May 25, 2022
Three years after ICIJ’s ‘Solitary Voices,’ isolation still commonplace in US prisons and detention centers
President Joe Biden pledged to end solitary confinement. Advocates are still waiting.
Solitary Voices
Feb 19, 2021
‘Solitary Voices’ detainee wins big, but remains in immigration limbo
Now a World Poker Tour champion, Ilyas Muradi still faces the threat of deportation after spending more than two years in immigration detention, including months in an isolation cell.
Aug 24, 2020
‘They were punishing me for getting sick’
US immigration detainees say they're scared to report coronavirus symptoms, for fear of solitary confinement.
Apr 21, 2020
U.S. isolates detained immigrants from majority-black countries at high rate, study finds
U.S. immigration authorities locked detainees from African and Caribbean countries in solitary confinement cells six times as often as the population at large, a new study finds.
Nov 14, 2019
Legislation Would Force ICE to Sharply Curtail Solitary Confinement
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin has slammed the “rampant and unnecessary overuse of solitary confinement” at U.S. immigration detention centers.
Sep 25, 2019
ICE ‘Knew For Years’ About Solitary Confinement Issues, Memo Reveals
U.S. immigration authorities were warned as early as May 2018 that it was placing detainees with serious mental health difficulties in solitary confinement for “shockingly” long periods.
Aug 27, 2019
Lawsuit Alleges ‘Brutal Conditions’ in US Immigration Detention Centers
U.S. authorities have subjected immigrants to “horrific, inhumane, punitive, and unlawful conditions,” including extended and unwarranted isolation in solitary confinement cells.
Aug 14, 2019
Use of Solitary Confinement ‘On The Rise’ in US Immigration Facilities
In the first 15 months of the Trump administration, U.S. immigration authorities locked thousands of detainees in solitary confinement cells, some for months at a time.
Jun 26, 2019
US Presidential Hopeful Wants Hearing into ‘Appalling Abuses’ of Solitary Confinement
Cory Booker is the third U.S. Senator to demand answers about the use of solitary confinement inside U.S. detention centers following Solitary Voices.
Jun 06, 2019
Snap Inspections Reveal ‘Egregious Violations’ in ICE Solitary Confinement
A scathing new report from a government watchdog has criticized US immigration authorities use of solitary confinement.
May 30, 2019
‘It’s immoral. It’s unethical. It’s torture.’
Rick Raemisch, who led the corrections department in Colorado, believes the United State’s immigration authorities should – and could – change their use of solitary confinement.
May 24, 2019
Senior US Lawmaker Calls for Investigation into Solitary Confinement
Following Solitary Voices, US Senator Richard Blumenthal has called the immigration agency's use of solitary confinement “inhumane” and “un-American."
May 23, 2019
‘I lost my mind’: Voices of solitary confinement
For Solitary Voices, ICIJ and its partners talked to dozens of immigrant detainees about their experience in an isolation cell. Here are a few of their stories.
May 21, 2019
Watch: ‘It’s like a cage,’ says immigrant held in solitary for four months
Ilyas Muradi, a 30-year-old longtime U.S. resident from Afghanistan, has spent the better part of four months in a solitary detention cell in an immigration center in Texas. He says it's like waking up in a nightmare.
May 21, 2019
Solitary Confinement in US Immigration Facilities, Explained
Why do immigrants get put in isolation? Here's a short guide to what we learned about solitary confinement and its use by U.S. immigration officials.
May 21, 2019
About the Solitary Voices Data
ICIJ’s data analysis for the Solitary Voices investigation is based on a review of more than 8,400 solitary confinement incident reports.
May 21, 2019
Living after confinement: ‘I feel I can’t be free’
Karandeep Singh, a 29-year-old Sikh from northern India, talks about life after solitary confinement.
May 21, 2019
Thousands of Immigrants Suffer In US Solitary Confinement
Locked for weeks or months in isolation cells, mentally ill and other vulnerable detainees from around the world are plagued by anxiety, anger, depression and suicidal impulses.
May 21, 2019
Immigrants Suffer in US Solitary Confinement
Solitary Voices found widespread misuse — and overuse — of solitary confinement in detention centers overseen by the U.S. Homeland Security Department’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
May 21, 2019
Whistleblower ‘Helpless’ to Stop US Immigration Solitary Confinement Abuses
Homeland Security official spent years pushing to stop the isolation of mentally ill and other vulnerable detainees. Now she is going public for the first time.
May 21, 2019
About the Solitary Voices Investigation
The 5-month investigation found widespread misuse – and overuse – of solitary confinement in detention centers overseen by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
May 20, 2019
How US immigration authorities use solitary confinement
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists analyzed more than 8,400 records describing the placement of immigrant detainees in solitary confinement in facilities operated by U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE).