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Construing The Legality Of Solitary Confinement: Analysis Of United States Federal Court Jurisprudence, Claire Nolasco, Michael S. Vaughn

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

This article analyzes the constitutional parameters of solitary confinement, administrative segregation, and/or punitive isolation within correctional facilities in the United States. After briefly discussing the harmful effects of isolation and the number of inmates subject to this type of confinement, it explains the U.S. Supreme Court’s “atypical and significant hardship” standard for assessing the legality of segregation. Evaluation of 68 cases decided by the 12 U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals reveals how each Circuit decides when conditions of segregation amount to an “atypical and significant hardship” for the inmate, creating a liberty interest protected by the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process …