Is Solitary Confinement 'Cruel and Unusual?'

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Pelican Bay in Northern California is the prison convicts fear most. Hundreds of inmates are held there in windowless cells, reportedly without normal human contact — often for more than a decade. This week, a federal judge agreed to consider a class-action lawsuit that might deem that practice unconstitutional. We hear both sides of a case that could have consequences nationwide. Also, officials close to Governor Jerry Brown are accused of scuttling a deal to clean up radioactive waste from a nuclear accident near Los Angeles. The accident happened in 1959.

KCRW creates & curates music discovery, NPR news, cultural exploration and informed public affairs. From Los Angeles to around the world, KCRW.com.Image Not AvailableLater, on To the Point, India has been embarrassed by revelations of the brutal gang-rape and murder of two young girls. Pakistan is under fire after the "honor killing" of a pregnant woman. Is sexual violence on the increase in that region or just getting more attention? Will an international spotlight bring much-needed change?

 

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Warren Olney