End West Virginia’s archaic and deadly solitary confinement practices

By Paula Kaufman | West Virginia Watch

This article was originally published by West Virginia Watch, an independent, nonpartisan news service based in Charleston. You can make a donation here.

Note: This piece contains references to suicide. The national Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is 988. 

What’s the point of solitary confinement? Rehab? Wrong. Reform? Nope. Remorse? Not even close. Public safety? No. It makes criminals more prone to crime. Creation of mental illness? Yes. Death? Yes — those in solitary keep attempting suicide. We have no cap on how long an adult prisoner can be isolated. A year, 10, 20 or more. The point: It’s cruel, unusual and morally indefensible. It’s time West Virginia abolished it.

The Mountain State’s penitentiary system suffers from extreme overcrowding and soaring jail death rates. Incarceration rates continue rising. The state’s correctional infrastructure deteriorates. 

Poor leadership does not help. In April, 2025, President Donald Trump announced via Truth Social that William “Billy” Marshall, previously the head of West Virginia’s Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR), would lead the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Wow. Bad news. 

That appointment should raise alarms.

Under Marshall’s watch, West Virginia’s correctional system faced damning allegations. A 2022 lawsuit was filed by the West Virginia ACLU and Mountain State Justice. It detailed inhumane conditions and overcrowding in jails.  

Marshall’s response? He said prisoners were lying while his department hid evidence related to that lawsuit. Two staffers were fired. Marshall remained. This is haunting. Our prisons are a mess. Solitary confinement makes it even more appalling.  

Remember COVID? What it was like to be isolated? Imagine being in a cell, unable to go outside or have social interaction for a decade. How would you fare? Would you go crazy? It’s not just biology — it’s barbarism. It is a sanctioned erasure of identity, memory, and cognition. If someone is isolated for years, how are they expected to function in society? Or be safer than they were going in? 

One prisoner’s story is on my mind. I can’t forget Keith Lowe, who recently made headlines. He has spent over 12 years in solitary confinement at Mount Olive Correctional Complex in West Virginia. Locked in darkness with no end. 

He had been diagnosed — long before his isolation — with numerous mental health issues. Do you think complete isolation helped? Heck no. Isolation destroys minds, not criminal behavior. Anyone would be driven mad under such circumstances. 

A judge’s order on May 23 required his immediate transfer to a mental health facility. His transfer order was ignored according to WVPB. This was after at least one suicide attempt. Then, he attempted to take his life once more. Somehow he procured a razor. 

As of Sept. 26 Lowe was transferred to a medical facility in Springfield, Missouri. Finally. But eventually he will likely be returned to indefinite solitary confinement back in West Virginia. Endless hell. 

Unlimited solitary confinement is often used by authoritarian regimes. Not democracies. The United States and West Virginia are outliers in their unfettered usage. 

International standards are much stricter. For instance, the United Nations’ “Nelson Mandela Rules” defines solitary confinement of over 15 days as torture. Most European countries and Canada have limited time. 

Some states such as New York and Colorado are reforming. West Virginia? Nope. As of now, no statute in West Virginia expressly prohibits or limits the duration of solitary confinement for adult inmates. Horrific. We cannot reform through prolonged isolation. 

Few politicians go out on a limb for this issue. What do they have to gain but a good conscience? Prisoners can’t vote. Doubtfully make large political donations. In money-saturated politics, solitary confinement is rarely top priority. But some care. 

In 2022, former Del. Danielle Walker introduced House Bill 4822 in the state Legislature to restrict solitary confinement to three days every two weeks. It failed. It was brought up in 2023. Failed again. Nothing changed.

Meanwhile, West Virginia’s incarceration rate remains troubling. According to the ACLU, West Virginia jails are the deadliest in the nation. When including all forms of incarceration, West Virginia remains one of the most heavily incarcerating states in the country according to the Prison Policy Initiative. It is unclear how many people wither alone in cages for solitary confinement. Or how long they have been there. 

Let me say this: America needs to abolish solitary confinement. At minimum, put strict limits on usage. Solitary confinement is legal torture. It’s also a lazy convenience. It’s easier to lock someone up indefinitely than to rehab them. Bottom line: We are supposed to be better than this. At the very least, we should be.