The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on February 9 declared uncon­sti­tu­tion­al Pennsylvania​’s long-stand­ing prac­tice of auto­mat­i­cal­ly keep­ing cap­i­tal defen­dants in soli­tary con­fine­ment after courts had over­turned their death sen­tences. Saying that, ​“Scientific research and evolv­ing jurispru­dence has made the harms of soli­tary con­fine­ment clear,” the unan­i­mous three-judge pan­el ruled that pris­on­ers whose death sen­tences have been over­turned have a con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly pro­tect­ed inter­est against being held in soli­tary con­fine­ment, unless the state could show, after an indi­vid­u­al­ized assess­ment, that such cus­tody was nec­es­sary for secu­ri­ty and safe­ty rea­sons. Shawn Walker and Craig Williams, the for­mer death row pris­on­ers who brought the suit, had spent 14 and 22 years, respec­tive­ly, in soli­tary con­fine­ment on death row before courts vacat­ed their death sen­tences. Then each was kept on death row with­out a death sen­tence for the six addi­tion­al years it took to con­duct the resen­tenc­ing pro­ceed­ings in their cas­es. In bar­ring con­tin­ued treat­ment of inmates like Walker and Williams as death-row pris­on­ers with­out any demon­strat­ed secu­ri­ty need to do so, for­mer Chief Circuit Judge Theodore McKee warned that ​“Inmates in soli­tary con­fine­ment on death row with­out active death sen­tences face the per­ils of extreme iso­la­tion and are at risk of erro­neous depri­va­tion of their lib­er­ty. Accordingly, they have a clear­ly estab­lished due process right under the Fourteenth Amendment to avoid unnec­es­sary and unex­am­ined soli­tary con­fine­ment on death row.” According to a July 2015 DPIC analy­sis of Pennsylvania death row, 115 for­mer death-row pris­on­ers whose con­vic­tions or death sen­tences had been over­turned in post-con­vic­tion pro­ceed­ings had been resen­tenced to life or less, or acquit­ted. Most had been kept in death-row soli­tary con­fine­ment with­out active death sen­tences before being resen­tenced or exonerated.

(M. J. Stern, ​“Solitary Confinement Is a Great American Shame,” Slate, February 10, 2017; J. Roebuck, ​“Appeals court halts auto­mat­ic soli­tary for Pennsylvania inmates no longer fac­ing exe­cu­tion,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 9, 2017; J. Stempel, ​“U.S. court curbs soli­tary for Pennsylvania inmates no longer fac­ing exe­cu­tion,” Reuters, February 9, 2017; R. Dunham, ​“Pennsylvania Capital Post-Conviction Reversals and Subsequent Dispositions,” July 1, 2015.) Read the Third Circuit opin­ion in Walker v. Farnan, No. 15 – 1390, and Williams v. Secretary, Pa. Dept. of Corrections, No. 14 – 1469, here. See Death Row.

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