Lifelines to Solitary

For seven years, Solitary Watch has given voice to the voiceless, sent light into the darkness, and carried information back from a world designed to keep its inhumane designs a well-guarded secret, one 6 x 9’ cell at a time.

But this year, the stakes are even higher. The United States is losing an administration that has done more than any before it to help bring the issue of institutionalized prison torture into the mainstream. In its place, we have a new President and Attorney General who have repeatedly shown contempt for the basic welfare and civil rights of the most vulnerable and marginalized among us. 

As we begin to navigate 2017, there are still some 100,000 men, women and children  in solitary confinement across US prisons and jails, suffering in conditions that have been widely denounced as torture.

With a landscape shifting further away from fact-based policies, the need to elevate this truth, and the voices of those struggling to survive, is more important than ever.  

Solitary Watch is the nation's longest-running, most intrepid investigative news organization dedicated to primary-source reporting on solitary confinement. 

In addition, Lifelines to Solitary is far and away the leader in direct outreach to those enduring this unimaginable torment, through personal correspondence with hundreds of individuals in isolation and a quarterly newsletter that brings news, hope, and a connection to the outside world.  

Each year Lifelines to Solitary sends holiday cards to each and every person we connect with. Simple, earnest, and this year reaching a record 5,000 people in solitary confinement, this card is too often the only piece of art, message of hope, or words of inspiration to pierce the darkness of the world in which they've been challenged to survive.

And our Letters program – the newest and most robust addition to Lifelines – is in full swing, pairing students, communities of faith, and now individuals simply looking to help, with a person trapped in solitary confinement, offering them one simple pledge:

"If you'd like to have someone to write to, I'm here... and I promise I'll write back."

These steps forward are indeed encouraging – but the awful fact is:
it's nowhere near enough. Tens of thousands of people in solitary remain without a connection to the world they once knew.

The growth, and in fact the very existence of Lifelines to Solitary, are only possible through generous donations from you, our friends and readers on the outside.

Each year you humble us with your support. This year we ask, simply, that you help us remind these victims of this ongoing, systemic torture that they are not forgotten.

Thank you.

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Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs
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Calabasas, CA 91302

All online and check donations to Solitary Watch go through our fiscal sponsor, Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, and are fully tax-deductible.