At the time, a lot of reporters and activists pointed out that these updated policies continued to endorse practices that were at minimum abusive and could amount to torture.
Labeled Appendix M, and propounding an additional, special "technique" called "Separation", human rights and legal group have recognized that Appendix M includes numerous abusive techniques, including use of solitary confinement, sleep deprivation and sensory deprivation.What always struck me is that those practices were not reserved for detainees identified as "terrorists." They were common practice used by law enforcement and prisons all over the country. In order to classify them as abusive and/or torture in places like Guantanamo, it would be necessary to also do so in places like Rikers Island.
President Obama has taken an initial step in the process of doing just that. Last summer, the President directed Attorney General Lynch to review "the overuse of solitary confinement across U.S. prisons." You can read the executive summary of the report and recommendations here. And yesterday, the President responded with this:
The Justice Department has completed its review, and I am adopting its recommendations to reform the federal prison system. These include banning solitary confinement for juveniles and as a response to low-level infractions, expanding treatment for the mentally ill and increasing the amount of time inmates in solitary can spend outside of their cells. These steps will affect some 10,000 federal prisoners held in solitary confinement — and hopefully serve as a model for state and local corrections systems. And I will direct all relevant federal agencies to review these principles and report back to me with a plan to address their use of solitary confinement.Beyond these specifics, President Obama is injecting an idea back into our criminal justice system that was lost along the way in our short-sighted efforts to "get tough on crime."
In America, we believe in redemption. We believe, in the words of Pope Francis, that “every human person is endowed with an inalienable dignity, and society can only benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes.” We believe that when people make mistakes, they deserve the opportunity to remake their lives. And if we can give them the hope of a better future, and a way to get back on their feet, then we will leave our children with a country that is safer, stronger and worthy of our highest ideals.
Several years ago in the midst of budget cuts to education in many places, I came across a video of a superintendent talking to his Board and the community on the topic of the 10% cut that had been suggested for his district. At the end of his presentation, he gestured to ten students sitting in a row in chairs on the stage. "Here are ten students. If you want to cut our budget by 10%, tell me which one you want to throw away. Your choice. Look at them and tell me which one you want to throw away." As a teacher myself, that stuck with me. So much of what teachers do is trying to children that are 'thrown away' and I realized just how many people in this country don't mind throwing people away in different ways, an even how many think some people deserve to be thrown away. President Obama does not want to throw anyone away. It underlies his whole presidency and is one of the things I think people don't understand about him.
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