Bag of Snakes is an occasional email series that highlights different aspects of the criminal punishment system in Arkansas. Learn more here. Use these links to catch up on Part One and Part Two.
We began this series with the big picture of solitary confinement, believing it is the best place to begin our discussion. Similarly, looking at studies or practices that take place in other states have proven helpful for thinking about solitary confinement at large. However, practices and policies vary greatly from state to state. Now it’s time to look at our own state and discuss some of the data on how Arkansas prisons use solitary.
Two important phrases that will be used in this email are:
Arkansas Department of Corrections (ADC) which is the governing body responsible for all Arkansas prisons.
Restrictive Housing generally refers to solitary confinement but it may be used more broadly for “single-cell confinement for relatively extended periods of time.”
In July 2019, the ADC began publishing, on a quarterly basis, limited data pertaining to restrictive housing. The following information utilizes that data and covers the time period from April 2019 through March 2020, which predates the COVID-19 outbreaks at Arkansas prisons.
How much is it used?
We look to state specific data so that we can understand state specific patterns. In 2015, the Arkansas Department of Corrections’ strategic plan included the goal to “decrease administrative segregation and isolation populations”. This is an admirable goal and one we would like to see happen. However, if we simply took their word for it, we would miss a big problem. In 2019 the ADC began releasing limited data on restrictive housing that showed a concerning pattern. The use of solitary confinement, from April 2019 to March 2020 increased by 33.5%. Not only is the ADC not meeting its goals, but solitary confinement use has also been increasing. Arkansas prisons are currently over capacity for single and double occupancy cells.
**Protective custody is not punitive; privileges are the same as for the general population.
*Placements continuing from the previous quarter. Includes protective custody placements.
How long are people held in solitary confinement?
In last week’s email, we talked about the various mental health issues that time in solitary confinement causes or makes worse. One of the major factors that contribute to this mental illness is how long a person stays in solitary confinement. Longer stays are believed to lead to a higher risk for mental harm. At this point in time, the Arkansas Department of Corrections does not track or share important information about time in solitary for every person who has spent time in solitary confinement such as disciplinary history or housing status history. There are, however, some length of stay numbers available.
The bar chart below shows the numbers for length of stay in solitary confinement during the fall of 2019:
Who goes to solitary?
In Arkansas prisons, Black men, Black women, and Hispanic women are sent to solitary confinement at much higher rates compared to the racial makeup of the rest of the prison population. Meanwhile, White men and women are sent to solitary much less often relative to their total number in the prison population.
For example, in comparing White and Black women, White women account for over 70% of the general population but less than 50% of the restrictive housing population. Meanwhile, Black women account for only about 25% of the total prison population, but make up 45% of the restrictive housing population.
Individuals who self-identified as LGBT at the time of intake comprised about 1.6% of the total prison population. In the first quarter of the reporting period (April-June 2019), LGBT individuals were 20% over-represented, but were proportionate for the rest of the reporting period. Arkansas prisons do have an unusually low count for individuals with serious mental illness. In the US, 15%-24% of incarcerated populations have a serious mental health diagnosis, however, only 2% of individuals in Arkansas prisons have an SMI diagnosis. This is attributed not to a lack of mental illness in Arkansas prisons, but rather to a failure to diagnose. Pointing to the very real existence of mental illness existing in solitary confinement in Arkansas prisons, a third of the 104 suicide attempts and half of the 10 suicides that occurred during the reporting period were in restrictive housing.
How does Arkansas compare to other states?
ADC’s solitary confinement rate is the highest in the region and nation. The latest CLA-Liman survey, which captured data for one day in October 2019, showed that 11.0% of people incarcerated in Arkansas prisons were held in solitary confinement. The national median was 3.8%. No other participating prison system reported a figure in double digits.
This was a 23.6% increase from the previous survey in 2017 when the ADC reported that 8.9% of the Arkansas prison population was in solitary confinement.
Credits: This edition of Bag of Snakes was written by Claire White and Nancy Dockter. Logo design is by Tanya Hollifield. Editing and layout by Zachary Crow. DecARcerate depends on the generosity of people like you. Please consider making a one-time or recurring donation to support our ongoing work.