Unlock the Box Campaign: A National Campaign to End Solitary Confinement

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Unlock the Box Campaign: A National Campaign to End Solitary Confinement Ending solitary confinement and bringing the U.S. into full compliance with the Mandela Rules within 10 years.

06/10/2026

They call it corrections. The scans call it brain damage.

File 093. Dr. Terry Kupers.

Lock a person in a box long enough and the brain begins to change. Not their mood. The organ itself.
The scans come back looking like torture.

Then it stops being temporary.

Pass it on.

06/04/2026

Content note: this tape describes su***de and self-harm in solitary. If you're struggling, call or text 988.

File #7264. Nafeesah Goldsmith. Torture Survivor.

"She kept screaming that she was going to kill herself. No one came."

This is the first tape.

Nafeesah Goldsmith survived solitary confinement. She watched a woman beg for help, hour after hour, while the cell stayed shut. She beat her head against the wall until the sound stopped. She can't unhear any of it.

"I know that solitary confinement is torture. It's a diabolical practice. It's not about penance. It's about breaking you."

The voice is real. It happened. It's still happening.

Press play if you can stand it. Then pass it on.

06/03/2026

Press play if you can stand it.

Some tapes were never meant to be heard outside the walls. They tried to disappear the evidence. We have it.

The Unit. An archive of recordings from inside America's solitary confinement cells. Recovered. Restored. Released.

No actors. No script. No "inspired by." Every voice is real. Every person was locked in a concrete box, alone, for years. Some are still in there.

What they describe does not sound like a torture chamber that exists in this country. It does.

The first tape drops today at 8pm ET.

Pass it on before it disappears.

04/18/2026

UTB Fam, Nate Parker has a message for our movement.

He wrote, directed, and produced Newborn because this story had to be told. A man rebuilding his life after seven years of torture in solitary confinement. The psychological scars. The fight to reconnect with family and humanity.

This is our movement's story. Now it's on screen.

Newborn is in AMC theaters now. Go see it this weekend. Bring your people. And when it moves you, share it.

Solitary doesn't just torture people inside. It tortures everyone they come home to.





April 16, 1963. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was in the Birmingham City Jail. He had just spent time in solitary — no dayl...
04/16/2026

April 16, 1963. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was in the Birmingham City Jail. He had just spent time in solitary — no daylight, no contact, no human contact.

Of his experience, he wrote: ""You will never know the meaning of utter darkness until you have lain in such a dungeon, knowing that sunlight is streaming overhead and still seeing only darkness below.""

He was describing a moment. We are fighting a system.

That was 1963. More than sixty years later, that darkness is still here.

Today, over than 122,000 people are held in solitary confinement in the United States. Locked in a cell for 22–24 hours a day, deprived of human contact, light, and dignity. What Dr. King endured for days, thousands endure for months. For years. For decades.

Dr. King's words named it. Our movement is working to end it.

April 16, 1963. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was in the Birmingham City Jail. He had just spent time in solitary . No dayl...
04/16/2026

April 16, 1963. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was in the Birmingham City Jail. He had just spent time in solitary . No daylight. No human contact.

Of his experience, he wrote: "You will never know the meaning of utter darkness until you have lain in such a dungeon, knowing that sunlight is streaming overhead and still seeing only darkness below."

He was describing a moment. He is describing the torture and the system we are fighting.

That was 1963. More than sixty years later, that darkness is still here.

Today, on any given day, more than 122,000 people are held in solitary confinement in the United States. Locked in a cell for 22–24 hours a day, deprived of human contact, sunlight, and dignity. What Dr. King endured for days, thousands endure for months. For years. For decades.

Dr. King's words named it. Our movement is working to end it. Join Us.

03/25/2026

"We know that tearing down one cage means tearing down all cages. We know that freedom isn't free if it's only for some people."

When we talk about prison abolition and ending solitary confinement, the conversation too often centers on men. But Kwaneta Harris — writer, advocate, and solitary survivor — knows the architecture of harm from the inside, and she names what too many conversations leave out.

From the weaponization of pregnancy and bodily functions to the gendered power dynamics that demand silence for survival, the prison system controls women in ways that are specific, targeted, and too often ignored.

This Women's History Month, we must remember: tearing down one cage means tearing down all cages. Women aren't just a part of this movement; they must lead it.

🗣️ Listen. Share. Amplify Kwaneta's voice and the countless women fighting for survival, dignity, and abolition behind bars.

💔 THE TRUTH ABOUT SOLITARY CONFINEMENT⁠⁠Imagine being locked in a space no bigger than a parking spot. No windows. No hu...
08/27/2025

💔 THE TRUTH ABOUT SOLITARY CONFINEMENT⁠
⁠
Imagine being locked in a space no bigger than a parking spot. No windows. No human contact. ⁠
⁠
Sometimes, there is complete darkness and silence. ⁠
⁠
Other times, endless screaming and bright lights.⁠
⁠
The UN calls it torture. We call it unacceptable.⁠
⁠
Over 122,000 people are living this reality right now in U.S. facilities—including children.⁠
⁠
It's time to end this. Join us.

The reviews are in! 📖⭐Dr. Terry Kupers sits down with Tyler Hicks of The Guardian to talk about the forthcoming "Ending ...
08/22/2025

The reviews are in! 📖⭐

Dr. Terry Kupers sits down with Tyler Hicks of The Guardian to talk about the forthcoming "Ending Isolation: The Case Against Solitary Confinement," co-authored with Christopher Blackwell, Kwaneta Harris, and Deborah Zalesne. Coming September 4 from Pluto Press.

Preorder your copy 🛒 and read the full review here:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/aug/18/ending-isolation-book-review-solitary-confinement

https://bookshop.org/p/books/ending-isolation-the-case-against-solitary-confinement/0a24fd8bf0aabec1

This International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, we're reflecting on the rich global tradition of Indigenous re...
08/09/2025

This International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, we're reflecting on the rich global tradition of Indigenous resistance to carceral colonialism — and how all within the abolitionist movement can learn from and support their work today.

In the U.S. and around the world, it's vital to understand the long history of Indigenous suffering and repression at the hands of the criminal legal system, and the use of solitary as a tool of imperialism to destabilize and destroy Indigenous communities.

Although data that specifically reports on the rates of Indigenous people in solitary is rare, we know that ending the use of solitary is core to Indigenous liberation.

Swipe through for information on the Day itself, crucial moments in U.S. history, and an opportunity to support Indigenous leaders in protecting tribal lands today.

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