Reid v. Wetzel

This class-action lawsuit (co-counseled by ALC; ACLU; ACLU PA; Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing, Feiberg & Lin LLP; and Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP)  was filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania over its unconstitutional practice of holding people sentenced to death in mandatory, permanent solitary confinement in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.

This treatment — 22-24 hours a day inside a cell about 8 feet by 12 feet — had been automatically and permanently imposed on all incarcerated people sentenced to death in PA. It was not triggered by violations of prison rules or a need for protective custody, and there was no procedure for prisoners to challenge their placement in solitary. Of the 156 people sentenced to death in Pennsylvania at the time the case was filed, nearly 80 percent had spent more than a decade in this form of solitary confinement.

On November 18, 2019, the plaintiffs’ counsel announced a settlement with the Department of Corrections to end the practice. On April 9, 2020, that settlement was approved by a federal court.

The department will still house people who are sentenced to death in specific prisons but agreed to reforms to offer the rights and privileges afforded to people in other state facilities, including: 

  • At least 42.5 hours out-of-cell activity every week, including yard and outdoor time, law library time, congregate meal time, treatment or counseling meetings, congregate religious worship, work assignment, and phased in contact visitation;
  • Permission to use the phone on a daily basis  for at least 15 minutes per usage;
  • Incarcerated people will not be subjected to strip-searches, shackling, or other restraints, unless security measures are required in response to a temporary, emergent situation;
  • Contact visits with family, lawyers and religious advisors; and
  • Resocialization assistance for individuals psychologically damaged by long periods in solitary confinement to help them in the transition to living in a general population setting, as well as physical and mental health baseline evaluations due to years of neglect.

Related resources: ACLU Stop Solitary Campaign and aclupa.org/Reid

Case Timeline

01/25/18: Initial Complaint Filed

01/25/18: Initial Complaint Filed Cancel

On January 25, 2018, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Pennsylvania, the Abolitionist Law Center,  Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing, Feiberg & Lin LLP; and Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP filed the suit against the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, seeking to end its unconstitutional practice of holding prisoners sentenced to death in mandatory, permanent solitary confinement – a violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. At the time, people on PA’s death row spent 22-24 hours a day in their cells alone, conditions proven to damage mental health and worsen existing mental illness.

Co-counsels issued this joint press release at the time of filing.

 

 

 

Case Files

11/12/19: Settlement Agreement

11/12/19: Settlement Agreement Cancel

Prior to this settlement, every person sentenced to death in Pennsylvania had been forced to live in austere conditions of isolation that have been recognized as torture by the United Nations (see also the UN’s “Mandela Rules”) and the human rights movement around the world. Pennsylvania hasn’t executed a prisoner since 1999 and currently has a moratorium on executions, leading to many people on PA’s death row living in solitary for decades.

The last three executions in PA were of people who had “volunteered” by giving up their appeals, quite possibly to escape the torturous conditions. With this settlement we achieved a legally enforceable agreement to ensure that people living with death sentences can await a full adjudication of their cases without the added cruelty of solitary confinement being imposed on them.

Under terms of the settlement, the Department of Corrections will still house people who are sentenced to death in specific prisons but agreed to reforms to offer that population the rights and privileges afforded to people in other state facilities, including:

  • At least 42.5 hours out-of-cell activity every week, including yard and outdoor time, law library time, congregate meal time, treatment or counseling meetings, congregate religious worship, work assignment, and phased in contact visitation;
  • Permission to use the phone on a daily basis  for at least 15 minutes per usage;
  • Incarcerated people will not be subjected to strip-searches, shackling, or other restraints, unless security measures are required in response to a temporary, emergent situation;
  • Contact visits with family, lawyers and religious advisors; and
  • Re-socialization assistance for individuals psychologically damaged by long periods in solitary confinement to help them in the transition to living in a general population setting, as well and physical and mental health baseline evaluations due to years of neglect.

Case Files

04/09/20: Order Approving Class Settlement

04/09/20: Order Approving Class Settlement Cancel

Case Files

All Case Files