Virginia Prison Loses Bid to Avoid Solitary Confinement Trial

The Virginia Department of Corrections failed to dodge a trial delving into a prisoner class action’s constitutional claims over a high-security prison’s solitary confinement procedures.

The prisoners can continue litigating claims alleging violations to the Eighth and 14th amendments, but their request for injunctive relief needs to be narrowed to not effectively abolish solitary confinement, the US District Court for the Western District of Virginia decided Tuesday.

In addition to partially denying summary judgment, Judge James P. Jones rejected the ...