The Hole: Case 2. SCI Greene, CFCS, Solitary Confinement, and Folino: A Mother Tells The Story of Her Sons' Incarceration.

This is the second in a series of interviews related to solitary confinement in United States' prisons. We speak with the mother of two young, African American men who have both been confined to solitary confinement cells, better known as "the hole," for more than a year. Life inside the hole in United States' prisons has been described as akin to being buried alive.

The mother spoke to us on condition of anonymity out of fear that her sons might face retaliation for her efforts to bring to light their plight within detention systems here in the United States.

One of her sons, she says, has been awaiting trial for four years in Philadelphia's Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility (CFCF), for a crime he says he did not commit. For almost a year, he has been confined in CFCF's hole.

The other, she says, on entering the Pennsylvania prison system, was struggling with severe mental health issues; but instead of being provided with psychological treatment, he was placed and in the hole. Later, after beginning his prison term in SCI Cresson's solitary confinement unit, she explains, he was eventually transferred to SCI Greene. He was assigned to the hole at Greene, she tells us, and remains there after being denied a request in December to be released into the general prison population.

The current administration of SCI Greene is headed by Superintendent Louis Folino. Under his supervision, cases of cruel and unusual punishment--such as the confinement of Russell "Maroon" Shoatz to 21 years in Greene's hole-- have persisted .

The mother asks that anyone interested in helping to end the cruel and unusual treatment of her sons contact the People at On The Block Radio, who will then forward the message onto her. Our email address is thepeople@ontheblockradio.org.