Over the past two years, the Virginia General Assembly approved legislation to limit the use of solitary confinement across prisons in the Commonwealth. Legislation to this effect was passed in 2023 and signed into law by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Critics, however, argue that this new law lacks adequate enforcement mechanisms and protective limits. 

For this reason, the General Assembly passed follow-up legislation in 2024 with stronger language, which was subsequently vetoed. The fact that the assembly passed legislation two years in a row to end the widespread use of solitary confinement indicates broad public support for the goal. The legislation, however, does not address the isolation of inmates in regional and city jails. 

As a research team of two students and a professor, we set out to determine how many people in local jails across Virginia are being held in conditions similar to solitary confinement. 

Most sheriffs and jail superintendents will insist they do not use solitary confinement. We learned instead to substitute the phrase “administrative segregation,” which in most cases means the same thing: an inmate held for 20 to 24 hours a day in a cell about the size of a parking space, typically behind a heavy steel door with a tiny window and narrow slot that just fits a food tray. On a positive note, one jail administrator informed us that most of the administrative segregation at his facility instead has barred doors that easily allow for communication across cells, but we suspect this is the exception rather than the rule. 

Because data about the number of people held in administrative segregation is not publicly available, we sent information requests to 35 regional and city jails across Virginia asking for a “snapshot,” which would help us do a point-in-time count of the number of people held in solitary-like conditions at a local level. We only heard back from 11 jails, which makes our goal of producing a total population estimate unreachable. But we still learned something important: The use of isolated confinement is highly variable among jails. 

One city jail reported to us that it holds 69 out of 238 inmates (almost one in three people detained in the facility) in administrative segregation behind heavy steel doors. Two jails housed more than one out of 10 inmates in isolation. Others held between 4% and 7% of their population in solitary-like conditions. Importantly, three jails kept less than 3% of their inmates in administrative segregation. One regional jail in Central Virginia reported that only 1% of total inmates are held in isolation. 

This variability indicates that some regional jails may be over-relying on solitary confinement to run their institutions. But in order to encourage jails to share this information with us, we told them we would not name specific institutions in our reporting. 

There is a robust literature in the social sciences on the harms associated with solitary confinement for periods longer than 14 days. We humans are innately social, maintaining our sense of self and frameworks for cognition in dialogue with others. Research shows that prolonged isolation can cause mental anguish and long-term psychological harm. Even short-term exposure to isolated confinement can result in a higher likelihood to reoffend and decreased rates of employment after release. 

Several sheriffs and jail superintendents told us that administrative segregation is a necessary safety and disciplinary tool. Without it, they said, our local and regional jails would be more dangerous places for both inmates and jail staff. We are not experts in incarceration, and we do not dispute this point. But we also believe that, without protective laws and public oversight, there is the potential that administrative segregation could be used more than necessary and that it would be a good goal for our society to use it as infrequently as possible. 

After all, our preliminary research indicates at least a few jails in Virginia operate with minimal use of administrative segregation. This, to us, is very hopeful. Perhaps these jails could be models for other institutions across the state working to reduce the number of inmates held in isolation. 

At a minimum, we think all jails in Virginia should regularly report to the public on the number of people held in administrative segregation. These institutions are funded by taxpayers, and taxpayers have a right to know about the conditions in which they operate, especially as they rely — even if out of necessity — on methods of incarceration known to cause suffering and psychological harm. 

We also hope the General Assembly will address the use of isolated confinement in regional and city jails. Currently, state code provides very minimal protections for inmates held in these local facilities. 

For instance, inmates only have a right to a minimum of one hour out of their cell for recreation a week and for two weekly showers. These are only minimum standards. Local jails likely do much better, governed by their own rules and procedures. But operating standards for regional and city jails are typically not made public so we don’t know what, for instance, local policies are on the use of administrative segregation. 

Sunlight, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis said, is the best disinfectant. With more sun shining into regional and local jails, we might bring more inmates out of the shadows of isolated confinement. 

Eric Bonds 

This commentary originally appeared on VirginiaMercury. com. Eric Bonds is a professor of sociology at the University of Mary Washington. Aaliyah Anderson and Tabitha Van Doren are students at the university. 

Aaliyah Anderson

Tabitha Van Doren