Time-In-Cell 2021

Time-In-Cell: A 2021 Snapshot of Restrictive Housing Based on a Nationwide Survey of U.S. Prison Systems

Full Report (PDF)

Press Release: Nationwide Report Finds Reduction in Reported Use of Solitary Confinement

Co-Authors:
Correctional Leaders Association (CLA)
Arthur Liman Center for Public Interest Law at Yale Law School

Time-In-Cell 2021 is the only comprehensive, current national data on the number of prisoners in solitary confinement — or what prison directors call restrictive housing — and the length of time prisoners are housed under these conditions. As of the summer of 2021, an estimated 41,000 to 48,000 prisoners in the United States were held in isolation for an average of 22 hours a day for 15 days or more. 

This is the fifth national survey of its kind. CLA (formerly the Association of State Correctional Administrators) and the Liman Center launched these longitudinal data collections in 2014. CLA is a national organization representing directors of corrections.

Published August 24, 2022

law.yale.edu/liman/solitary

Previous Reports

Time-In-Cell 2019: A Snapshot of Restrictive Housing Based on a Nationwide Survey of U.S. Prison Systems (2020)

Reforming Restrictive Housing: The 2018 ASCA-Liman Nationwide Survey of Time-in-Cell (2018)

Working to Limit Restrictive Housing: Efforts in Four Jurisdictions to Make Changes (2018)

Aiming to Reduce Time-In-Cell: Reports from Correctional Systems on the Numbers of Prisoners in Restricted Housing and on the Potential of Policy Changes to Bring About Reforms (2016)