End Solitary Confinement Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill establishes Congressional findings that solitary confinement constitutes torture, causes severe harm, disproportionately affects minorities and vulnerable populations, and should be eliminated, requires bans solitary confinement in federal facilities except in narrowly defined emergencies, and requires codifies the ban on solitary confinement in 18 USC 4015. It relies on compliance mandates, reporting requirements, product standards, and grants. The main policy areas are Criminal Justice, Healthcare, Immigration, and Finance.
Who Benefits and How
Incarcerated people in federal facilities could face lower compliance burdens, Incarcerated people harmed by solitary confinement could gain revenue opportunities, and Public defenders offices would be affected.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Federal Bureau of Prisons would take on compliance duties, Private prison operators with federal contracts would take on compliance duties, and State corrections agencies would take on compliance duties.
Key Provisions
- Establishes Congressional findings that solitary confinement constitutes torture, causes severe harm, disproportionately affects minorities and vulnerable populations, and should be eliminated.
- Requires bans solitary confinement in federal facilities except in narrowly defined emergencies.
- Requires codifies the ban on solitary confinement in 18 USC 4015.
- Establishes a community monitoring body within 90 days of enactment to oversee compliance with solitary confinement ban. Body must include at least 15 members including formerly incarcerated people, faith leaders...
- Requires codifies in 18 USC 4016 the establishment of an independent community monitoring body with authority to access facilities, interview staff and incarcerated people, review records, and issue public reports.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
The bill establishes Congressional findings that solitary confinement constitutes torture, causes severe harm, disproportionately affects minorities and vulnerable populations, and should be eliminated, requires bans solitary confinement in federal facilities except in narrowly defined emergencies, and requires codifies the ban on solitary confinement in 18 USC 4015.
Key Policy Areas
Criminal Justice, Healthcare, Immigration, Finance
Primary Purpose
The bill establishes Congressional findings that solitary confinement constitutes torture, causes severe harm, disproportionately affects minorities and vulnerable populations, and should be eliminated, requires bans solitary confinement in federal facilities except in narrowly defined emergencies, and requires codifies the ban on solitary confinement in 18 USC 4015.
Policy Domains
End Solitary Confinement Act
Identified Gains
- Incarcerated people in federal facilities
- Incarcerated people harmed by solitary confinement
- Public defenders offices
- Prisoners rights attorneys and legal aid organizations
- Mental health service providers
Identified Costs
- Federal Bureau of Prisons
- Private prison operators with federal contracts
- State corrections agencies
- State and local governments receiving Byrne JAG grants
- US Marshals Service
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Markey (for himself, Ms. Warren, Mr. Sanders, Ms. Hirono, …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
All federal agencies with detention authority, Attorney General and Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons
Federal detention facilities, Immigration detention facilities, Local jails and detention centers
Incarcerated people harmed by solitary confinement, Incarcerated people in federal facilities
State and local governments receiving Byrne JAG grants, State corrections agencies, State prison systems
Civil rights advocates appointed to monitoring body, Civil rights and prisoners rights organizations, Formerly incarcerated people
Community-based mental health providers, Mental health service providers
Prisoners rights attorneys and legal aid organizations, Public defenders offices
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_director"
- → Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons
- "federal_agency"
- → Federal Bureau of Prisons, ICE, DHS, CBP, ORR, USMS, HHS, and contractors
- "the_attorney_general"
- → Attorney General of the United States
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The practice of isolating a person in a cell for extended periods without meaningful congregate interaction
A psychiatric emergency involving sudden onset of psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, suicidal ideation, or extreme panic
Any unit separate from general population or more restrictive in terms of access to programming, services, or daily life aspects
Being held in a Federal facility for any reason
Includes BOP, ICE, DHS, CBP, ORR, USMS, HHS, any Federal agency with persons in custody, and any contracted entity
Any BOP, ICE, DHS, CBP, ORR, USMS, HHS facility, or any contracted facility holding federal prisoners
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology