Conditions of Confinement Work Group
Our actions
- Advocate for ending the use of solitary confinement, or reducing its use to no more than 10 days and only when absolutely necessary.
- Advocate for mental health checks before and after the use of solitary confinement.
- Reduce or eliminate the excessive use of prison lockdowns to 5-10 days, and only when absolutely necessary.
- Contact the Governor, legislators, and the Department of Corrections Secretary.
- Educate local member congregations and community organizations on the issues.
Specific action in 2024-2025:
WISDOM groups have been holding actions, usually in-person vigils, to lift up the issues of solitary confinement and other issues impacting people in our prisons on the 23rd of each month. We do these actions on the 23rd, remembering that people in solitary confinement are locked up alone in their small cells for 23 hours out of every day–and spend the 24th hour alone in a different place.
On the evening before the 23rd of the month, people often gather on Zoom to pray together for the people who are locked up in solitary confinement, to hear the testimony of people who have survived solitary confinement, and to learn about the actions planned for the next day.
In-person vigils happen at the State Street side of the state Capitol in Madison, at noon on the 23rd of each month;
…in front of the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility (1015 N. 10th St., Milwaukee), at 11am on the 23rd of each month;
…and in front of the Green Bay Correctional Institution (2833 Riverside Dr., Allouez), at noon on the 232rd of each month.
More about us
Learn about the Solitary Confinement Truck Project and its creator, Talib Akbar.
This is what a cell looks like
Some informational resources about conditions of confinement, including solitary confinement:
- The Ladies of SCI (Stanley Correctional Institution) website
- National Religious Campaign Against Torture
- Seeing Solitary (A project of the Liman Center at Yale Law School)
- Prison Policy Initiative profile for Wisconsin