DESCRIPTION OF EVENT

On any given day, roughly 80,000 people are held in solitary confinement cells in jails and prisons across the U.S. The social workers who staff these units provide care to these people, yet have been powerless to meaningfully confront the cruel practice itself – until now. Learn about exciting legislation that could change the status quo, for social workers and incarcerated people alike.

Social Workers & Allies Against Solitary Confinement seeks to abolish the barbaric practice of solitary confinement as it exists in our nation’s jails, prisons and detention centers. Since 2014 they have worked with allied organizations to heighten public awareness about solitary and to promote humane alternatives. In addition, they challenge the “helping professions” to address this practice, and to provide meaningful ethical guidance to their corrections-based workers. SWASC has been an issue chapter of the Social Welfare Action Alliance (SWAA) since 2018.

PANELIST BIOS

Mary Buser, LCSW, is a former assistant chief of mental health on Rikers Island, where she worked in the solitary confinement unit. Post Rikers, she has been an outspoken advocate for the incarcerated, especially those with mental illness, and people held in solitary confinement. She is a published author and frequently writes articles about the criminal justice system. See serves as the Director of Social Workers & Allies against Solitary Confinement (SWASC). See more at www.marybuser.com

Nicole Capozziello, MSW, is a doctoral candidate at the University at Buffalo School of Social Work. Her work focuses on criminal justice reform, gardening and nature access, and storytelling as a means for social change. She works for the community gardening organization Grassroots Gardens of Western New York and is a freelance writer. She is the Communications Director & Anti-Torture Bill Project Manager for Social Workers & Allies Against Solitary Confinement (SWASC).

Frank De Palma served forty-three years in prison, of which twenty-two years and thirty-six days were in solitary confinement. Since his release in 2018, he has advocated for the humane treatment of prisoners, and for reforms to solitary. In 2021, Frank testified before the Nevada Senate Judiciary Committee; his plight has been chronicled in numerous magazines and periodicals, including the Marshall Project. He is a member of the Advisory Board of Social Workers & Allies against Solitary Confinement, and is the author of the soon to be published book: Never to Surrender!