Shawnfatee Bridges is a 40-year-old man held on death row in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) at State Correctional Institution Graterford, Mr. Bridges has spent over 19 years in solitary confinement on death row.
Due to the harsh and highly restrictive conditions of solitary confinement, Mr. Bridges has been prohibited from contact visits with family. For almost 20 years, he has been prohibited from hugging his five children. He has never held his three grandchildren.
For nearly half of his life, Mr. Bridges has lived in a cell that “is no larger than 7 feet by 12 feet, smaller than a typical parking space,” where “the lights in his cell [are kept] on 24 hours a day while officers shine flashlights in his face every thirty minutes during night rounds.” These conditions have been imposed despite Mr. Bridges receiving only two minor disciplinary infractions in nearly two decades, neither of which were violent or resulted in any disciplinary custody time. One of the misconducts, for instance, was for making more than the three allowed phone calls per week, which he could only do if staff provided the phone for him.
On August 2, 2017, Mr. Bridges filed a complaint challenging his perpetual solitary confinement and a motion for preliminary injunction ordering his immediate release to the general prison population. He is challenging his continued isolation as a violation of the 8th Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment and the 14th Amendment’s procedural due process clause.