Politics of Solitary Confinement

As part of my Politics of Solitary Confinement course, I designed, secured funding for, and led an educational excursion to Philadelphia’s Museum of Slavery and Eastern State Penitentiary. The course delved into the origins of solitary confinement in the United States, examining how the legacies of slavery, racial capitalism, and the convict leasing system continue to shape contemporary incarceration practices and patterns of punishment. It also explored the evolving public perceptions of solitary confinement and the strategies that incarcerated individuals have developed to resist its oppressive conditions.

This excursion enabled students to draw critical connections between historical and current practices, highlighting how race is deeply embedded in domestic systems of punishment and incarceration.