US Should Not Go-It-Alone in Investigation of Solitary Confinement

Last Thursday, President Obama became — remarkably — the first sitting U.S. president to visit a federal prison.  Along with his unprecedented visit to a facility in Oklahoma, President Obama challenged the overuse of solitary confinement as inhumane, and charged the Justice Department with investigating the regulation of such punishment.

Many in the US and international community have cheered this development, while recognizing at the same time that the US lags behind other nations in critically examining its prison practices through a human rights lens.

It is encouraging that UN officials such as Special Rapporteur on torture Juan Mendez and Working Group chairman Seong-Phil Hong have come forward to support this new policy direction.   

But though both of these UN representatives have requested official invitations to visit the US, no invitations have yet been issued.

This is an opportune time to extend formal invitations to these UN human rights experts.  Both have significant expertise and can contribute insights and perspectives to the Justice Department’s work.  Further, their visits could contribute to the information-gathering process, with the UN officials adding their fact-finding skills to the mix.  Finally, pairing the Justice Department’s work with UN visits would demonstrate to the world that the US is engaged in a serious, objective and open review of its practices.