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New Report Finds More Than 122,000 People In Solitary Confinement In The United States

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Figures Exceed Previous Counts Because They Include All People in Solitary in Prisons and Jails for 22 or More Hours a Day, and Are Based on the Most Reliable Available Sources Washington, DC — The watchdog group Solitary Watch and the advocacy coalition Unlock the Box today released a groundbreaking joint report showing that at least 122,840 people are locked daily in solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and jails for 22 or more hours a day. Calculating Torture ( LINK ) is the first report to combine the use of solitary in local and federal jails in addition to state and federal prisons. It is based on analysis of data recently released by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) as well as by state prison systems that did not report to BJS, and data from a survey of local jails conducted by the Vera Institute of Justice.

Iran: 8 hanged in Shiraz’s Adelabad Prison

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Iran Human Rights, February 19: Eight prisoners were hanged in Shiraz’s Adelabad Prison early this morning. According to the official website of the Iranian judiciary in the province of Fars, eight prisoners, among them one woman, were hanged this morning. The prisoners were all convicted of drug-related charges, said the report.

The prisoners were identified as "Lotfollah J.", "Noor Mohammad Sh.", "Abbas N.", "Hossein A.", "Parinaz M." (woman), "Hamid A.", "Abdolvahed M." and "Ali T."

According to sources in Iran, families of the prisoners were informed that the executions would be carried out on February 20, but Iranian authorities carried out the executions one day earlier without notice.

Iran Human Rights (IHR) had issued an urgent action about the scheduled execution of 12 prisoners in Shiraz. There is no information currently available on the location or condition of the remaining four prisoners. They could be executed tomorrow or in the coming days.

IHR strongly condemns today’s executions in Shiraz. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of IHR, said: "The international community must condemn the execution wave in Iran. Iranian authorities execute more than one person every day without being faced with appropriate international reactions."

Source: Iran Human Rights, Feb. 19, 2013
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