Virginia Prisons Accountability Committee

Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Craig Haney (UCSC): “The Science of Solitary: Expanding the Harmfulness ...


Credit Craig Haney

This lecture was part of the International Symposium on Solitary Confinement held November 5-6, 2020 and sponsored by The Office of the Provost of Thomas Jefferson University. Craig Haney, J.D., PhD is Distinguished Professor of Psychology and the UC Presidential Chair at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Haney received his Ph.D. and J.D. degrees from Stanford University, where he served as one of the principal researchers in the well-known “Stanford Prison Experiment.” For nearly four decades since then has conducted research on a variety of topics, including the psychological effects of living and working in prison environments. Much of that research has focused on the psychological effects of solitary or “supermax” type confinement. Professor Haney has served as an expert witness in several landmark cases addressing the constitutional rights of prisoners, including Toussaint v. McCarthy (1983), Madrid v. Gomez (1995), Coleman v. Gomez (1995), and Ruiz v. Johnson (1999), and Brown v. Plata (2011). In 2012, he was appointed to a National Academy of Sciences Committee studying the causes and consequences of mass incarceration in the United States and also testified at an historic hearing before the U.S. Senate examining the nature and effects of solitary confinement.

Special Thanks to Craig Haney for this presentation on solitary confinement.
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Monday, February 15, 2021

Rick Raemisch (Col DOC): The Colorado Solution: Stopping the over use of Solitary Confinement


This lecture was part of the International Symposium on Solitary Confinement held November 5-6, 2020 and sponsored by The Office of the Provost of Thomas Jefferson University. Rick Raemisch. Rick Raemisch, who has decades of experience working in numerous areas of the criminal justice system, was appointed as Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Corrections by Governor John Hickenlooper in July 2013. During his time with the CDOC, Rick has successfully implemented prison reforms in Colorado and except 15 days maximum punitive segregation has ended the use of restrictive housing. Rick is recognized as a leader on prison reform and is highly sought after to participate as a subject matter expert on both the national and international level. He has testified on corrections matters before a U.S. Senate Sub-Committee involving the over use of segregation, and has participated in numerous forums on corrections at prestigious universities including Yale Law School, New York University School of Law, and New York City’s John Jay College. Rick has also assisted and been a member of the U.S. Delegation to the U.N. meetings in Cape Town and Vienna to re-write prisoner standards, now known as the Mandela Rules. He has authored a number of corrections articles including in the New York Times and has also been profiled by them.


This lecture was part of the International Symposium on Solitary Confinement held November 5-6, 2020 and sponsored by The Office of the Provost of Thomas Jefferson University.


We thank Rick Raemisch for his lecture on solitary Confinement
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Virginia Support SB1301, End Long Term Solitary Confinement


Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration


Halfway Home by Reuben Jonathan Miller shows that the American justice system was not created to rehabilitate. Parole is structured to keep classes of Americans impoverished, unstable, and disenfranchised long after they’ve paid their debt to society.

Friday, February 5, 2021

Harvspot: A Prisoner's Appeal To Virginia Legislators

Harvspot: A Prisoner's Appeal To Virginia Legislators: Pray that our legislators will advocate for both justice and mercy for those incarcerated. The following issues of concern were shared with ...