A joint investigation by Harvard University and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has denounced the systematic use of prolonged solitary confinement in U.S. immigration detention centers, a practice that, according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, may amount to psychological torture when lasting longer than 15 days.
The report, titled “Cruelty Campaign: Solitary Confinement in U.S. Immigration Detention” and published in September 2025, analyzed data from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. It found that approximately 14,000 detainees were placed in solitary confinement between April 2024 and August 2025 in detention facilities nationwide.
“Solitary confinement in U.S. immigration detention is not used as an exceptional measure, but as a routine and punitive tool,” the Harvard–PHR report warns.
Although these facilities are classified as administrative centers — not prisons — the researchers found that the conditions faced by detainees mirror extreme forms of incarceration and violate international humanitarian standards.
The Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania topped the list with 1,905 cases of solitary confinement, followed by the Montgomery Processing Center in Texas with 1,075 cases, and facilities in Buffalo, New York, and Pearsall, Texas, with 642 and 488 cases, respectively.
According to the report, the average duration of solitary confinement in 2021 was 14 days, and ICE had previously stated that isolation should be “a measure of last resort.” However, the latest data “shows a pattern of institutionalized abuse and lack of effective oversight,” the study found.
“People Are Being Tortured Simply for Seeking a Better Life”
PHR Executive Director Sam Zarifi condemned the practice as a direct violation of fundamental human rights.
“People are being tortured simply for seeking a better life in the United States,” Zarifi said. “Solitary confinement is not only an inhumane practice — it violates both national and international law.”
The report also notes that detained immigrants subjected to solitary confinement frequently report severe anxiety, depression, disorientation, and suicidal thoughts, which experts described as “deep and lasting psychological harm.”
In response to the allegations, some facilities — including one in Massachusetts — have claimed to replace solitary confinement with “administrative segregation,” which purportedly provides medical and psychological supervision.
However, Harvard and PHR’s report argues that “such semantic changes do not alter the reality of the practice or its psychological impact.”
Human rights groups across the U.S. have echoed that stance, asserting that administrative segregation merely “disguises the same prolonged isolation under a different name.”
The study urges state and local governments to limit or prohibit solitary confinement in ICE-contracted facilities, conduct unannounced inspections, and guarantee detainees’ access to lawyers, interpreters, and due process rights.
The report concludes with a stark warning: “U.S. immigration detention centers are systematically torturing people who have committed no crimes, but are simply seeking asylum or refuge.”
Mexican Press Agency is part of ALMA, which is dedicated to news and information about Mexico and Mexicans in the United States and is a fiscally sponsored project of Social Focus, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Redwood City, California.
