Rashed BinRashed fled civil war in his native Yemen and was later detained by the Department of Homeland Security for more than three years. He says the 30 days he spent in solitary confinement while in DHS custody, for refusing jail meals during Ramadan, was "the most awful experience of his life." Rashed recently shared his story with The New York Times.

No human being should be subjected to the isolation and suffering Rashed endured.

Tell the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to end solitary confinement in immigration detention immediately.

Some have equated the practice to torture, yet a study from the National Immigrant Justice Center and Physicians for Human Rights reveals that the jails and detention facilities that contract with ICE often put detained immigrants in abusive and long-term solitary confinement. Researchers found that jails frequently sentence LGBT people and the mentally ill to solitary confinement because they cannot guarantee these individuals’ safety in the general population. Guards are given extraordinary power that allows them to use solitary confinement to threaten and discriminate against certain detainees. In most cases, detained immigrants have no way to appeal their confinement.

Help us end the inhumane practice of solitary confinement so that others do not have to suffer in isolation like Rashed did.

Sign the petition below to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.