Never to Surrender! - Mary Buser

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Résumé :
On March 26, 2021, sixty-four-year-old Frank De Palma testified before the Nevada Senate Judiciary Committee in support of a bill that would reduce the use of solitary confinement in Nevada prisons. Few people are better qualified to speak to the horror of solitary than De Palma himself, who spent twenty- two years and thirty-six days in a darkened cell inside Nevada's Ely State Prison. I'm one of the few that came back, he told subdued legislators. But solitary confinement was just one aspect of his prison nightmare, which began when he was just eighteen. A troubled teen, he tried to avenge the senseless killing of his beloved dog, landing him in the courtroom of a hang em' high judge. Though no one had died or even been injured by his actions, he was sentenced to ten years in the Nevada State Prison, with a release in two years for good behavior. Determined to do his time and go home, he quickly learned it wasn't that simple and was thrust into kill or be killed situations that forced him to become a warrior. His acts of desperation tacked decades onto what ultimately became a forty-three-year sentence. Never to Surrender! 22 Years in Solitary: The Battle for My Soul in a U.S. Prison is a stunning expose of justice run amok, of the casual corruption and depravity inside prison walls, and of one man's lifelong determination to survive it, and reclaim his humanity....

Sommaire:
Frank De Palma was incarcerated for forty-three years in the Nevada prison system, for an initial nonviolent charge. During this time, he was held in solitary confinement at Ely State Prison for twenty-?two years and thirty-six days. Since his release in 2018, he has advocated for the abolition of solitary confinement and for humane treatment of prisoners. In March 2021, he testified before the Nevada Senate Judiciary Committee about his experience in solitary. He has been featured in numerous articles, including The Marshall Project Solitary Watch, and has appeared in short films about solitary confinement produced by Al Jazeera and is featured in the Irish film production company, Wonderbread's production of Inside the Valley Sings. Frank lives in Reno, Nevada, with his little cat, Fatty....