Kupers - Solitary: the Inside Story of Supermax Isolation and How We Can Abolish It

I am blessed to have worked on jail and prison litigation with some of the very best constitutional lawyers in the country, who care deeply about the prisoners and families they serve. Without public interest attorneys, the rights of disempowered people would never see the light of public notice. Here is a partial list, with much gratitude: Terry Smerling, Don Specter, Mike Satris, Allyson Hardy, Sarah Norman, Steven Fama, Sid Wolinsky, Jody Owens, Alesha Judkins (senior advocate), Margaret Winter, David Fathi, Gabe Eber, Steve Berlin, Eric Balaban, Elizabeth Alexander, Amy Fettig, Carl Takei, Alan Mills, Steve Hanlon, Warren George, Peter Eliasberg, Dennis Cunningham, Don Lipmanson, Anita Arriola, Ernest Galvan, Charles Carbone, Michael Bien, Luther Orton, Keith Wattley, Jane Kahn, Sanford Rosen, Bob Fleischner, Staughton Lynd, Alice Lynd, Jules Lobell, Alexis Agathocleous, Carol Strickman, Carol Travis, Marilyn McMahon, Anne Weil, Sharon Dolovich, Sunday Rossberg, Eric Olson, Nick Straley, LaRond Baker, Emily Cooper, Margaret Chen, Sarah Dunne, Erin Sullivan, Deborah LaBelle, Molly Reno, Patricia Streeter, Sarah Kerr, Betsy Sterling, Nina Loewenstein, Sandy Girard, Cynthia Chandler, Peter Cubra, Ken Falk, Margo Schlanger, Millard Murphy, Richard Goff, Bret Grote, Catherine Campbell, David Lew, Azadeh Zohrabi, Harold Hirschman, Ben Salk, Nancy Alisberg, Robert Navarro, Sonia Mercado, Sam Paz, Barry Litt, Ron Kaye, David McLane, Marilyn Bednarsky, Caitlin Weisberg, Lindsay Battles, Ellen Barry, Eva DeLair, Mark Donatelli, Andree Larose, Jennifer Giuttari, Michael Pitt, Mark Vermeulen, Sarah Chester, and Michael Mushlin.

Its terribly unfortunate that most people think those who dwell in our jails and prisons are heinous criminals. Most prisoners today ran afoul of the law because they were using or selling drugs. To be sure, we dont want to foster a black market in illicit substances. But are long prison terms the answer? I find that prisoners are fairly ordinary people: that is, when I first meet them, I sense that, if not for fortune, they might be part of my community or my personal life.

Once prisoners go to jail, they are trained to acquiesce. Do not argue with a correction officer, they are told. If you do, you can be beaten or carted off to a solitary cell. So with this level of intimidation, how do prisoners gather the courage to sue the state or federal government that incarcerates them? When I sit in the federal courtroom in Detroit and hear the testimony of women prisoners who have been sexually abused by prison staff, I am awed. These women have been taught they should be ashamed, yet they stand up in court and protest that their rights have been violated. And I am awed by the jailhouse lawyers, and the ten prisoners who were brave enough to sign on as named plaintiffs in the Ashker v. Brown class action lawsuit. Ultimately, prisoners (and ex-prisoners) are the heroes in this struggle. I will name a few, but there are many others: Mumia Abu-Jamal, Dan Pens, Willie London, Raymond C. (Chuck) Walen and the legal team at Michigan Prisoner Legal Services, Willie Russell, Steve Czifro, Dolores Canales, Hank Skinner, Danny Murillo, Brian Nelson, Five Mualimm-ak, Donna Wilmott, Linda Evans, Penny Schoner, Luis Bato Talamantez, Dorsey Nunn, Manuel La Fountaine, Robert King, Daisy Benson, ONeil Stough, Claud Marks, Ed Mead, Rita Bo Brown, Donny Donaldson, Stephen Donaldson, Diana Block, Tom Cahill, Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer, Paul Wright, the leaders of the California hunger strikes of 201113, and the named plaintiffs in Ashker v. Brown : Todd Ashker, Danny Troxell, Ronnie Yandell, Ronald Dewberry, Lewis Powell, Paul Redd, James Williamson, Arturo Castellanos, Alfred Sandoval, George Franco, Antonio Guillen, Jeffrey Franklin, George Ruiz, Gabriel Reyes, Richard Johnson, and Luis Esquivel.

Activists in the broad movement to reshape the criminal justice system share the memory of their horror when they were introduced to the gruesome reality of our jails and prisons. Once they went in and looked about, they could not return to llife as usual without speaking out and trying to end some of the horrors they had witnessed. Without the activists the class action lawsuits would not be effective and change would be unlikely. There are too many committed activists to name, but I will begin with these: Jamie Fellner, Angela Browne, Corey Weinstein, Judy Greenspan, Angela Davis, Ruth Gilmore, Craig Gilmore, Helen Grimes, Laura Magnani, Ron Ahnen, Dorsey Nunn, Ida Robinson, Esther Lin, Don Sabo, Sandrine Ageorges, Karen Shain, Jody Sokolower, Tom Quinn, Kiilu Nyashi, Barbara Becnel, Joanne Mariner, Lovisa Stannow, David Kaiser, Matt Lowen, Helen Grimes, Georgia Shreiber, Bonnie Kerness, Keramet Reiter, Mike Castell, Patricia Hilden, Terry Day, Miranda Bergman, Felix Shafer, Rose Braz, Leslie DiBenedetto Skopek, Naneen Karraker, Joyce Miller, Dylan Rodriguez, Cassandra Shaylor, Nancy Stoller, William Buzz Alexander, Noel Hanrahan, Heather Rice-Minus, and Rev. Markle Downton.