Opened in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Texas’s youth prisons were once known as “reform schools.” These large facilities were in rural areas far from the urban communities that most of the youth within their walls were arriving from and operated with little funding or oversight. It was believed at that time that incarcerating delinquent youths in rural areas removed them from bad influences and ensured public safety. However, these isolated facilities quickly became notorious for abuse and brutality.

You are arrested in Caldwell County, Texas, picked up off the street, and taken to jail, where you wait to see a magistrate for your first appearance. When the time comes, as you sit in a cell, the magistrate, who may or may not have a law degree, settles into a seat in another room in the jail, readying for you to be brought in, readying to pronounce the sum you will have to pay to go free.

Four and a half feet by ten feet. Five feet by nine feet. Six feet by 10 feet. This is the size of many cells where people are held, for 22 hours or more every day, for days, weeks, years, and even decades. Every day, approximately 80,000 people in this country are held in solitary confinement while numerous challenges to solitary confinement in state and federal courts continue. 2023 grantee Uptown People’s Law Center explores the longstanding history,  continued use, and constitutionality of solitary confinement.