Solitary Confinement and
Isolation in Federal Prisons:
Cruel and Inhuman or Necessary?
Wednesday, March 30, 2011, 7:00 PM
Albany Law School
80 New Scotland Avenue, Albany, NY 12208
Rochester Moot Court Room
Room 209 in the Main Building (for map click here)
Featured speakers:
Rachel Meeropol Esq., Center for Constitutional Rights Staff Attorney
Aysha Ghani, Muslims For Justice, PhD Candidate, Stanford University
Jeanne Finley, Muslim Solidarity Committee
Marlene Jenkins, Mother of Tarik Shah - 33 Months in Solitary
Moderator - Stephen Gottlieb, Esq, Constitutional Law Professor, Albany Law School
Federal Prosecutors can hold defendants before trial in solitary confinement under a legal device called Special Administrative Measures (SAMs). Pre-trial solitary confinement can last for years and impair the defendants’ mental ability to cooperate in their own defense or testify coherently.
Defendants may also be sentenced to isolation units called Communication Management Units (CMUs), in retaliation for expressing their constitutionally protected religious beliefs, unpopular political views, or for challenging rights violations in the federal prison system.
Download a flyer for this event
Sponsored By:
The Center for Constitutional Rights
Project SALAM / Muslim Solidarity Committee
N Y Civil Liberties Union – Capitol District Chapter
Masjid As-Salam
Dr. Dhafir Support Committee
For More Information Contact:
Stephen F. Downs, Esq.
at 518-767-0102 or
swdowns68@aol.com
Links of interest:
Read the complaint of Yassin Aref and others suing over the conditions in the CMU.
'Guantanamo North': Inside Secretive U.S. Prisons by NPR on 3/3/11
Map: