‘Locked up, unheard’

The New York Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement held a strong protest at Union Square on July 23. Led by people who have suffered solitary confinement, they built support via this action. Several victims of this cruel form of punishment explained what they had been through. NYCAIC leader Victor Pate spoke of his experience of complete isolation as torture. He explained that even the United Nations has found it to be against international law to keep anyone in isolation for 15 days or more. Meanwhile, over 5,000 of those incarcerated in New York state remain in solitary. Nationwide, many others are tortured in this way, especially political prisoners.

WW photo: Anne Pruden