Not surprisingly, Mendez asks: “Is the United States hiding something?” Mendez accused the US of stalling on his requests. In all the prisons Mendez wants access too 80,000 prisoners in solitary confinement. He wants as well to interview inmates at Guantanamo. The federal prisons are in New York and Colorado among other states. Although he says the US State Department has been working to help him gain access he still has not had a positive answer after two years.
In one of his last conversations he was told that federal prisons were unavailable. In particular Mendez wants to look at the use of solitary confinement in US federal prisons. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says: ‘Overuse of solitary confinement in the United States is cruel and shameful but hiding or denying it just makes it worse,’
Mendez claims:
“The numbers are staggering but even worse is the length of terms…It is not uncommon for people to spend 25, 30 years and even more in solitary confinement,”
Jamil Dakwar, head of human rights at the ACLU said that the time it is taking for Mendez to gain access to US institutions is simply outrageous. Mendez said that he was particularly concerned about solitary confinement for child offenders.
Washington did invite Mendez to Guanatanamo in 2012 but put such restrictions on the visit that Mendez refused to accept it. He would only be allowed to visit some parts of the prison. He would not be allowed any conversations with the prisoners unmonitored or even monitored. He asked for a new invitation that he could accept but none has been forthcoming.
