Tracie Bernardi felt betrayed. Bernardi Guzman shared her story in 2018 with Ned Lamont who was running for Connecticut’s chief executive at the time. She told Lamont of the 20 years she spent in prison, and her fifth suicide attempt out of seven.
Getty Jones, Mother
Fight misinformation by subscribing to Mother Jones Daily’s completely newsletter and keeping up with important news. Tracie Bernardi Guzman believed her governor had betrayed her.
Ned Lamont, a Democrat who was then vying to be Connecticut’s general executive, and Bernardi Guzman shared their tale in 2018. She spoke to Lamont about her two decades in prison as well as her attempt at suicide during her second of seven years of solitary confinement. She thought he was sympathetic. She believed he was interested in reforming the criminal justice system.
In order to win votes, he pretended to care. This changed in 2021. State legislators enacted legislation that year to restrict lone use. The bill was vigorously fought for by supporters of organizations like Stop Solitary CT and Bernardi Guzman, a leader in the ACLU Smart Justice Connecticut program. Lamont, however, vetoed it.
According to Bernardi Guzman,” He pretended he cared in order to win votes.”
Bernardi Guzman’s experience serves as a cautionary tale about the challenges that an intransigent governor can erect— and maybe even provides an outline for how those challenges can be overcome— as advocates in states like California now push their own lawmakers to restrain single.
Solitary confinement, which the UN defines as” confining of prisoners for 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact ,” is compared to torture, according to the organization. The UN adopted guidelines in 2015 that called for an end to the practice of prolonged solitary confinement as well as any form of” discrimination that would be exacerbated by such measures” for inmates with disabilities.
Solitary also exists in almost all US states. According to a Yale Law School report from 2022, more than 10 % of prisoners in Utah and Nevada live in limiting housing, which typically includes solitary confinement. The American Correctional Association defines restrictive housing as keeping inmates in their cells” at least 22 hours per day” and away from the general prison population.( Uses of these terms vary slightly. )
Despite research plainly showing that, as the UN guidelines suggest, solitary confinement frequently exacerbates the symptoms of psychiatric disabilities, some states report having people with severe mental illnesses in limiting housing.
The ability of a governor’s veto can also thwart reform efforts, even in the most democratic states. Similar to Connecticut, Californian lawmakers second personally witnessed this in 2022 when Gov. The Mandela Act, which would have added new limitations on solitary confinement, was vetoed by Gavin Newsom( D ). But they are attempting once more.
The California Assembly approved AB 280, the Mandela Act, in late May. The bill, which could be approved by the state Senate quickly, would restrict the amount of solitary confinement for all inmates and outlaw it for those who are disabled, pregnant, or under the age of 26 or over 59.
Not only is the fight to end or limit lone a matter of disability rights, but it is also one of racial justice. For instance, a research article from November 2021 predicted that by the age of 32, almost 1 in 100 Dark men in Pennsylvania had been kept in solitary for ten years or longer.
According to Jamelia Morgan, a law professor and director of Northwestern University’s Center for Racial and Disability Justice, disability justice” encourages us to think … about how race can combine with disability to produce increased vulnerabilities to single confinement.”
For instance, a study published in October 2020 examined the real effects of solitary confinement in Washington State, where Black and Latino people are more likely to experience it. Some interviewees discussed the neuromuscular pain they felt while being held in a small space that restricted their movement and made it nearly impossible for them to receive medical attention.
According to Justin Strong, an assistant professor at San Jose State University and the study’s lead author,” the popular criticism of solitary confinement largely emphasizes its negative mental health effects, which is of course important ,” but we should also take into account the fuller picture of how people experience negative physical health outcomes.
Vanessa Ramos, a community organizer with Disability Rights California and AB 280’s sponsor, is one of those promoting the legislation. She was misusing drugs by the age of 13 and had depressive episodes after going through trauma as a child. Ramos, who was 19 years old and had just given birth, was undergoing withdrawal while incarcerated in the basement of a prison in Los Angeles.
Ramos recalls spending days at a time alone during her months-long incarceration, but the precise durations of these periods are hazy due to trauma.” I was faced with the custodial experience that more traumatized me.”
Ramos does recall that when she first entered the prison, she was never questioned about her mental health.
Ramos says,” You get booked.” ” I had to deal with the custodial experience, which only made me more traumatized.”
She has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder years after and also suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. At the time, Ramos was unaware that under the Americans with Disabilities Act, inmates with disabilities have the right to advocate for affordable accommodations, such as having some natural light.
Ramos used her experience in the criminal justice system to advocate for others after being released from prison, which led to her present position. She has received some training through the Prison Yoga Project, and learning yoga has helped her heal in some ways.
But she is still plagued by her isolation. She does not like having doors locked. Her family is aware never to throw surprise birthday parties because she dislikes surprises.
Not all of the necessary changes have been made, perhaps in states that have passed legislation reforming confinement. This is the situation in New York, where a law limiting solitary was passed in 2021. According to a class action lawsuit filed in April 2023, the state hasn’t been adequately enforcing the law, which has allowed for more than 15 days of nonstop solitary confinement. Fuquan Fields, one prisoner, claimed that under New York’s Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act, he was ordered to be sent to solitary for 120 days, which is eight times the lawful maximum.
However, the battle in Connecticut gives reformers cause for optimism. Stop Solitary CT and its supporters increased their efforts after Lamont’s veto infuriated supporters and survivors. When more, Bernardi Guzman testified before a parliamentary committee, telling them that being alone” drives the human spirit to despair.” When Lamont signed a bill resembling the one he had killed in May 2022, they suddenly had success.
California’s governor is expected to make the same choice quickly, according to activists.
Images from left: Michael Macor / The San Francisco Chronicle / Getty, John Doman / MediaNews Group / St. Paul Pioneer Press
Tracie Bernardi Guzman believed her governor had betrayed her. Ned Lamont, a Democrat who was then vying to be Connecticut’s general executive, and Bernardi Guzman had shared their tale in 2018. She told Lamont about her two decades in prison and her second attempt at suicide out of seven years there.
Tracie Bernardi felt betrayed. Bernardi Guzman shared her story in 2018 with Ned Lamont who was running for Connecticut’s chief executive at the time. She told Lamont of the 20 years she spent in prison, and her fifth suicide attempt out of seven.
Mother Jones, a contribution credited to Getty. Subscribe to the complimentary Mother Jones Daily bulletin for updates about the news that matters and defy the spread of misinformation. In early 2018, Tracie Bernardi Guzman felt let down by her state leader. A few years prior, she had informed Ned Lamont, the hopeful Democrat governor of Connecticut, of her story. Lamont was informed by her of the 20 years she had served in jail in addition to her suicide attempt in the fifth year of her seven-year isolation. She perceived him to have a great understanding and compassion for her. She believed that he was concerned about criminal justice improvement, but in reality, he only acted as if he cared to gain votes. In 215, things shifted. Legislation was passed by state lawmakers that year in order to restrict the utilization of solitary confinement. B. Guzman, head of ACLU Smart Justice CT, worked alongside comrades from entities such as Stop Solitary CT to pave the way for the bill.
