People who haven't even been convicted are locked away for at least 23 hours a day in a cell smaller than a parking space, their lawyers say.
President Obama just made a big announcement on behalf of a constituency that's all but invisible: The roughly 10,000 people confined in federal prison cells, suffering the slow torture of solitary.
We now know that this can cause ferocious emotional problems, including panic attacks, hallucinations, crippling obsessions and despair. Some inmates try to take their own lives to escape.
Obama put out 50 guidelines that greatly restrict the use of solitary -- especially for the mentally ill and other vulnerable people. This is binding only for federal prisons, but sends a sharp message about the way we treat people in our state prisons and jails.
RELATED: Solitary confinement in Middlesex County 'deplorable,' federal suit claims
Take Middlesex County Jail, for instance. The Public Defender's Office and American Civil Liberties Union are suing in federal court, saying it overuses solitary for pretrial detainees.
People who haven't even been convicted are locked away for at least 23 hours a day in a cell smaller than a parking space, their lawyers say.
The conditions they allege are haunting. "In C-Pod," the lawsuit says, "time passes in long silences broken by the sudden outbursts of the mentally ill, who scream, bang on the walls and toilets, and jump on the beds in their cells."
The lawsuit claims inmates are isolated five days a week for 23 hours a day, and two days a week for 24 hours. During the single hour in which they leave their cells, they can only shower alone or pace in a chain-link cage, where they cannot walk more than 10 feet in one direction.
It says their cells are infested with insects, their showers with black mold. Their only form of stimuli is an old library book. One man has not been exposed to fresh air and natural sunlight for more than a year and a half.
He was put into solitary for what jail officials said was his own protection, his public defender says, and is still there awaiting trial because he can't make bail.
When inmates act out, banging their heads against their cell walls, they are allegedly stripped naked and put in a thin mesh gown known as "the chicken suit," and held for hours or days in a cold, empty observation cell without a bed or even a blanket.
This all runs counter to the President's recommendations. Middlesex County got a grant to study ways to reduce its reliance on solitary, but the ACLU says these conditions haven't changed. And overuse of solitary isn't unique to jails.
In state prisons, inmates are not technically alone, but being in "administrative segregation" with one other person has many of the same effects, because of the length of time they are confined to small indoor spaces.
An overwhelming body of medical science suggests that the harmful effects of solitary - which are particularly acute on the developing brains of children - are also especially bad for people with mental illness, pregnant women or the elderly.
That's why an important bill sponsored by Sen. Ray Lesniak, reintroduced this session, echoes the President's recommendations by removing such vulnerable populations from isolation.
Obama has raised the bar for using solitary confinement, and set a new moral standard. Time for New Jersey to follow his lead.
Follow NJ.com Opinion on Twitter @NJ_Opinion. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.