There have been many studies of solitary confinement in the Bureau of Prisons over the past decade:
May 2013
Improvements Needed in Bureau of Prisons’ Monitoring and Evaluation of Impact of Segregated Housing
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) releases a report, revealing that the BOP does not know whether its use of “segregated housing” has any impact on prison safety, how it affects the people who endure it, or how much it costs.
December 2014
Federal Bureau of Prisons: Special Housing Unit Review and Assessment
The National Institute of Corrections, an agency of the Department of Justice (DOJ), commissions CNA, a defense contractor, to audit its use of “special housing.” It reports a decrease in SHU populations, based on a self-reported estimate of 2011 levels.
January 2016
U.S. Department of Justice Report and Recommendations Concerning the Use of Restrictive Housing
President Obama directs the DOJ to study its use of solitary confinement after denouncing the practice in a Washington Post op-ed. The resulting report, from January 2016, audits the BOP’s use of solitary and provides suggestions to limit its use.
November 2016
Restrictive Housing in the U.S.: Issues, Challenges, and Future Directions
The DOJ’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ) publishes an audit of restrictive housing in the BOP and state prison systems, as well as reviews of the literature showing that solitary confinement is damaging.
July 2017
Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Use of Restrictive Housing for Inmates with Mental Illness
The DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reveals the extent to which people with mental illness are placed in federal solitary confinement. It finds that “Although BOP states that it does not practice solitary confinement, or even recognize the term, we found inmates, including those with mental illness, who were housed in single-cell confinement for long periods of time, isolated from other inmates and with limited human contact.”
November 2022
Little is known about this ongoing study. A February 2024 GAO report reveals that “In November 2022, BOP convened an Executive Working Group” of BOP directors and higher-ups, tasked with “conducting an assessment and providing recommendations related to overhauling its restrictive housing practices.” The GAO reports: “As of September 2023, officials told us the group had submitted what they called a decision paper to BOP’s Executive Staff for consideration. However, officials also told us they had not implemented any specific actions and did not provide a timeline for when they expect Executive Staff to complete their review.”
February 2023
In a May 2022 executive order, President Biden instructs the DOJ to report on the steps it has taken to ensure restrictive housing “is used rarely, applied fairly, and subject to reasonable constraints,” as well as its steps to fully implement the recommendations from its own 2016 assessment. The resulting report, published by the DOJ in February 2023, asserts that the BOP “has long had policies and procedures that require restrictive housing in Federal detention facilities be used only as necessary and appropriate.”
September 2023
Press release: NIJ, FBOP Partner on Research to Reduce Restrictive Housing in Federal Prisons
The BOP awards a $7.8 million contract to RTI International to “examine the reasons, duration and outcomes of restrictive housing placements,” as well as “the extent to which FBOP policies and practices align with evidence-based standards and best practices for reducing the use of … solitary confinement.” “You cannot change what you do not measure,” Director Colette Peters writes in an op-ed in The Hill announcing the study and acknowledging the harms of solitary confinement. “It is paramount that we understand why and for how long people are placed in restrictive housing.”
February 2024
Bureau of Prisons: Additional Actions Needed to Improve Restrictive Housing Practices
A GAO Report reveals that the BOP has failed to fully implement 54 of the 87 recommendations stemming from the 2014 and 2016 reports. This is one of several GAO reports on problems in the BOP that prompt the GAO to place “Management of the Federal Prison System” on its High Risk List of programs “vulnerable to waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement, or in need of transformation.”
