Solitary confinement for prisoners is as old as American incarceration--but it surged in prevalence in the 1980s and 1990s. The movement to end solitary followed, gathering steam over time, making significant inroads over the past 10 years. In this talk, law professor Margo Schlanger will share insight into the history of solitary confinement in the United States, including its origins, changes over time, and effects. She'll describe how some state legislatures, prison officials, and advocates are pushing for reform and reduction, and discuss alternatives. And she'll connect trends in solitary confinement to trends in American mass incarceration more broadly.
Wade H. and Dores M. McCree Collegiate Professor of Law
Founder and Director, Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse
University of Michigan Law School
Professor Margo Schlanger is the Wade H. and Dores M. McCree Collegiate Professor of Law, and the Founder and Director of the Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. She teaches constitutional law, torts, and classes relating to civil rights and to prisons. Professor Schlanger is the author of dozens of law review and other scholarly articles, and is a frequent commentator online and in print on civil rights topics. She is the lead author of a leading casebook, Incarceration and the Law (2020), http://incarcerationlaw.com.
In addition to her research and writing, Professor Schlanger does substantial work in civil rights and prison and immigration reform. She went on leave from the University in 2022/23 to serve as a Senior Advisor in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where she led implementation of the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program, a $2 billion program to provide financial assistance to farmers and ranchers who had experienced discrimination in USDA farm lending. She was class counsel in Hamama v. Adducci, a national class action to ensure due process for Iraqi nationals whom the Trump Administration sought to deport. She was the court-appointed monitor for a statewide settlement dealing with deaf prisoners in Kentucky, and has served as an expert in numerous cases addressing detention conditions. And she took a two-year leave from the University in 2010 and 2011, serving as the presidentially appointed Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Professor Schlanger earned her J.D. from Yale. She served from 1993 to 1995 as law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.