27 Years in Solitary Confinement, Then Another Plea for Help in Texas

The New York Times, February 14, 2022: 27 Years in Solitary Confinement, Then Another Plea for Help in Texas

“Dennis Hope has spent 27 years in solitary confinement in a Texas prison, in a cell that is 9 feet long and 6 feet wide — smaller than a compact parking space.

“‘It’s three steps to the door and then turn around and three steps back,’ Mr. Hope, 53, wrote in a recent letter to his lawyers.

“His only human contact is with the guards who strip-search and handcuff him before taking him to another enclosure to exercise, alone. He has had one personal phone call since 1994, when his mother died in 2013. He suffers from depression and paranoia and fears he is going insane.

“Last month, Mr. Hope asked the Supreme Court to consider whether such prolonged isolation can violate the Eighth Amendment, which bars cruel and unusual punishments.”

Additional reading:

The Washington Post, February 16, 2022: Call solitary confinement what it is: Torture

Solitary Watch, February 17, 2022: The Truth Behind Dennis Hope's Decades of Torture in Solitary Confinement

Texas Observer, January 21, 2020: The Prison Inside Prison