Kicking off SHU	 

Takeaways from Tallahassee, Florida Politics, 11/16/2019


A wide push to limit solitary confinement in Florida has led to lawsuits against prison contractors and the Department of Corrections. Now, Sen. Farmer wants the practice curbed significantly.

The Fort Lauderdale Democrat filed a new bill (SB 762) that will stop the use of solitary or restrictive confinement for “noncompliance, punishment, harassment, or retaliation for an inmate’s conduct.”

For youths, young adults, and inmates who have specified medical needs, Farmer’s legislation prohibits the practice entirely. It also forbids placing LGBTQ inmates into solitary housing units based on merely being part of a vulnerable population.

In the event inmates get placed in isolation for their own protection, the bill makes clear that must end as soon as threats to safety have been neutralized, and regardless, the inmate kept in solitary for their own protection must still be allowed out of their cell for at least four hours a day.

The legislation also stops prisons from ending all programming for inmates in solitary housing units, even if it means programming gets conducted individually with the prisoner.

In the event youths provide substantial risks to safety in a facility, Farmer’s legislation lays out a process for mental evaluation and relocation if necessary. But above all, the bill makes clear solitary must only be used in the direst situations, not as punishment for minor misbehavior.