When is solitary confinement not solitary confinement? Lawmakers and state in Massachusetts argue over definition

When Massachusetts lawmakers passed comprehensive criminal justice reform legislation in 2018, advocates and state officials hailed it as a significant victory.

But a lawmaker who was involved in drafting the bill said it had not been implemented in the state’s prisons.

State Senator Jamie Eldridge (D-Middlesex/Worcester) specifically referred to reforms related to what he called solitary confinement, drawing a connection between alleged disregard for the letter of the law and violence in prisons.