decades, and not be damaged in some way.”
Reports from the inmates interviewed reveal disturbing methods used in solitary confinement:
“It’s a cuff that goes on an arm or a leg and a staff member has a remote and they can shock somebody. Didn’t even know that existed,” Schrader said.
Webb expressed surprise at the number of people placed in solitary for non-violent reasons.
“One of the things that stood out to me were the amount of people placed in solitary confinement for non-violent reasons,” Webb stated.
The impact on the inmates’ mental health is significant, with several describing the experience as torture and many attempting to escape through suicide. Over the past decade, at least 176 people have attempted suicide while in solitary, with 14 succeeding.
97% of incarcerated individuals will eventually return to the community. The authors believe that treating people with dignity in jail will help them reintegrate better into society.
“I often hear a lot of people in Washington state talking about crime. If we can help rehabilitate them and get them back on track, back in our communities, that’s going to immediately lower our crime rate,” Schrader said.
