USA: Locked away for decades - the plight of California’s isolation prisoners

Headline Title: USA: Locked away in isolation for decades 13 November 2012 During the 16 years Joe Simpson (not his real name) was held in an isolation unit in Pelican Bay prison, California, the only living creature he had meaningful contact with was a frog. Joe had found the animal in the small exercise yard he was allowed to use sporadically and spent months collecting worms and bugs to feed it. But when he decided to go on hunger strike in July 2011 to protest against his detention conditions, the guards took the frog away. Joe is one of the estimated 25,000 prisoners who are…

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