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The report, “Endless Nightmare”: Torture and Inhuman Treatment in Solitary Confinement in U.S. Immigration Detention, is a joint effort by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program (HIRCP), Arevik Avedian, Lecturer on Law and Director of Empirical Research Services at Harvard Law School, and researchers at Harvard Medical School (HMS). It provides a detailed overview of how solitary confinement is being used by ICE across detention facilities in the United States, and its failure to adhere to its own policies, guidance, and directives. It is based on a comprehensive examination of data gathered from ICE and other agencies, including through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, first filed in 2017, and partly acquired after subsequent litigation. It is further enriched by interviews with 26 people who were formerly held in immigration facilities and experienced solitary confinement over the last 10 years.
The study reveals that immigration detention facilities fail to comply with ICE guidelines and directives regarding solitary confinement. Despite significant documented issues, including whistleblower alarms and supposed monitoring and oversight measures, there has been negligible progress. The report highlights a significant discrepancy between the 2020 campaign promise of U.S. President Joseph Biden to end solitary confinement and the ongoing practices observed in ICE detention. Over the last decade, the use of solitary confinement has persisted, and worse, the recent trend under the current administration reflects an increase in frequency and duration. Data from solitary confinement use in 2023 – though likely an underestimation as this report explains – demonstrates a marked increase in the instances of solitary confinement.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) used solitary confinement at least 14,264 times from 2018 to 2023. The report documents that people placed in ICE solitary confinement spent a staggering 27 days in isolation on average, exceeding the 15-day period that constitutes torture as currently defined by United Nations experts.
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