Torture Free MD Campaign

It's Time to End Long-Term Solitary Confinement in Maryland.

2024 Legislative Session: HB1144/SB1085

In February 2024, we introduced HB1144/SB1085 in the Maryland House of Representatives. The bill was sponsored by Democratic Delegates Phillips, Crutchfield, Kaufman, Lehman, J. Long, Pasteur, Taveras, and White Holland.

This May, Natasha White, IAHR’s Director of Community Engagement, will actively engage with communities in Baltimore County and City. She plans to visit re-entry programs, probation offices, and neighborhoods directly affected by the criminal justice system. Her mission is to elevate the dialogue around the urgent need to end solitary confinement. In addition, Natasha will lead training sessions focused on legislative advocacy with our "Facts on Solitary" initiative, gearing up for the pivotal 2025 legislative session.

2024 Maryland Bills to End Prolonged Isolation in State Prisons Fail to Make it Out of Committee

Members of the MD Coalition on Solitary spent March 6 and 7 in Annapolis preparing for our hearing with the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee and the House Judiciary Committee. We met with our lead sponsors, Senator Washington and Delegate Phillips, each day. They both impressed us with their commitment to the issue, their wanting to know more information, and their sharing with us what we are up against. Two of the wardens and a Sheriff's deputy met with Delegate Phillips on Wednesday and presented their objections to him.

On Wednesday, a panel of six people presented our case for SB1085, limiting isolation in Maryland State prisons. The Committee members did not question us. However, one Corrections’ Commissioner and the current warden at MCI-Jessup testified against our bill. They argued on both days that limiting solitary would undermine security in the prisons. According to them, solitary is the fundamental way to maintain order. Without solitary there would be chaos. They also argued that there would be mass resignations of correctional officers if HB1144/SB1085 passed. We were not allowed to challenge their opinions.

Natasha White Testifying

Margaret Barry Testifying

On March 7, Delegate Phillips was very well prepared when he presented HB1144 to the whole committee. He prepared several of his colleagues to ask our panel questions as well. A similar cast of characters representing the Department spoke in opposition. Although we had stated that the bill excludes county correctional facilities, a county sheriff spoke against the bill. He said that if the bill passed, he was afraid we would come in next year with a bill addressed to county facilities. As they did the day before, the correctional officials argued that limiting solitary would undermine security and lead to mass resignations of staff. They didn't believe that limiting isolation would save any money, although we cited evidence that it did. They seemed to indicate that they would participate in a study on the issue.

Click here for a full account of our Legislation in the Maryland Legislature.

Solitary Confinement for Incarcerated Adults

For many years, the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) refused to give out information about how much solitary confinement (prolonged isolation) is used in state prisons.

During the legislative session of 2016, IAHR, along with its coalition partners, introduced a bill that would mandate DPSCS to report on the use of solitary confinement. According to the bill, the Department had to report the following statistics:

The total facility population;
The number of individuals held in restrictive housing by age, race, and ethnicity;
The number of persons with serious mental illness held in restrictive housing;
The definition of serious mental illness used by the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services;
The number of prisoners known to be pregnant who were held in restrictive housing;
The average and median lengths of stay in restrictive housing;
The reasons for which individuals were placed in restrictive housing;
The number of incidents of death, self-harm, and attempts at self-harm by individuals held in restrictive housing;
The number of individuals released from restrictive housing directly to the community;
Any additional information that is important to understanding the facility’s use of restrictive housing; and
Any changes to the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Service’s policies regarding the use of restrictive housing.

The bill passed and was signed into law at the end of May 2016.

DPSCS has published three reports which come out during the first week of January. These reports have revealed that Maryland places into solitary confinement 50% of its prison population. The average length of stay was anywhere from 43 to 51 days. Over the past three years, 837 people have been released to the community directly from solitary. Over 600 people with serious mental illness have been placed in solitary between 2016 and 2018. To read the 2018 report, click here.

DPSCS failed to issue a report in 2020 and still has not issued a report in 2021.

During the 2019 Maryland legislative session, IAHR, along with its coalition partners, introduced two bills to limit the use of solitary. HB 1029 limited the amount of time a seriously mentally ill person could be placed in solitary to 15 consecutive days. This bill gained little traction and was never considered in either the Senate or the House of Delegates.

HB 1002 prohibited the direct release to the community of incarcerated people directly from solitary. It called for the Department to provide transitional services to within six months of release to the community. This bill was amended in the House of Delegates and was brought to the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. However, the Judicial Proceedings Committee failed to take a vote on the bill before the close of the legislative session on April 8, 2019.

In 2020, the bill to end direct release was re-introduced and was about to be voted on when the Legislature closed because of the coronavirus shutdown. The bill was once again introduced in the 2021 session. The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the bill in January. As of this date (March 11), the Judiciary Committee has not taken a vote on the direct release bill.

2019 Initiative in Maryland Juvenile Detention Centers

As a result of national media coverage, which highlighted the isolation and confinement of Maryland juveniles in local jails, IAHR has joined with partners to seek out alternatives for these youth, which will provide programming and alternative housing.

During the 2019 legislative session, HB 1001 was passed, which prohibits placing minors into restrictive housing (solitary confinement or segregation) unless there is clear and convincing evidence that the incarcerated minor poses an immediate threat to the safety and security of inmates and staff.

Please email our Director of Community Engagement, Natasha White, at [email protected], for more information.