Faces of Solitary: Joshua

Joshua Jackson takes us through his time in solitary confinement.
“IMU” or “Intensive Management Unit” and “the hole” are different terms for solitary confinement. Solitary confinement in Washington State is defined as being confined to a cell, alone, for more than 20 hours a day. Often with nothing to do and no medical support.
A “program” is a class or in cell workbook that DOC assigns people in solitary. People in solitary often spend months on a waitlist for a program and many, like Mr. Jackson, do multiple programs during their time in solitary.

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Transcript of "Faces of Solitary- Joshua" produced by AVID and Rooted in Rights
JOSHUA: My name's
Joshua Jackson
(thrumming music)
I've been in prison twelve years.
Twelve and a half years,
something like that,
and, I've spent seven
and half years
of them twelve
years in the IMU's.
I'm at Monroe Correctional Complex,
Special Offenders Unit, C Unit.
So when I came to prison,
being that I was all
in the newspapers,
they took me right off
the prison bus,
and they threw
me in the hole.
So, eventually it was going
to be like for a couple of days
that I was going
to be in the hole.
Because they wanted to
check and see if I needed
involuntary protective custody.
And, I didn't, you know.
But, when I found out
they wasn't going to
let me out of the hole,
I started acting out.
Flooding my cell,
doing self-harm.
They would write me up
for this stuff,
and, eventually, there were
so many write ups,
that they recommended
me for a program.
And they sent me from
there to Stafford Creek.
And I stayed there about
six or seven months.
(metallic clang)
I had something happen
where one side of my
face had got paralyzed.
You know, and it's
still like that, you know,
and, they weren't giving
me no medical help.
A long time they never
gave me no medical help.
And then my behaviors just
kept getting worse and worse.
Because they kept
me isolated.
They just kept me
in this box all day,
and they wouldn't
let me out.
And um - then they sent me here,
to Monroe, to their IMU.
And I ended up staying
in the IMU over there
about three and half,
three and a half years almost.
You know, they weren't
giving me no help.
They were just
leaving me there.
And every time
I do self harm,
they would strap
me to a bed,
or they put
me in a chair.
I mean there was
months I was on the bed.
It's just- like,
it's just a joke.
This mental health is a joke.
And it was a nightmare
and I was so angry!
And then you got,
not just me,
you got other
inmates in here,
that have severe
mental health problems.
They used to have a thing
where they would say,
"I need to see blood before
I can come down there and talk to you."
There are lot of people in
IMU, don't belong in IMU.
That if they were given the
proper mental health care,
they would they would-
they'd have a way to utilize it,
instead of acting out.
NARRATOR: Since filming,
Mr. Jackson was released
and is living successfully
in the community.
End of Transcript