Your editorial about solitary confinement in Maryland's prisons
mischaracterizes how Maryland utilizes inmate administrative and
disciplinary segregation ("Torture by another name," July 7).
State regulations make it effectively impossible for Maryland's
prisons to hold inmates in solitary confinement.  In Maryland,
an inmate can only be placed in isolation for up to 48 hours,
and even this can be done only in consultation with medical and
mental health professionals. Inmates with mental disorders
cannot ever be placed in isolation. For any period longer than
16 hours, an inmate in isolation must be medically and mentally
evaluated every four hours. This is as close as it gets in our
state to solitary confinement.  Moreover, isolation is never
used discipline inmates. It is used only to control behavior
when an inmate becomes a threat to themselves, other inmates or
the security of the institution. For example, we use isolation
for inmates who are placed on suicide watch.  Segregation is
based on a clearly de