Getting Boxed In: How Race and Gang Labeling Shape Solitary Confinement Use

Publication Date

5-27-2025

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Punishment and Society

Volume

27

Issue

4

DOI

10.1177/14624745251344573

First Page

713

Last Page

744

Abstract

Restrictive housing imposes isolation in austere conditions on people who commit serious rule violations or are too dangerous (or endangered) to house in the general prison population. We contribute to a growing body of scholarship analyzing restrictive housing placements, asking how gang membership, race/ethnicity, and misconduct interact to predict placement and lengths of stay. We integrate analysis of qualitative interviews with a random sample of 106 people in long-term solitary confinement in 2017 with analysis of 15 years of administrative data, both from Washington state prisons. We find that official gang labels “stick” to people, amplifying their risk of solitary confinement placement. Being labeled a gang member doubles the odds of being placed in solitary confinement and significantly increases the duration of those stays, even controlling for criminal history characteristics and in-prison behavior. We find differences in the effect of gang membership on solitary confinement by racial/ethnic identity: Latino gang members experience substantial intensification of punitive conditions in Washington prisons relative to other groups. This has implications for understanding the role of the gang label across the criminal legal system and which people and behaviors solitary placements target.

Funding Number

003113

Funding Sponsor

Connecticut Department of Correction

Keywords

ethnicity, gangs, Native Americans, race, Restrictive housing, solitary confinement

Department

Justice Studies

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS