In September, Disability Rights Washington’s AVID Program partnered with the Survivors Opposing Solitary (SOS) Coalition, Look2Justice, and Unlock the Box, to host the Journey to Justice bus, which is on a cross-country tour to raise awareness about the harms of solitary confinement. The bus contains art, writings, and literature about solitary as well as a VR experience of solitary and a mock solitary cell.
While in Washington, the bus was parked at the Northwest Detention Center, where we heard from advocates with La Resistencia about the harmful use of isolation at that detention facility. The bus then travelled to Tacoma for a screening of The Strike, a documentary about advocacy and solitary reform in California. It also made a stop at Westlake Center and Town Hall, in Seattle, for a storytelling panel of solitary survivors who described their experiences and highlighted the need for reform here in Washington.
More than 600 people are held in solitary confinement in Washington’s prisons, with hundreds more in local jails and detention centers. These isolating conditions have been deemed torture by the international community and can have lasting impacts on peoples’ physical and mental health. To learn more about how to get involved in reform efforts here in Washington, check out AVID’s program page on this issue, or connect with the Survivors Opposing Solitary (SOS) Coalition.
