American prisons are doubling up solitary confinement cells, turning them into murder boxes

As America's prison populations swell, as mental heath services for inmates are withdrawn, and as the range of offenses for which inmates can be sent to inhumane solitary confinement soars, the prison system has hit on an obvious solution: just lock two angry prisoners, possibly with untreated mental illnesses, in a cell so small they have to take turns standing up, for 23 hours a day. (more…)