British activist in solitary confinement in India despite acquittal, family say

Posted on April 2, 2025 by Admin

Brother of Jagtar Singh Johal claims he is being ‘mentally tortured’ through unwarranted detention

The British Sikh activist Jagtar Singh Johal, detained for seven years in an Indian jail, has been placed into solitary confinement and under 24-hour surveillance despite being acquitted of all terrorism charges against him by a Punjab court on 4 March, his family have claimed.

Johal is still facing the exact same charges in a parallel case in a clear example of double jeopardy, his brother Gurpreet said when giving testimony at Westminster to an all party committee on arbitrary detention. He said the Indian courts have not granted his brother bail, despite the prosecutor’s failure to produce any credible evidence or witnesses in the Punjab court.

Gurpreet said UK consular staff met his brother in jail on Tuesday and were told he had been put into solitary confinement with a 24-hour guard, adding no explanation had been given.

‘Urgent’ action needed after Melbourne woman’s near decade in solitary confinement in mental health facility, judge says

Posted on October 7, 2024 by Admin

Woman remains in seclusion after being found not guilty of assault due to mental impairment in 2015

A Victorian judge says the state’s health and attorney general’s departments must act urgently in the case of a woman who has spent almost a decade in solitary confinement at a forensic mental health facility.

Guardian Australia revealed in July that the Melbourne woman is being held at Thomas Embling hospital, a secure forensic mental health facility, after being found not guilty because of mental impairment on assault charges in 2015.

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Concerns raised over solitary confinement in Queensland youth detention after deaths of two First Nations boys

Posted on March 14, 2024 by Admin

Government report says placing children in prison isolation can affect their health and wellbeing in ‘severe, long-term and irreversible ways’

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A Queensland government report has raised concerns over the use of solitary confinement in youth detention, detailing the case of two First Nations children with disabilities who died after spending extensive time in isolation at overcrowded and understaffed youth detention centres.

The Child Death Review Board’s annual report, tabled in state parliament on Thursday, details the anonymised cases of two boys, Harry* and Jack*. The report does not explicitly state their cause of death but Guardian Australia understands it to be suicide.

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Texas inmates say ‘decade after decade’ of solitary confinement is torture

Posted on February 28, 2023 by Admin

Prisoners who joined hunger strike to protest extreme conditions describe the damage isolation inflicts on mental health

Texas prisoners who joined a hunger strike in protest against the state’s widespread use of prolonged solitary confinement have described the damage to inmates’ mental and physical health inflicted by a system they equate with torture.

Guadalupe III Constante said that despite having a clean disciplinary record, he has been held in isolation every day since he was convicted of robbery 17 years ago. “I went on hunger strike to bring attention to this torture – I haven’t had contact with my wife, kids, brothers and sisters, parents and grandparents in 17 years.”